Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Comic Life: Author Bio Story

Please use the time in the lab today (about 80 minutes) to complete your Comic Life Author Bio. See previous posts for details.

HOMEWORK: Complete reading your novel by Tuesday, May 5.  Expect a quiz on the book.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Book Discussion; Author Comic Life Project

CLASS: Please get together with your reading groups. Discuss the plot, characters, and theme/meaning of the book so far.
  • What flaws does the writer create for the characters in this novel?
  • How does the setting (including time period, location, and weather) affect the story?
  • What are the major conflicts in the book? Can you relate to these?
LAB: Please continue to work on your projects. See previous post for details.

HOMEWORK: Complete reading your novel by Tuesday, May 5.  Expect a quiz on the book.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Plotting a Story & Author Comic

Meet in your groups. Discuss your novel so far. Complete a "plot chart" of events that have occurred in your reading so far.
  • The protagonist
  • The inciting incident
  • Complications, conflicts, plot events that create further problems in the story. How are they dealt with? How does this help define the protagonist? Discuss.
As you discuss, and read your novel, please complete a plot chart and a character map for your protagonist.

LAB:

Remember the exercises we did about your author self? Take those out again, brush them off, and be prepared to create a little story of you as a famous author using the program Comic Life.

Here's a tutorial for the program to help you navigate.

Use Edward Gorey's "The Unstrung Harp" as a model. You should create a comic that has text on one side of the page, and a panel (or two) that includes some sort of picture. You may use drawings, JPGs from the internet, or your own photos.

HOMEWORK: Please continue reading your novel. Complete your Story Map and Plot Line for the novel. Aim to complete the novel by end of next week.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Genre Story due!

Meet in your groups.

Please complete your genre story today in the lab.

Before you turn your work in:

PROOFREAD: correct your grammar, sentence structure, dialogue punctuation, read it again and add details where you left details out.

DONE EARLY: ?

Write a short bio for yourself as an author. What have you written? What awards have you won? Make all of this up as FICTION. We'll be using this (also from your notes) Friday.

HOMEWORK: Keep reading.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Story Genre Project & Endings

Today, please move toward a conclusion of your genre story project.

Endings can be:

Circular: The beginning and the end reflect upon one another, often using the same situation, setting, characterization, or even repeating the same line or idea presented in the opening. This provides a sense of parallelism in your story structure. It is best used when suggesting that the past and future of a character/story is similar.

Matching vs. Nonmatching: similar to a circular ending, the first image is transformed, and is repeated at the end. This is most like the pattern in music: theme and variation. The first image of the story foreshadows or suggests the last image. Sometimes this is obvious, other times the image is subtle.

Surprise ending: Often an ironic ending, or an ending that surprises the reader. The American writer O.Henry was a master of this kind of ending. It is often found in horror/suspense or mystery fiction. The "surprise" needs to be planned by the writer, who should include details that prepare the reader for the surprise, instead of "shocking" the reader, who usually resents this strategy.

Summary ending: A summary of the outcome of the story – this kind of story wraps the plot up very tightly, suggesting the future for the characters. No loose ends. This sort of ending has fallen out of favor lately, so use it at your own peril.

Open ending: used largely in contemporary fiction, the story doesn’t end nice and neatly (like the summary ending). Instead, it leaves an important question posed to the reader, so that the reader must interpret the ending. Caution: this can sometimes confuse a reader. It is best used for subtle effect.

Ending with an image/idea: ending a story with an important detailed image or idea that reflects the theme of the story can "stain" the idea or image in the mind of the reader.

Try one of these endings for your story!

IN THE LAB: Genre Story Project:

Please continue working from your outline to write this story.

HOMEWORK: Begin reading your chosen novel.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Genre Story Project; Edward Gorey

Author resume (exercise):
For a little writing prompt, create a short bio of you as an author: you may use a pseudonym. Unlike the assignment you completed in the beginning of the year, be wild and imaginative about what you have written. What are the names of the novels that your fiction self has written? What awards were given to you? Use Edward Gorey's story as inspiration for your own.

Other Edward Gorey stories:
The Gashlycrumb Tinies
The Doubtful Guest
Mystery! Opening Credits & Mystery! Opening Credits #2

Sample author bio (from the Edward Gorey house):

A truly prodigious and original artist, Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000), gave to the world over one hundred works, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest and The Wuggly Ump; prize-winning set and costume designs for innumerable theater productions from Cape Cod to Broadway; a remarkable number of illustrations in publications such asThe New Yorker and The New York Times, and in books by a wide array of authors from Charles Dickens to Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Florence Heide and many others. His well known animated credits for the PBS Mystery series have introduced him to millions of television viewers. Gorey's masterful pen and ink illustrations and his ironic, offbeat humor have brought him critical acclaim and an avid following throughout the world.

