Blog Post #9; Fantasy Writing & Advice; The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

Please take the quiz from your homework assignment last class. You may use your journal notes (but not the article or short story). You have only 15 minutes to complete this quiz. Make sure your answers are specific and detailed for full credit.

Task #1: After our quiz, please post a comment on YOUR blog (blog post #9) about the genre/market of Fantasy Literature. Take a look at the sample brochures from your peers about the subject.

• What do you think about the genre?
• What do you like/dislike about the genre?
• What books, films, or TV shows have you read/watched that fit this category?

Blog post #8 was a homework assignment. Check last class's blog post for details!

Then, please gather next door for some guided reading ("The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" & notes about fantasy.

Writing Lab Task #2: 
Setting Description Exercise: (due at end of class)

Choose one of the following pictures below and use it as inspiration to describe a specific setting. You are not necessarily writing a story; instead, you are describing a place in detail using imagery: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, temperature, weather, etc.

Consider:

• Sight/Visual Imagery: What does the eye see? What is most obvious about the setting visually? What are some of the small visual details (objects, places, etc.)
• Sound/Aural Imagery: What does the ear hear? What sounds might we hear in this environment (consider time of day as well...)
• Smell/Olfactory Imagery: What does the nose smell? Ex. wood smoke, brimstone, methane gas, rot, sweat, decay, mildew, earth, clay, blossoms, incense, manure, garbage, hay, cooking food or meat, flowers, cut grass, etc. Olfactory imagery is created by the mention of the smell. Usually smells linger on the air, or contrasting smells compete with one another to be most noticeable. See gustatory imagery below. Smells are often described as cloying or overwhelming--and there's always a source of the smell (whether it can be seen or heard or touched). 
• Touch/Kinesthetic Imagery: What does the body feel? How hot/cold is the wind? What does the foot or boot feel as it travels? How humid or dry is the air? What do objects held feel like? Ex. slimy, coarse, rough, prickly, smooth, bumpy, soft, hard, wet, dry, cool, hot, etc.
• Taste/Gustatory Imagery: What does the tongue taste? Similar to olfactory imagery, what might a person taste in the air, from the breeze, as a result of traveling through this area or location? Blood, by the way, tastes metallic--some say like a penny or copper. Ex. sweet, sour, slimy, fishy, rancid, succulent, bitter, acrid, etc.

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Write a descriptive paragraph or two detailing the setting of one of these places. Turn in your description by the end of class today. If you finish early, please work on your homework. See below.

HOMEWORK: Read the article on "Imagination" & the short stories "The Tower of the Elephant" by Robert E. Howard and "Trollbridge" by Terry Pratchett. Answer the questions to turn in for participation credit next class.