Fantasy Story Draft Due!

After our short quiz, please continue writing your fantasy story draft. PLEASE DO NOT BE A DISTRACTION TO OTHERS!

Please use your time in the lab today to complete your fantasy draft. The draft is due today by the end of class. You should aim to complete your story draft today in the lab. See previous posts for details concerning this project. Remember to turn in your map as part of your project!

Note the rubric below:

• Draft is turned in on time (1 point) (draft due April 30, today--you may turn your draft in after today, but it will count as a penalty to your overall grade.)
• Draft is given a working title (1 point)
• Draft is generally free of spelling/mechanical errors (proofread & check your grammar!) (1 point)
• Draft follows the proper fiction story format for prose (1 point)
• Draft shows effort and attention to detail or verisimilitude (appropriate diction or word choice) (1 point)
• Draft includes at least 10 parts, illustrating the hero's journey archetype (note/review this video for help or to check your work...) (1 point)
• Draft includes imaginative description/imagery of the story's setting (1 point)
• Draft includes a protagonist that undergoes the process described in "the hero's journey" (1 point)
• Draft includes recognizable fantasy tropes (1 point)
• A fantasy map is included in the project (1 point)
• Total: 10/10 (?)

Done early?

• Study for The Hobbit test next class.
• Prepare for the coffeehouse if you are joining us. 
• Complete any late or missing work. (make sure you turn in your Fantasy Bingo sheets if you haven't already as well...)

HOMEWORK: Please complete the Hobbit and study or prepare for your final test on the book Wednesday. It is a good idea to study your previous quizzes and note examples as to how the book's plot follows the hero's journey we have been studying.  

Please join us May 1 (tomorrow) at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater for our Spring Coffeehouse to honor the senior creative writing class! 

Fantasy Draft: Day 4

After our short quiz, please continue writing your fantasy story draft. PLEASE DO NOT BE A DISTRACTION TO OTHERS!

Please use your time in the lab today to work on your fantasy draft. You should aim to complete 2-4 pages (double-spaced) today in the lab. See previous posts for details concerning this project.

Note the rubric below:

• Draft is turned in on time (1 point) (draft due April 30)
• Draft is given a working title (1 point)
• Draft is generally free of spelling/mechanical errors (proofread & check your grammar!) (1 point)
• Draft follows the proper fiction story format for prose (1 point)
• Draft shows effort and attention to detail or verisimilitude (appropriate diction or word choice) (1 point)
• Draft includes at least 10 parts, illustrating the hero's journey archetype (note/review this video for help or to check your work...) (1 point)
• Draft includes imaginative description/imagery of the story's setting (1 point)
• Draft includes a protagonist that undergoes the process described in "the hero's journey" (1 point)
• Draft includes recognizable fantasy tropes (1 point)
• A fantasy map is included in the project (1 point)
• Total: 10/10 (?)

HOMEWORK: Please read chapters 16-19 of the Hobbit. (Complete the book). 

Feel free to take notes in your journal about what you read, particularly as the book deals with the hero's journey we have discussed in class. There will be a test on this book next week!

Also, continue writing your fantasy story. If you haven't kept up with the page requirements for your story (around 5-10 pages completed at the end of today's class...) you need to catch up with the rest of us.

Your fantasy draft will be due Monday, April 30.  

Please join us May 1 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater for our Spring Coffeehouse to honor the senior creative writing class! 

The Hobbit: Chapter 12; Fantasy Story Draft: Day 3

Please take 5 minutes and complete the questions for our reading quiz on chapters 8-12.

After our reading quiz, please take a look at the handout on beginnings. Then we will read the first part of chapter 8 together. You do not have class on Monday, so please note the reading homework and expect another quiz on your reading assignment on Tuesday.

Lab:

Last class, I asked you to continue writing your fantasy draft. Let's get back to it. Try to add 2 pages or more, double-spaced.

