Graham Salisbury shares writing advice with NAMS eighth-graders

Advice for young writers: Write. Revise. Repeat.

Portland author Graham Salisbury brought that message Thursday to eighth-graders at North Albany Middle School as part of an author series the school is organizing.

“My first drafts are really bad, but I know that I can make them better,” he told the group gathered in the cafeteria. He revises a novel multiple times, he said, then reads it aloud to make sure of the sound.

“Then, when I’m done, I send it to my editor, thinking it’s the best thing in the world,” Salisbury said. “And he sends it back, saying, ‘No, it can be better.’”

That prompted eighth-grade literature teacher Lisa Spires to pump her fist and point with excitement at her students. “See? See?” she mouthed.

Part of the focus of eighth-grade English classes is learning to read like writers, said Spires, who worked with fellow teacher Mallory Marquet and the Albany Public Schools Foundation to bring Salisbury to NAMS. Talking to an author, Spires said, helps students become aware of what it takes to craft a story, and the influences that might bring that story to life.

Salisbury, who grew up in Hawaii, writes young-adult novels set on the islands, often featuring boys of 13 or 14. NAMS teachers read two of his novels aloud to their classes: “Under the Blood-Red Sun” and “Eyes of the Emperor.”

Students peppered him with questions: how long does it take to finish a novel (the first took five years), will any of his books someday be a movie (“Blood-Red Sun” has been optioned), whether he prefers Oregon to Hawaii (“Go Beavs”).

One student asked how Salisbury chose to write for teens.

Salisbury said he had never read much for pleasure when he was younger, and didn’t really get into books until the age of 30. But one book that attracted him, first by its beautiful cover and then by the words inside, was the young adult novel, “Island of the Blue Dolphins.”

“That book turned me on to write for young readers,” he said, adding: “It was the best thing I could have done.”