You, of course, should make up the titles and accolades you have accomplished after a very long career as a writer. Be inventive!

You will need your bio for our next project next week!

IN THE LAB: Genre Story Project:

Please continue working from your outline to write this story.

HOMEWORK: None.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Short Story Collection Test; Genre Short Story Project

Please turn in your journals. These are due today along with your blogs.

After our test please return to the lab and work on your genre short story projects.

There is some advice and classwork/extra credit materials in the post below. Please refer to it. If you submit your short, short story to Mr. Fishman, please CC me in your email for extra credit at bradley.craddock@rcsdk12.org. That also goes if you get a response from an author from a question of yours--please forward me the response for extra credit (the response from the author, not the original question/email, please!)

Friday, April 10, 2015

Notes from Our Masterclass

TASK:

  • Find 5 authors you read and like. Research their websites, blogs, etc. Then contact them by email and ask them questions about their writing. Keep up this correspondence if it is successful. 
  • As Boris Fishman mentioned in his masterclass you may want to look for a mentor. Maybe only 1 author will actually respond to you, but you'll never know if you don't risk it. Good advice in any class you take, or during any job, or as an artist.  
Some Advice:
  • Don't reject yourself!
  • Believe in yourself!
  • You will hear many "no's" and get many rejections: have the arrogance to continue!
  • Cultivate patience!
  • Write every day! Serious writers write! They can't help themselves.
  • If you can do anything other than write, you should probably do that. You can always come back to writing. 
  • Write in a journal/notebook: keep the journal with you at all times!
  • Eavesdrop. Record what you notice in the world!
  • Practice concision: saying something as simply as needed. Every word in a sentence costs $20--save your money!
  • The human heart has not changed in 2,000 years. Write about the human heart.
  • Write down your ideas--even if you don't have time to develop it.
  • Stay alert to the things happening around you! The world is where the stories are!
  • Be who you are!

HOMEWORK Assignment: write a short story/poem in 100 words. The action of the story should take only 30 seconds OR the action of the story should span 30 years.
Once you have written your 100 word short story, then write the same story in 250 words. Then 500 words. Then 1,000 words. Then 2,000 words. Then 4,000 words, etc.
  • Idea: Desert (setting) and a car has dropped off a person in this setting, leaving him/her with nothing. No hat. No water. The car is pulling away. Write a story in 100 words. 
  • Idea: A young woman (18 years old) was told 4 years ago that she was adopted, the opportunity to meet her birthmother has come up. We meet her before a door. When she opens that door, she will meet her birthmother? Tell a story in 100 words. 
Then Email: borisfishman@gmail.com with your story/homework. Remind him that you took his masterclass at SOTA on April 10.

Mr. Fishman's sample writing schedule:
  • 8:00-10:00 reading
  • 10:00-2:30-4:00 writing
What is your writing schedule? Can you make time for writing?
Tobias Woolf's This Boy's Life. Read a copy.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Masterclass: Boris Fishman

Boris Fishman is the author of A Replacement Life (Harper, 2014). He was born in the USSR, former Soviet Union (Russia) in 1979 and moved to the US at the age of 9. His work has appeared in The New Yorker magazine, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, and so on. He is also the editor of Wild East: Stories from the Last Frontier.

You may read the review of A Replacement Life from the NY Times here:
NY Times Book Review

Remember that one job in the world that uses creative writing, apart from a novelist (Boris Fishman) is the reviewer for the NY Times (Patricia O'Connor). Both of these people probably got their start in the literary field in high school in a creative writing course. Wow!

You may also check out the author's website here. Did you know that people are paid to create websites and blogs! Hey, didn't you just create one of those? You are well on your way to a career in writing!

Here is an interview with the author. Remember that "performance, word, and text" class you took where you learned to interview and talk to people? Yep. That, too, is a skill needed for a career in writing--both for the writer, and the journalist/interviewer at WXXI.

HOMEWORK: Please prepare for our master class by reading the material on the links, and creating a question or two you may wish to ask this author when you meet him Friday. Please prepare for your test on your story collection for Tuesday.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Genre Story Project

Please use the time in the lab today to use your outline and begin writing your genre story (details can be found in the post below!)

If you did not read and take note of the different kinds of beginnings, please do so now. Yes. Now. See below for details about strong openings to stories.

Use your time productively in class to write. That is what the lab is meant for. Try to avoid procrastination. If you get stuck, move on to the parts of your story that you can continue (use that outline!)

HOMEWORK: Keep reading your collection of short stories. Originally, we were to have a test on your book Friday, but we are having a masterclass with a visiting writer. Please check in with us here in the lab Friday, before we move to the Ensemble Theater. Bring your journals!