Remember: you will need about 10-11 "chapters" or "parts" or "paragraphs" for your story. These parts should follow the archetype for the hero's journey:
Use the hero's journey archetype and write a short story that includes at least the following scenes:

• Status quo (what is life like for your protagonist? What is "normal")
• Call to adventure (what makes your character get up and go on a quest?)
• Departure (your protagonist must leave his/her comfort zone)
• Mentor or assistance (your protagonist should get some help or advice from someone, like a teacher or mentor or guide or coach, etc.)--note how many people/characters help Bilbo on his journey to become a hero. 
• Trials (usually 3 is the magic #--3 trials, each one more difficult than the last--leading to your climax)--note how many trials and problems Bilbo runs into during the novel! Quite a few!
• Approach/crisis (have your character fail at first...no one said this should be easy...that's why the character will become a "hero") Keep track of how many times Bilbo fails or complicates things before he succeeds on his own!
• Approach/success (then have your character try a different tactic (maybe this time with a magic weapon or object to help him/her)--and succeed 
• Treasure (your character should gain something--even wisdom is something--by the end of the story); Note the objects of value that Bilbo finds in his adventures with the dwarves!
• Result/return/resolution/status quo (hero returns home; back to the drawing board...)

HOMEWORK: Please read chapters 13-15 of the Hobbit. If you are behind, jump to chapter 13 and start reading. Try to progress.

Feel free to take notes in your journal about what you read, particularly as the book deals with the hero's journey we have discussed in class. 

Also, if you wish, you may continue writing your fantasy story. If you haven't kept up with the page requirements for your story (at least 3-4 pages completed...) you should catch up with the rest of us.

Your fantasy draft will be due Monday, April 30.  Also, we will finish reading the Hobbit about then too. So prepare! You can do it!

Please join us May 1 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater for our Spring Coffeehouse to honor the senior creative writing class! 

Fantasy Story Drafts: Day 2; The Hobbit quiz

Complete this quiz (the bulleted questions below) for The Hobbit, chapters 5 through 7.

• Summarize each chapter: chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7
• Identify what part of the hero's journey these chapters deal with and explain why.

Your quiz is due by the end of class. Please send me a copy of your summary through GOOGLE DOCS: bradley.craddock@rcsdk12.org.

When you are done with your quiz, please continue to write your fantasy draft. By the end of class today, you should have written 1-2 pages (double-spaced...) and have completed:

• A scene or two (or more) of your fantasy story. Remember that you want to follow the hero's journey in your plot:
• Status quo (exposition; the beginning; describe your character's normal setting...what's life like in this town, this family, this land, this castle, this magical place?
• Call to adventure: Interrupt your character's status quo by a call to adventure. Give your character a reason and purpose to start a quest (see posts below for help or ideas!)
• Mentor/teacher/guide: give your protagonist a mentor or guide who can send your hero out on their own with a little knowledge or skill. Give your character some help or advice before departing.
• Departure: your protagonist must leave his/her status quo and leave home to accomplish the task set before him/her. Departure is usually into an unknown land, or into the dark forest, or into the ancient forbidden castle. This usually includes a journey (and you MUST describe your new setting...it's new, after all.)
• Approach: give your character 1-3 problems to solve. Problems in fantasy stories are often battles with monsters (the Dwarfs fighting the Goblins or Bilbo fighting the spiders), escaping from a trap (Bilbo & the Trolls, for example), solving a riddle (Bilbo & Gollum), or using one's wits to survive (Bilbo & rescuing the dwarfs from the elf king); Each approach is part of your rising action. I'm expecting 3 in your story. Each scene needs to be described. See advice below.
• Crisis/Failure: your character should after the second trial or problem, fail to defeat the last trial.
• Again it might be helpful to write an outline for your plot. You do not have to write your scenes in order. You might wish to start with a battle scene first, then focus on the other scenes from this list. 
• Remember to use effective diction and specific details when writing your setting or scenes. 
• Use imagery when describing a setting (sound, sight, taste, touch, smell, etc.)
• Use dialogue to develop characterization (remember that characterization is created by describing a character's physical traits, mental or personality traits, learning about a character through what a character says or thinks about the character, or what a character says or thinks about him/herself. I.E. Dialogue!
• Describe your actions by choosing effective verbs. Here's a list to help you.
• If you need a name, try this name generator.
• Other plot help, if needed.
• Fantasy tropes
• Inspirational pictures.
• Write.

HOMEWORK: Please read chapters 8-12 (to page 220) of The Hobbit. We will be completing this book by the end of next week. 

