Revision is part of the writing process (along with editing). As writers, we must train ourselves to see our work with fresh eyes. The best way to do this is to allow time to pass and look back at our writing a few days, a few weeks or months, perhaps years between writing the first draft and the 2nd. Since we don't have eternal time in programs such as ours, we must push this part of the writing process to the forefront sometimes.
After completing your drafts, please see my comments on your original Stephen King writing exercise story. Use my comments and editing marks to revise your draft. Call this draft two.
To help you with this process, you will need to examine your grammar/mechanics and correct mistakes, but more than that, you will need to remove the backstory from the action of the story. Backstory is not necessary to move a story along--it is only helpful in developing character. To this end, does your story need to develop your character over telling the story? Consider what to keep and what to edit or remove.
Also, to help you, use the basic tools handout. KEEP THIS HANDOUT--we will be referencing this in the next part of our classes (a review of grammar/mechanics).
When we edit/revise:
During period 4, please gather next door to discuss the Adventure Archetype and to discuss the short story "He Swung and He Missed" (your homework from last class!)
As we learn, we will stop occasionally to write some exercises in our journals. Please keep your journal handy for notes and exercises. (Journals are being collected next week!)
ACTION & ADVENTURE
The adventure genre of fiction can be classified (and created) by putting main characters in peril or in dangerous situations. Each protagonist usually has a set of skills that help him/her thwart the danger or evil enemies to come out victorious. Adventure fiction made its official debut with 19th century writers such as Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. It was later used with science fiction and fantasy authors, as well as writers of Westerns, War novels, and Suspense or Horror writers. In the 1920-1950's the pulp novel relied heavily on the archetypes and tropes of the adventure story. Today, adventure books are still common, but mostly found in film and children's literature.
An archetype--meaning arche (original) and type (form) is a pattern that many writers use to pattern their plots. It's helpful for a writer to be familiar with some of the basic plot and character archetypes, so that you know what a reader expects in a story.
Archetype, or "original pattern", is a model from which other characters or stories are based. Archetype is as old as human storytelling and continues throughout contemporary literature (just that you don't always notice it as archetype).
When an author uses archetype, he is patterning his character(s) or plot after other types of that kind. For example: character archetype might include: 1. The hero 2. the protective mother 3. the prostitute with a heart of gold 4. the trickster or 5. the evil or cruel master. Plot archetype might include: 1. the Rags to Riches plot 2. the Quest 3. Transformation or 4. traditional love story: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.
There are many, many more. And yes, archetype used too often, can create stereotype.
The ones that we will focus on can be used with the Action or Adventure genre. Let's take a look. For each type, jot down some films, books, or stories you have read or watched that fit the archetype.
The Quest
The quest is traditionally a journey about the self.
1. The story starts at Protagonist’s home
2. Protagonist is pushed or spurred into action
3. The decision to ACT leads to the first major event
This first event is called a Motivating Incident
The main character has both:
Intent= to find the goal
motivation=reason for wanting to achieve it
4. The protagonist rarely travels alone; helpful characters aid the protagonist
5. Usually the quest includes a series of incidents (actions) that help to develop the protagonist
The author must ask: what difficulties would make the most interesting and challenging obstacles for the protagonist.
6 The final act of the story includes a revelation, epiphany, discovery or realization about the main character’s life or personal situation.
7. Often, additional complications arise as a result of the protagonist obtaining his goal.
8. The protagonist usually returns home, making a complete circle. He returns changed, developed.
The Adventure
1. The focus of this plot is on the action (journey), not the person making the journey.
2. Story concerns traveling into an unknown or new place.
3. The hero's goal is never found in the self or at home, but in the new places visited.
4. Hero must be motivated by someone or something; intent is not as important as motivation.
5. Hero doesn't necessarily need to change in any meaningful way by the end of the story.
6. Adventures often include romance (see the Romance plot below).
Romance
• The protagonist falls in love with another character (the object of affection)
• There should always be an obstacle that prevents the object of affection from getting together romantically with the beloved
• The first attempt at romance is always thwarted or delayed and put off
• Characters are often caught up in their personal emotions and problems
• Lovers are tested by a series of problems or conflicts (often from the outside)
• If the love is "forbidden", then the characters also have to come to terms with the society or culture that is preventing them from being together
• Lovers will usually get together at the end of the plot (in forbidden love plots, however, usually they don't)
The Chase
After completing your drafts, please see my comments on your original Stephen King writing exercise story. Use my comments and editing marks to revise your draft. Call this draft two.
