"There are three rules for writing the novel.

Unfortunately no one knows what they are."

~Somerset Maugham

My aim is to foster good writers, period. Good writers grab the reader's attention from sentence one, grab it and keep it until the last word. That's the idea, whether you're writing a novel or a book report. I give my students dozens of tools I've learned from writing, reading and studying with other writers.*

I say: 'Learn the rules, sure, for the tests, but tests aren't the goal. Being a good writer is the real goal. And if you achieve that goal and become a good writer, a real writer, you'll break all the rules by the time you're my age.' They smile. That gives them something to look foward to.I tell them: 'There's really only one rule: Make it good. That's what matters.'

Writer in Residence

Four and five-day writing residencies, two class per day minimum.Travel included within 50 miles of Chapel Hill, NC; otherwise additional. Grades 3-12. I use an original story to model fictional techniques including structure, character, conflict and plot development and the critical importance of revision. Following class lessons, students write their own stories each night, then read and comment on each others' work in class the next day. This simultaneously develops writing, editorial, listening and presentational skills.

*Ms. Carmichael graduated summa cum laude in Creative Writing from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.