Journals and blogs will be checked Tuesday, April 14. We will also have a test on our collection at that time.

Mystery readers/writers: please read the short story selections in your packet.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Genre Short Story Project, Outlining, & Beginning a Story

Please turn in any missing writing work:
A. Revision of your short story project (see previous posts)
B. Who is Writing This? See previous post, just before we went on break!

During 3rd period:

  • Please get together in your groups and discuss the reading you did (or didn't do) in your genre collections during spring break. 
  • Make a plan with your group to finish reading your collection by Friday. There WILL be a test on your chosen book. 
  • Learn about OUTLINING. 

During 4th period:
After our short story discussion with your groups, please return to the lab (or log on) and brainstorm an idea for your own short story. (See previous work, articles, videos for help).

One tool for writers as generating ideas or in the first stage of the writing process is:

Outlining
An outline is a very useful tool to use before writing a formal essay. Some students love them, others don't. If you are having trouble figuring out or organizing your essay, try using one. For this assignment, please try using an outline for your plot points. Your story should have AT LEAST three scenes: a beginning, a middle, and an ending!

It is also helpful to write notes in outline format. It saves time and you can use your notes (reading or from classes) to prepare for tests or in composing essays.

How to do it? Look here.
Sample Outline

After sketching ideas for a story based on your chosen genre--remember to appease your audience by writing something that they may like--and using the writing exercises we did in class, come up with your own outline for a short story. Complete and turn in your outline by the end of 4th period today.

When you have finished your outline, go on to this next point:

Beginning a Story

A beginning promises more to come. It should hook our attention, allow us entrance into the world of the story. Beginnings need to be full of potential for the characters (and the reader). Some simple ways writers do this is the following (taken from The Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich)

Setting: setting sets the stage and raises our expectations, introduces us to location, time, and supports character, tone, mood and POV.

On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half-way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people.

Ideas: While this can sometimes be dry or essay-like, it can also characterize a speaker, a place, an important motif or tone of a story.

“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them…”

Imagistic or Strong Sensations: Imagery invites your reader to experience your narrative, giving you a good start. It also helps establish setting, usually.

1956. The air-conditioned darkness of the Avenue Theater smells of flowery pomade, sugary chocolates, cigarette smoke, and sweat.

A Need or Motive: Need is essential for all major characters. It is usually what drives the
conflict and characterization, also the plot in a story. Starting off with a motive or need is
the fastest way to learn what characters want.

On his way to the station William remembered with a fresh pang of disappointment that he was taking nothing down to the kiddies. Their first words always were as they ran to greet him, “What have you got for me, daddy?” and he had nothing.

Action: Action catches our attention.

The pass was high and wide and he jumped for it, feeling it slap flatly against his hands, as he shook his hips to throw off the halfback who was diving at him.

Scene: Usually in one sentence, combines action, setting, and character.

Card-playing was going on in the quarters of Narumov, an officer in the Guards.

Symbolic Object: Describe an object that has significance to your story, characters, plot. Usually a reader will recognize the importance of an object if mentioned in the first paragraph of a story.

An antique sleigh stood in the yard, snow after snow banked up against its eroded runners.

Sex: Sex sells. It also gets our attention.

After I became a prostitute, I had to deal with penises of every imaginable shape and size.

Character portrait: Introduces a reader to your protagonist or an important character.

The girl’s scalp looked as though it had been singed by fire—strands of thatchy red hair snaked away from her face, then settled against her skin, pasted there by sweat and sunscreen and the blown grit and dust of travel.

Character’s Thoughts: Like a portrait, this one’s internal.

If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.

Question: A direct way to motivate the reader, who often wants to know the answer to a posed question.

“Well, Peter, any sign of them yet?”

Prediction: Creating an ominous tone, a prediction foreshadows or hints at the ultimate ending of a story.

Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce.


Anecdote: an anecdote (a short story) can introduce an important idea or theme, create a symbol, or set a particular tone.

The village of Ukleyevo lay in the ravine, so that only the belfry and the chimneys of the cotton mills could be seen from the highway and the railroad station. When passers-by would ask what village it was, they were told: “that’s the one where the sexton ate up all the caviar at the funeral.”

Activity: In your journal write a variety of "opening lines" for your story. Select the best one and use that to begin (remember to refer to your outline!)

Using the best opening, begin a short story. During the rest of class, write. See where this opening takes you. If you get stuck, get unstuck by going back to the planning process.

HOMEWORK: Continue reading the short stories in your collection. Meet with your group to decide how far to read for Wednesday's class.

The Graveyard Book - Discussion Questions

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