Exploris Middle School Archives ⋆ Be the Cat

7th Grade Revolution: The Dungeon

Liana Gardner — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:00:38 +0000

As much as I loved weaving in the actual occurrence at the Exploris Middle School, I knew I’d have to leave the regular school scene behind and launch into complete fiction part of the story. Only I wasn’t exactly sure how to make it happen. I knew I needed to segregate the 7th Grade from the rest of the school, but the teachers were present in their role as media. Once again, the @7thGradeRevolt Tweet stream gave me the answer. “Meeting begins in the Red Room: ‘representatives only’ we were told.” If the kids had a secret ballot vote, they would ban the media.

At this point in the story, I knew the school had a basement and it became clear that there was an auditorium in the basement the kids had dubbed the Dungeon because it was underground and had no windows. THIS was the perfect setting for the secret ballot vote.

One thing I had NO DOUBTS about … if you take an entire 7th Grade class and put them in a room with no supervision, there would be LOTS of noise, kids goofing off, groups of kids chatting … The scene from 7th Grade Revolution:

Selena and her clique stood in the corner chatting, as far from the noise as possible, and ignored the rest of the class. Tommy and Michael gripped their signs at the top and used them as swords. They lunged and smacked the shafts against each other. Trent arm-wrestled James, while a crowd stood around rooting them on. Spencer drummed against a chair back while he beatboxed for his groupies. At the front, Maddie, Curtis, and Ellen had their heads together. They huddled, probably to hear one another over the noise.

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7th Grade Revolution: Bring Back the Fish

Liana Gardner — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 13:00:37 +0000

One of my greatest delights while writing 7th Grade Revolution was being able to take a moment that happened at Exploris Middle School and weave it into the story. There were so many moments it was hard to pick and choose which ones I’d be able to get into the story without bloating the beginning part of the book. When I heard that the 8th graders staged a protest over having Goldfish crackers banned, I knew the protest had to be a part of the book, even though not directly related to the revolution going on with the 7th graders. The perfect bit of backdrop scene to flesh out the school.

What was happening? The 8th graders had lost the right to eat Goldfish as snacks because of the mess they made and had tried demanding they be able to eat them again — which worked about as well as you might think. Then someone had the brainwave to stage a protest. From 7th Grade Revolution:

Dennis’s eyes widened when Ben dropped him off for school. A congregation of eighth-graders wearing black bands with a gold fish insignia on arms, heads, and wrists marched in front of the school. After he climbed out of the car, he stared, dumbstruck, at the demonstration.
The jack-o’-lanterns lining the front steps and porch along with the overly cheerful scarecrow with the welcome sign were at odds with the black armbands and protest signs stating, “Bring Back the Fish!”

I love the ingenuity used to stage the protest and I liked how Exploris Middle School handled the situation. And it goes to show … in any revolution, there are always splinter groups with a different agenda strategizing to obtain their goals.

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7th Grade Revolution: Asserting Independence

Liana Gardner — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 14:00:18 +0000

Middle School is such an interesting time of self-discovery and stretching boundaries, which is part of the reason I am drawn to writing this age group. By this age many are beginning to assert their independence of who they are apart from their identity and role in the family. The opinions of their peers becomes more important than the opinions of family and in some cases kids go in the opposite direction from what their family wants them to do. It’s tough for parents who have their child’s best interests at heart, but what they want for their child may not be what the child wants.

James is faced with a dilemma when he is nominated to be one of the leaders of the bloodless revolution. Because he was normally one of the most easy-going of the group, his classmates were baffled. His action here causes Dennis to question his loyalty to the cause after the school had been evacuated. From 7th Grade Revolution:

Surrounded by girls, James Marshall frowned and shook his head. Danielle clutched his arm, talking a mile a minute, but he shook her hand off, strode away from the group, and marched to the board. Fingers curled into a fist, he used the side of his hand to erase his name from under the Greene room. He scowled at the board for a moment, then wiped the marker dust on his pant leg and left the room.

