Scene Details From a Football Camp

My 16-year-old son recently spent some time at football camps. While waiting in the stands, the writer in me came out and I began scribbling down scene details on the back of my son's schedule. Well, I watched him and took photos too! But hey, as a YA writer, I never know when I'll need these details.

In case you're curious about how these camps work, or if you ever need scene details involving a football camp, I thought I'd share what I noticed.

The Location

• College campuses: USC, UCLA and Cerritos College. Large, beige buildings surrounding a football field. 
• Artificial turf on the football fields, with tiny black rubber bits scattered all over the ground (from the turf)
• Powerade station with organizers filling cups for the players
• Foggy L.A. mornings, but once the clouds burn off, hot afternoons

The People

• Hundreds of teen boys, all races, all sizes. Not only big, burly guys, but smaller guys who haven't finished growing yet
• Boys wearing school gym shorts--black, red, yellow, purple--with high school logos on the right leg
• All boys wearing matching athletic shirts provided by camp organizers. White box in the center where boys wrote their names (some first names, some last names) with a black Sharpie
• Hair: buzz cuts, curly, long hair held back in bands
• Moms and dads in the stands, watching, taking photos, reading, looking at their phones
• Some boys standing alone; some making small talk with other boys
• Lone (brave) girl running laps around the track (there's a story there, right?)
• Burly coaches with "Staff" written on the backs of their shirts

The Activities

• Boys separated in groups on the field, stretching, warming up, jumping
• Running the 40 yard dash
• One on one drills
• 7 on 7 drills
• Grouped in rooms by position, watching film of their technique & receiving tips on how to improve

The Sounds

• Coaches yelling instructions
• Clapping
• Whistles blowing
• Chants at the end of claps, like "SC!"
• At USC--nearby construction noise
• One huge coach on the sidelines screaming at the players, "Come on Beyonce! Let's see what you've got, Beyonce!" (Not even joking)

What do you think of these scene details? Ever been to a football camp? Do you jot down scene details when you're out and about?

Splash! Scenes From a Water Park

It's summer. We live in Southern California. We have three sons. Yep, we make trips to the water park!

If you write YA, perhaps your MC works at a water park and stalks a hunky lifeguard. If you write MG, maybe your MC visits a water park with her friends and there's drama drama drama. If you write adult fiction, your frazzled MC might take her kids to the water park so she can have peace and quiet and read a book (Not that I'm referring to myself. No way.)

If your character visits a water park, here are a few things she can expect to see:

The People

• Barefoot teen lifeguards--girls: red one-piece bathings suits (sorta Baywatch style). Guys: red trunks; bronze chests shaved; some backne. All: blue fanny packs/first aid kits around their waists. 
• Babies with sodden diapers
• Tattooed dads pushing baby strollers
• A pregnant woman wearing a two-piece bathing suit
• 15-year-old teens making out on a lounge chair (awkward!)
• Teen guys walking in circles around the park, swagger on full display for teen girls
• Teen girls walking around the park, flipping wet hair
• Middle grade kids running barefoot on the hot walkway, jumping from one shady spot to another

The Sounds

• Running water
• Bare feet slapping concrete
• Babies crying
• Conversations in Spanish
• Whistles blown by lifeguards
• Laughing
• Squealing on slides
• Thump of inflatable tubes exiting slide & landing in water
• Horn at wave pool announcing incoming waves

The Scenery

• Black or white tubes and slides looping through the sky, with water rushing down
• Blue and white striped cabanas with small, sandy areas in front
• White lounge chairs reserved with colorful beach towels
• People walking or floating in the lazy river
• Leaves and stray hairs floating in the lazy river (Ick! My personal pet peeve)
• Water that gets cloudier with each hour
• Bright blue and yellow circle tubes leaning against posts or piled high at ride exits
• Pizza, funnel cakes, large souvenir cups

The Smells

Shelley Trammell reminded me about the smells. How could I forget that? Here are her suggestions:

• Suntan oil/lotion
• Sweaty bodies
• Chlorinated water
• Concession stand food
• Landscaped flower beds
• Musty locker room

Like malls, water parks are great places for people watching. Have you been to a water park lately? What details have I missed?

photo credit

Middle Grade Dances & Valentine's Day

Last Friday night I had the joy of chaperoning a middle grade Valentine's Day dance. OMG, so cute. There were so many details to take in, and I wished I'd brought my spiral notebook. But I was a little busy, and besides, I probably would've looked creepy.