To help you with this process, you will need to examine your grammar/mechanics and correct mistakes, but more than that, you will need to remove the backstory from the action of the story. Backstory is not necessary to move a story along--it is only helpful in developing character. To this end, does your story need to develop your character over telling the story? Consider what to keep and what to edit or remove.
Also, to help you, use the basic tools handout. KEEP THIS HANDOUT--we will be referencing this in the next part of our classes (a review of grammar/mechanics).
When we edit/revise:
- Check spelling, punctuation, comma usage, hyphens, em-dashes, capitals, numbers, names, dates, facts, font, title, heading, spacing, etc.
- Identify problems of organization? Where are weaknesses in the plot or story? What can be cut or removed?
- Underline long sentences--ask: is there a way to write this more concisely? Is the long sentence communicating what you want it to communicate?
- Underline awkward phrases or sentences. Edit, reconstruct.
- Check that all introductory clauses (those beginning with -ing words) relate to the phrase/clause after the introductory clause--check to make sure you are not falling into a pattern. (Many writers have a tendency to use the same clauses, phrases, or sentence construction--vary your sentence structure).
- Pairs, series, and compound subjects and predicates should be arranged from short to long, from simple to compound. Use the rule of three: 3 items in a series--no more.
- Cut what is not necessary. Remove repetition or redundant phrases, words, or clauses.
- Read your work OUT LOUD to catch difficult or weakly phrased sentences.
- Remove adverbs (-ly words)--strengthen verbs.
- Remove adjectives where possible--strengthen nouns.
- Check your pronouns--do you include a clear antecedent?
- Cut all fat from your writing. (See handout for ideas about what to cut!)
- Rearrange scenes so that you build to a climax. Put similar scenes together or combine them. Cut scenes that are boring.
- Check dialogue and make sure you are punctuating dialogue correctly.
During period 4, please gather next door to discuss the Adventure Archetype and to discuss the short story "He Swung and He Missed" (your homework from last class!)
As we learn, we will stop occasionally to write some exercises in our journals. Please keep your journal handy for notes and exercises. (Journals are being collected next week!)
ACTION & ADVENTURE
The adventure genre of fiction can be classified (and created) by putting main characters in peril or in dangerous situations. Each protagonist usually has a set of skills that help him/her thwart the danger or evil enemies to come out victorious. Adventure fiction made its official debut with 19th century writers such as Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. It was later used with science fiction and fantasy authors, as well as writers of Westerns, War novels, and Suspense or Horror writers. In the 1920-1950's the pulp novel relied heavily on the archetypes and tropes of the adventure story. Today, adventure books are still common, but mostly found in film and children's literature.
Genre writing can be a lot of fun (or cause those of you who are realists a lot of stress). Consider what you like to write and try to incorporate the adventure genre into that, since adventure and suspense can utilize any other genre: science fiction, romance, horror, mystery, western, war, urban, historical fiction, chick lit, children's lit, gothic, or travel memoir, etc.
But if you need an extra push, here are a few sub genres of the style:
The Adventure ArchetypeBut if you need an extra push, here are a few sub genres of the style:
- Robinsonades: from Daniel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe, this is a type of adventure story that deals with the survival of its protagonist. Good contemporary examples are Into the Wild, Kon Tiki, and even The Glass Castle.
- Picaresque: Having its origins in Medieval Spanish lit, the picaresque is all about the journey. A protagonist has "life adventures" and meets interesting people along the way, without the overt danger or life versus death trope found in many action stories. Often the protagonist is an anti-hero (a common person just like you and me: people who have no heroic qualities to recommend them) who mingles with a variety of other people (usually, at least in the traditional sense, people from a lower social caste or people from a different culture). The tone of the picaresque is light and sometimes humorous. Jerome K. Jerome's comic novel Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) and The Good Companions by J.B. Priestly are good examples. So is Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster series or the Rumpole books by John Mortimer.
- War and Combat: Walter Dean Myers' Sunrise Over Fallujah, or any story that involves the conflict of war and its effects can be an adventure story. Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, All Quiet on the Western Front, Ender's Game, etc. This one lends itself nicely to mixing with other genres: even zombie fiction!
