Period 3:
TASK #1:
In the lab today, please take a look at Stephen King's official website. You can find information about the author and his books here.
TASK #2:
Then read Some tips about writing by Stephen King. In the COMMENT section of this blog, please identify which tip(s) seem most important to you and explain why. This post is due by the end of period 3. Please complete this before you try task #3.
TASK #3:
Choose either your Stephen King exercise from last class or the 300-word short story scene you wrote from last class. (Copies of your work will be handed back to you...)
Add suspense to this story by using one or more of the techniques we covered in class last week:
Some ways to create suspense:
Aim to finish a draft by the end of period 3.
Period 4:
Let's stop writing and begin to watch Misery, one of Stephen King's favorite novels that he wrote. He mentions Misery in the first section of his memoir. Details about the film are here:
Misery (1990) was directed by Rob Reiner. William Goldman (the author who wrote The Princess Bride) wrote the screenplay based on Stephen King's novel.
Paul Sheldon (the protagonist) is played by James Caan.
Annie Wilkes (the antagonist) is played by Kathy Bates.
More cast/crew information about the film can be found at IMDB.com at this link.
HOMEWORK: Please continue reading Stephen King's "On Writing" chapters 9-12. There will be a test on this book when you have finished reading it. Take notes on Stephen King's writing advice in your journal. These notes may help you study for the upcoming test on the book. We will likely finish the book by Friday or over this upcoming weekend.
TASK #1:
In the lab today, please take a look at Stephen King's official website. You can find information about the author and his books here.
TASK #2:
Then read Some tips about writing by Stephen King. In the COMMENT section of this blog, please identify which tip(s) seem most important to you and explain why. This post is due by the end of period 3. Please complete this before you try task #3.
TASK #3:
Choose either your Stephen King exercise from last class or the 300-word short story scene you wrote from last class. (Copies of your work will be handed back to you...)
Add suspense to this story by using one or more of the techniques we covered in class last week:
Some ways to create suspense:
- Show (describe) the danger or threat
- Hint at possibilities through your diction (careful word choice) and imagery
- Delay gratification by keeping your reader guessing as to what will happen next
- Use description as a way to break up or slow down the resolution of events
- Use dialogue as a way to break up or distract characters from the resolution of events
- Cut to a different scene--use white space to transition from one scene to another
- Cut to the POV of a different character--this is called parallel action
- Stop the scene before you resolve it--this is often called a cliffhanger
Aim to finish a draft by the end of period 3.
Period 4:
Let's stop writing and begin to watch Misery, one of Stephen King's favorite novels that he wrote. He mentions Misery in the first section of his memoir. Details about the film are here:
Misery (1990) was directed by Rob Reiner. William Goldman (the author who wrote The Princess Bride) wrote the screenplay based on Stephen King's novel.
Paul Sheldon (the protagonist) is played by James Caan.
Annie Wilkes (the antagonist) is played by Kathy Bates.
More cast/crew information about the film can be found at IMDB.com at this link.
HOMEWORK: Please continue reading Stephen King's "On Writing" chapters 9-12. There will be a test on this book when you have finished reading it. Take notes on Stephen King's writing advice in your journal. These notes may help you study for the upcoming test on the book. We will likely finish the book by Friday or over this upcoming weekend.
11 comments:
I think the formula for success is definitely the piece of advice that I need to use more often. "2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%" When I'm revising, I usually don't want to cut anything, but Stephen King argues that it's necessary for the pacing of the story.
The tips that seem important to me are, sometimes it's okay to allow distractions into my life and a second draft isn't always going to help. These are important to me because as someone who gets distracted a lot, I tend to take inspiration from my distraction. And writing the second draft has never really helped me out, I tend to just edit and revise one copy of a story and only that one draft.
A piece of information that Stephen king gives that is the most important to me is when he says often the scariest moment is often right before you start. Writing that is. I believe this is true because as a writer I often am either loving it or hating it, but no matter for each and every story I write the nerves kick in write at that sentence or paragraph or maybe before any words get on the page.
The most important comment for me is the one about being able to cut the parts that are not necessary to the story and just slow it down. King says "Kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings." This is something that I struggle with. I don't like to cut things from my stories, especially the things that I loved writing or that I loved the sound of. I have to remember that driving the story forward is the most important thing in a story and everything else slows it down.
"Formula for success: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%". To kill 'my darlings' is always hard but something you should do. It's the most important bit of advice to me because I get really attached. Hope this is a good enough comment for you here.
The most important tip to me was "The scariest moment is always just before you start". This was the most important to me because it's something that I do a lot. I tend to give up and not write at all because I don't even feel like starting. Starting a story is always the hardest part for me. So when I realize that if I get through the hardest part first, it should only be easier from there.
"I think it’s rare that incoherence or dull storytelling can be solved by something so minor as a second draft." I thought that was an important piece because it lets writers know that second drafts help a lot. It's always good to go back and reread your piece or even rewrite it to make it the best you can.
"Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings)...I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.”
This advice is important, like really important, because this talks about how to revise our stories after we write and what scenes to omit to make it better and I would like to add something to the formula; 2nd draft = (1st draft-10%) 2 better.
Jonaya Wright
Some tips that were helpful to me was to write in the middle of the action and then continue your story from there. This was very helpful to me because I rarely ever know exactly where to start when I think about writing something over a long period of time. Another tip that was important or helpful to me was when it stated that practice doesn't hurt when it's something you love. Meaning you truly love writing all this practice we do shouldn't bother you much or maybe even at all.
The tip that was helpful to me was that if you think that a part is boring than to leave it out because it will be boring to the reader too. And the formula was helpful too.
The tip that I found helpful was that you should always practice reading the writing that you've wrote because it will be beneficial later on. Also that you should be happy with what you are writing.
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