Fantasy Short Story Draft

Let's take a quick quiz on Chapter Two of The Hobbit. After our pop quiz, please do the following:

1. Complete your fantasy map.
2. Create a character (a hero or antihero like Bilbo or someone who has something to strive for or gain something for a reason)--this will be your protagonist. A protagonist DECIDES to act and get involved and make decisions that often threaten his/her safety (going off to war, battling a monster, saving a town, solving a riddle, etc.)--You may use your original character sketch as your protagonist, but you don't need to if that didn't work out so well. Try a new character sketch if you need to.
3. Pick a location or setting that will be important in your story. Describe it. Use imagery to provide details about the location. Each NEW location in your story will need to be described in detail. Remember that in fantasy stories we (the readers) need to feel comfortable about how this world or setting works, who's in it, and what it's like. It's your job as a writer to provide this information for your reader!
4. Pick a situation or quest for your protagonist. (see below)
5. Use the hero's journey archetype and write a short story that includes at least the following scenes:

• Status quo (what is life like for your protagonist? What is "normal")
• Call to adventure (what makes your character get up and go on a quest?)
• Departure (your protagonist must leave his/her comfort zone)
• Mentor or assistance (your protagonist should get some help or advice from someone, like a teacher or mentor or guide or coach, etc.)
• Trials (usually 3 is the magic #--3 trials, each one more difficult than the last--leading to your climax)
• Approach/crisis (have your character fail at first...no one said this should be easy...that's why the character will become a "hero")
• Approach/success (then have your character try a different tactic (maybe this time with a magic weapon or object to help him/her)--and succeed
• Treasure (your character should gain something--even wisdom is something--by the end of the story)
• Result/return/resolution/status quo (hero returns home; back to the drawing board...)

That's about 10 or 11 scenes, folks. Your story should be AT LEAST 10-11 paragraphs in length--and can be more. Use the model short stories we've read (like the Conan stories) to help you.

Starting an idea for a fantasy story:

Choose a situation; draw heavily on some fantasy plot tropes:

• A hero or protagonist explores the unknown (a strange tower, a dark forest, an ancient ruin, etc.)--usually looking for the object of a quest. 
• A hero or protagonist has to defeat an ancient evil
• A hero or protagonist has to recover an object of great wealth, usually to battle and overcome evil or a malignant force
• A hero or protagonist has to save or rescue his/her family, a loved one, an important person, a city, a country, the whole world...
• A hero or protagonist has to fulfill a quest or difficult task or undertaking
• A hero or protagonist must escape a prison or difficult situation
• A hero or protagonist must rescue prisoners or slaves or loved ones from a difficult situation
• A hero or protagonist must break a curse or find an important object to heal a wound or bring someone back from the land of the dead (or any impossible thing)
• A hero or protagonist makes contact with a lost race of beings

Settings can include:

• Castles or towers
• Caves or caverns
• Abandoned mines
• Crypts or tombs
• Ancient temples or sacred places
• Strongholds or keeps
• A village or town

Remember to describe your fantasy world with details. This is called diction (specific word choice) and diction helps to create tone, theme, develop characterization, describe setting by providing imagery, and creates verisimilitude (making something made-up sound real). 

Drafts aren't due yet, but the more off task the class is, the shorter our deadline...

HOMEWORK: Please read and briefly summarize chapters 3-4. Bring your books back with you to next class so we can read chapter 5 together. Feel free to continue to write your fantasy story draft. 

The Hobbit: Chapter 1; Fantasy Map Making

Please keep your journals for period 3 while we read/listen to The Hobbit. As we listen to the chapter, please keep your journal for any notes you may wish to take as I discuss key points of the novel and things to be aware of as a writer.

You should also keep your Fantasy BINGO sheet nearby to capture any fantasy tropes. Turn in your BINGO sheets when you have collected BINGO. The first student to do so will win a small prize. The rest just get credit for the assignment and get to learn something about fantasy tropes--so even if you don't win, you win!

Period 3:

We will listen to Chapter 1 of The Hobbit.

Keep track of Bilbo's Hero Journey:

• Status Quo
• Call to adventure
• Assistance
• Departure
• Trials
• Approach
• Crisis
• Treasure
• Result
• Return 
• New Life
• Resolution/Status quo

Period 4ish. Turn in your journals. They are due today.