I remember making decisions going into my teen years based on how many people wanted me to follow a course of action, whether peers or parents … and I’d go the opposite direction with predictable results. I wanted to assert my independence to show the world who I was — even if I didn’t really know who that was at the time.

Bonus points to anyone who can say why the breakout rooms were named Morgan, Greene, Connelly, and McDowell

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7th Grade Revolution: Prepare for Battle

Liana Gardner — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:00:09 +0000

One of the biggest pleasures I have while writing is when the characters come through loud and clear. Dennis Alexander was one of those characters for me. The minute he slouched in, I knew he was a kid who sits in the back of the class so he can lean his chair against the wall. The kind of guy who’d rather be outdoors than cooped up in a classroom. And someone that hadn’t stayed long in any school, but kept moving around. Not a bad kid, but one who doesn’t have much interest in “the rules”.

As I read through the Tweets made during the classroom experience at Exploris Middle School, a few choice phrases captured me. A small group of boys creating rage in others by throwing paper. Of course there was paper throwing going on. Sabotage begins… Yelling and paper throwing. I couldn’t resist putting this detail in the story. And Dennis had to be the one to start it. No question.

I love little moments like this that help give the reader a sense of the character on the page. Dennis wouldn’t think twice about starting a paper throwing war, while Ellen Chandler, his polar opposite, would rather die than be involved in throwing paper around. Dennis also has the perfect justification for his actions … after all the teachers had told them they had won a war, right? From 7th Grade Revolution:

Dennis kicked back against the wall and ripped a page from his notebook. He folded the paper accordion style and tore it into strips. After all, what was a revolution without ammunition? He took each strip and rolled it into a tight ball. Perfect. Just like a musket ball.

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7th Grade Revolution: QuackerMe

Liana Gardner — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:00:32 +0000

In 2011, when Exploris Middle School staged its bloodless revolution, a key part of the experience was played out through the “media”. The media presence in the classroom was taken up by the teachers and they reported events as they unfolded throughout the experience. Between the Twitter stream and the article posted in the News and Observer, word on what was happening at Exploris Middle School garnered national coverage. My attention was drawn to the story because of a Tweet passing by that happened to catch my eye. And social media plays a part in the fictional story as well. When I drafted the story, I simply used Twitter as the social media platform used in the story because I didn’t want to get bogged down with details while trying to get the bones of the story down. As we headed toward publication, the question of whether to use Twitter or change it was raised.

When writing, authors need to be cautious about using brand name items or corporations in their work. Especially anything which has a registered trademark. When a trademark has been registered, the party who holds the registration gets to say how it can be used. Trademarks can extend from logos to words and can specify things from color to spacing, etc. For example, the following is in the Brand Guidelines for Twitter:

The Twitter marks include, but are not limited to, the Twitter name, Twitter logo, the term “Tweet” and any word, phrase, image, or other designation that identifies the source or origin of any Twitter product. Always capitalize the T in “Twitter,” as well as all noun and verb versions of “Tweet” and “Retweet.”

While I am currently able to use Twitter in a book, as long as I don’t disparage Twitter or cause harm to its brand recognition, I chose to create a social media platform for the book itself. Why wouldn’t I use Twitter? Two primary reasons. The first reason is that Twitter can change their brand policy at any time and they could choose to not allow the use of the word Twitter or Tweet without express permission from the company. The second reason is found in their Brand Guidelines: You must display the following statement in materials that display the Twitter trademarks: “TWITTER, TWEET, RETWEET and the Twitter logo are trademarks of Twitter, Inc. or its affiliates.”

So my agent, Italia Gandolfo, and I put our heads together to come up with a suitable replacement. After trying several other options, and getting discouraged because everything I thought of was already a social media platform, we came up with QuackerMe and it blossomed. The posts would be Quacks, reposting would be Honks, ducks would be given for praise, eggs would splat for dislike, and Italia is still lobbying to be able to tar and feather posts. By the time we were done talking about how the site would function, we both wanted someone to develop it. *sigh* Maybe one day I’ll be able to egg a post.