If you write middle grade or YA, these notes might be helpful. We live in a very small town, and belong to a tiny school district, so I'm not sure how these scene details will compare to a big city. But some things in middle school never change!

The Setting

• Multi-purpose room, overhead fluorescent lights turned off. Strings of red and white lights hung along each wall.
• Photo op corner--red plastic draping the corner walls, decorated with paper hearts. Spotlight overhead. Mom with a camera ready to shoot pictures of couples and best friends.
• Food and drink section cordoned off to the side, with moms serving snacks such as candy Kisses, grapes, and cookies. High schoolers filling Dixie cups with water & lemonade.
• DJ crew set up on stage.
• Folding chairs set up around the perimeter of the room.
• Thumping dance music.

The People

• Sixth grade girls wore cute "party dresses," with either flat shoes or Converse-style sneakers.
• Some 7th and 8th grade girls wore party dresses & higher heels, but most wore jeans with blousy tops.
• Some boys wore button-up shirts and dress slacks, but most wore regular school clothes (jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers).
• DJ team consisted of three mid-20's guys. One spun the tunes, and the other two worked the crowd. They taught dance moves from the stage, and jumped down on the floor and got the kids involved.
• Kids stood in clusters. Some remained right below the stage, following the DJ's lead in dances. Others danced in their own circles. Some mixed boys with girls, others were all boys or all girls. (Memories, anyone?)
• Boys with damp hair and sweat running down their faces. Girls with curled hair that grew limp as the night wore on.
• Some girls taller than boys.
• Conga lines.
• At the end of the dance, parents gathered at the double doors, taking it all in.

The Drama

• A girl crying in the bathroom, with several of her friends circling her & asking what was wrong.
• Pairs of kids, boys and/or girls, walking across the dance floor, always looking for someone.
• When the one slow song came on...OMG, the mood in the whole place changed. Most kids scattered to the four corners of the MPR, but a few brave couples paired up and slow danced. Girls' hands on the guys' shoulders, guys' hands on the girls' waists. They swayed back and forth to the music, with a foot of space between them. Instead of looking at each other, they watched their friends through the entire dance.

For the record, one of my sons danced with a girl (one of his best friends). It took every ounce of mommy willpower to NOT whip out my phone and snap pictures. My other son was too terrified to ask someone.

How does this compare to dances at your local schools? What's your most vivid middle school dance memory, good or bad? Please share!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dude! Details from a skate park!

Last week I took our three sons to the skate park. It was a gorgeous So Cal day, and while the boys did their thing on the ramps and half-pipes, I sat with my trusty spiral notebook and jotted down setting details. If you write for middle graders or young adults, these scene details may come in handy. Here are some of my observations:

The Setting

• Standard skate park environment--cement bowl, half-pipe, and ramps of various pitches. Metal staircase poles. A brown wooden bridge with blue and green flags flying at the corners.
• Chunks of cement chipped out of the bowl's edges.
• Palm trees planted near the bridge, fronds swaying in the gentle breeze.
• 20' x 20' shades placed intermittently along the surrounding sidewalk.
• Traffic noise from the nearby road--trucks and small cars.

The Toys

• Wooden skateboards, BMX-style bikes, and in-line skates.
• Most kids wore helmets. Adults did not. Some kids wore their helmets unbuckled, the straps hanging free.

The People

• Mostly kids, from around six years old to older teens.
• Two adults on skateboards--one with a shaved head, wearing denim shorts and a white T; the other had thinning longer hair, and he wore an unbuttoned shirt, corduroy pants, and mirrored sunglasses.
• Most kids rode with one eye on their own path, and another eye on what the other kids were doing (tricks, etc.)
• Some kids sat over the edge of the bowl, legs dangling, baseball caps on backwards, iPod buds in their ears.
• Two teen girls were there, but not on a "ride." They ran up and down the half-pipe.
• One older teen had a tattooed "ring" on his ring finger, about 1/2 inch thick.
• Plenty of F-bombs dropped by some teens--young and old.
• Standard uniform was skinny jeans and graphic T's.
• Cringe-worthy crashes (including my sons).
• Sounds of crashes differed, based on the toy. Scooters--silent glide and then metal scraping. BMX bikes--squealing tires, then rubber thumping, and then metal scraping. Skateboards--a whoosh, then wood scraping, and then a thunk as it flipped.

Have you ever visited a skate park? If so, did these scene details sound familiar? And do you ever jot down scene details when you're out and about?

photo credit