- Character based Action: From James Bond to Doc Savage, many of the pulp writers (and those that were influenced by them) continue to write adventure series for a specific character. From Conan the Barbarian to Robert Ludlam's Bourne character, from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter, these are usually a recurrent character or protagonist and his/her adventures. Consider Clive Cussler's recurrent character Dirk Pitt, or Ian Flemings' James Bond as examples.
- Sports Literature: stories about athletes and sports of all kinds. Some of the more famous Sports Literature titles are Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe, or The Losing Season by Pat Conroy, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornsby, but also writers like Bernard Malamud, Ernest Hemingway, etc.
An archetype--meaning arche (original) and type (form) is a pattern that many writers use to pattern their plots. It's helpful for a writer to be familiar with some of the basic plot and character archetypes, so that you know what a reader expects in a story.
Archetype, or "original pattern", is a model from which other characters or stories are based. Archetype is as old as human storytelling and continues throughout contemporary literature (just that you don't always notice it as archetype).
When an author uses archetype, he is patterning his character(s) or plot after other types of that kind. For example: character archetype might include: 1. The hero 2. the protective mother 3. the prostitute with a heart of gold 4. the trickster or 5. the evil or cruel master. Plot archetype might include: 1. the Rags to Riches plot 2. the Quest 3. Transformation or 4. traditional love story: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.
There are many, many more. And yes, archetype used too often, can create stereotype.
The ones that we will focus on can be used with the Action or Adventure genre. Let's take a look. For each type, jot down some films, books, or stories you have read or watched that fit the archetype.
The Quest
The quest is traditionally a journey about the self.
1. The story starts at Protagonist’s home
2. Protagonist is pushed or spurred into action
3. The decision to ACT leads to the first major event
This first event is called a Motivating Incident
The main character has both:
Intent= to find the goal
motivation=reason for wanting to achieve it
4. The protagonist rarely travels alone; helpful characters aid the protagonist
5. Usually the quest includes a series of incidents (actions) that help to develop the protagonist
The author must ask: what difficulties would make the most interesting and challenging obstacles for the protagonist.
6 The final act of the story includes a revelation, epiphany, discovery or realization about the main character’s life or personal situation.
7. Often, additional complications arise as a result of the protagonist obtaining his goal.
8. The protagonist usually returns home, making a complete circle. He returns changed, developed.
The Adventure
1. The focus of this plot is on the action (journey), not the person making the journey.
2. Story concerns traveling into an unknown or new place.
3. The hero's goal is never found in the self or at home, but in the new places visited.
4. Hero must be motivated by someone or something; intent is not as important as motivation.
5. Hero doesn't necessarily need to change in any meaningful way by the end of the story.
6. Adventures often include romance (see the Romance plot below).
Romance
• The protagonist falls in love with another character (the object of affection)
• There should always be an obstacle that prevents the object of affection from getting together romantically with the beloved
• The first attempt at romance is always thwarted or delayed and put off
• Characters are often caught up in their personal emotions and problems
• Lovers are tested by a series of problems or conflicts (often from the outside)
• If the love is "forbidden", then the characters also have to come to terms with the society or culture that is preventing them from being together
• Lovers will usually get together at the end of the plot (in forbidden love plots, however, usually they don't)
The Chase
- A protagonist either is chased by some sort of antagonist, or a protagonist is chasing an antagonist--often those accused or suspected of a crime.
- The story involves several near "catches" but eventually ends with the protagonist winning.
The Rescue
- Someone captured, might be released by the hero (or the hero escapes--see below). A triangle often forms between the protagonist, the antagonist, and the captured victim. There is usually a big fight at the climax of the story between hero and villain resulting in the freedom of the victim. Slave narratives and the archetype of the princess in the castle fall into this category as well.
The Escape
- This is just the reversal of the rescue. A person must escape, perhaps with a little help from other characters. In this plot line, there may also be the chase archetype, where the protagonist (once escaped) is chased or pursued.
Survival
- Like the other action archetypes, these plots can be combined with others. Many stories and plots have at their central core a will for the protagonist to survive--whether that's an external or internal force. The survival plot is simply a series of life-threatening conflicts that a protagonist must overcome in order to survive.
HOMEWORK: Please read the short story To Build a Fire by Jack London. Annotate the text as you read. Be prepared to discuss the story next class. Bring the draft with you.
1 comment:
Journals are due tomorrow, correct?
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