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7th Grade Revolution: When the Story Gives Back

Liana Gardner — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:00:40 +0000

As a writer, honoring the story and getting it down and into the hands of readers is my job. It’s a solitary endeavor that takes a host of people to bring to fruition. We are never in it alone. And for each person who helps me along the way, I am grateful for the help I have received. In the case of 7th Grade Revolution, the story would not have been possible without the help I received from a teacher. It amazes me to this day that Karen Rectanus was so open and sharing to some writer who contacted her out of the blue. And she helped without asking anything for it.

I’ve kept in touch over the journey for this book, giving Karen updates for where the book is at in the process and I was delighted to have the opportunity to send her an Advance Reader Copy to help thank her for the help she freely gave me. Her response to the book completely overwhelmed me.

So, I arrived home earlier today to find your book on my front porch and I have just come up for air, realizing that I haven’t even eaten since I picked it up. (It’s 11:00) I don’t even know where to begin. Should I start with the dedication that brought me to tears? The first time I saw my name as the teacher and I gasped? (I really had forgotten that you had said you would use my name!) The fact that the beginning of the book is so very reminiscent of the real thing? The illustration toward the end when I saw myself? All of those things were beyond my expectations, but what I really want to say is that the book held me captive from beginning to end. You captured the middle school mind perfectly, showing their insecurities as well as the amazing strength that is just below the surface. Bravo! It is a wonderful book and I can see it being used during a study of government as a class read. The illustrator is also superb. I could go on and on. (I also am really amazed at how you captured me as a teacher … how did you do that?) So thank you, thank you, thank you! I loved every part of this book and I am so very proud, as I said earlier, to have had any part in it.

As I write this, I’m the one with tears in my eyes. To think that two total strangers on opposite sides of the United States can connect through happenstance and a story is born, is still an incredible concept to me. And there is no greater praise than for a writer to hear their work has been consumed by a reader, that the reader was captured from start to finish. Because the story was inspired by the classroom experience, it meant so much to me to hear that the story was reminiscent of the real experience. To hear I have captured the middle school mind makes me grin … because this is coming from someone who deals with those minds as her profession.

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7th Grade Revolution: The Time of Year

Liana Gardner — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 13:00:43 +0000

One of the most exciting things for me as we are going through the process leading up to the publication of 7th Grade Revolution is that the publisher, Vesuvian Books, commissioned artwork, sort of a mood piece, to precede each of the chapters in the book. I had the opportunity to work with the talented Luke Spooner and watch scenes from the book spring to life.

The first image in the book captures a scene added well after the manuscript had been completed. When I wrote 7th Grade Revolution I chose to set the book in the Spring as the classroom experience at Exploris Middle School occurred in February. But when the publication date for the book was set for October, the publisher asked whether the story could take place in the Fall instead. And the answer was yes, I could change things. The only thing vital to me was it had to be Daylight Savings Time. But I had to go back through the book and do another revision.

With the time of year being October, I wanted to give it a little holiday flavor, and what better to start with than a prank. And as soon as the word prank hit my mind, I knew exactly who would be behind it: Spencer Jackson. Spencer is the kind of kid who doesn’t take things seriously, is more interested in playing jokes on his classmates than cracking a book, likes to think of himself as a rebel and the class clown rolled into one. And trying to get a reaction from a girl with a fake spider was exactly the type of thing he would do. The moment from 7th Grade Revolution:

Spencer Jackson pulled a tarantula on a string out of his pocket and dangled it behind Selena Woodham’s head. His buddies nearly fell off their chairs trying to suppress their laughter while Spencer inched the spider closer to Selena’s shoulder.

I had a blast going back through and adding little moments here and there to add the Fall flavor to the novel. It enhanced what I already had on the page, and I’m grateful I was asked to make the changes.

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