Room 238 and the lab will be open for you to design and create your fantasy maps. Use the markers, crayons, pens, pencils, etc. to create a fantasy world for your upcoming story. See previous post for advice and details about how to create an effective fantasy world map. We'll start writing our fantasy stories on Friday. Turn in your map draft by the end of the week.

HOMEWORK: Please read Chapter 2 of The Hobbit. Continue to fill in your BINGO sheets. There may be a quiz. 

Fantasy Map Making; The Hobbit: Chapter 1

Lab: Period 3

Before our masterclass with Reyna Grande, you were asked to write a description of a fantasy setting and create a character sketch of a potential hero character you might use. Both exercises are meant as pre-writing/brainstorming exercises for your upcoming fantasy story draft.

If you did not complete both the setting description and the character sketch, please spend part of period 3 doing that now. You are late, so any work you do not complete from today's lesson, please complete as homework. See below for details.

Additionally, we have been discussing the Archetypal hero journey. If you have forgotten what this is, please refresh your memory as we will be discussing it in further detail as we read our next book.

Spotlight on Heroic or High Fantasy Fiction:

• What makes a hero (short video)
• This subgenre of fantasy is devoted to heroes. A hero is a character who possesses a strength, skill, or talent that ordinary people lack. A hero is often tested by facing adversity or problems--most life-threatening--so that he/she can prove his/her worth, strength, or talent as a hero.
• All heroes in stories act as role models for us (see the: benefits of reading video above). They teach us how to behave, how to be the best that we can be, how to react when faced with adversity.
• The hero will usually "go on an adventure" in this subgenre of heroic fantasy--sometimes for self-gain, sometimes to save others or to test one's heroic quality/talents.
• The hero will usually go through part or all of the following pattern:
• The Hero Archetype's Call to Adventure:
• Status Quo
• Call to adventure
• Assistance
• Departure
• Trials
• Approach
• Crisis
• Treasure
• Result
• Return 
• New Life
• Resolution/Status quo
• As we continue this unit, look for how this pattern repeats itself in the stories we read. 
• Description and detail helps paint a picture (activates neurons) in our imagination. Take a look at the video and think about how this applies to the writing that we do.

LAB TASK: 

If you have completed these tasks: (you described your setting, you wrote a character sketch and viewed/understood the material on the hero archetype), you may proceed to the next task. 

Create a map of your fantasy world. 

Many fantasy novels include a map for the reader to track a character's progress on a quest. You have defined ONE setting in your vast fantasy world. Many fantasy authors like to draw or sketch a map of their setting, often hinting at difficult terrain or locales, objects of importance, or names of places a character may visit. Today we will do the same. 

First, a model. Take a look at:

• Examples of fantasy maps

Then, during period 3, take a 8.5x14 sized sheet of paper and sketch a map of your fantasy setting.
You might need some help. Take a look at these articles/videos for some models and advice about creating your fantasy map:

• 10 Rules for Making Better Fantasy Maps
• Tricks and Tips for Making Fantasy Maps
• Drawing a fantasy map (video) - 8 min.
• You may also find this site helpful in coming up with names: Fantasy name generator (fantasy place names are located near the bottom of the webpage)

Period 4:

Please go to the library to pick up the fantasy novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. When you return, please go to room 238 to continue our class. Please bring your books and journals!

TASK #1: In your journal make a list of some of the fantasy books, short stories, films, or television programs you have seen or are familiar with. You can include anything from television cartoon shows to epic blockbuster films. The idea is to pick some of your favorites. Take only 3 minutes to make your list. We'll add to it soon.

TASK #2: Then: this morning, please join a partner or two and add to your list with some of the ideas from your partner(s). This time, though, please identify some of the tropes and common plot events, characters, items, and settings likely to be found in a fantasy film, story, or novel. You will find this list useful in creating ideas for your own fantasy story next class.

TASK #3: Let's begin reading The Hobbit. As we read, please follow along in your books (this is important to build your vocabulary and understanding of the novel as a writer). First take a look at Tolkien's map. What are some things you notice?

As we read along, please prepare your fantasy bingo sheet.

HOMEWORK: I will be checking your journals next class (Wednesday) for MP3. Also, please complete chapter 1 of the Hobbit if we do not complete it during class. If you did not complete your character sketch, your description, or the Hero's archetype notes, please do so before next class.