Welcome to Writing for Publication!
Period 3: Please complete the following tasks/questions/prompts and answer the questions on your handout or journal.
What does it take to be a "writer"? What skills do we need? What attitude do we need to cultivate? Let's find out.
Write a poem using the model and guidelines above.
Done so soon?
Check out Sherman Alexie's poem: "How to Write the Great American Indian Novel".
TASK: write instructions on how to write the great fantasy novel, the great television script, the great science report, the great American newspaper article, the great American gay romance, the greatest hip hop song lyrics, the greatest dating quiz, the best (or worst) love poem, the greatest historical novel, the greatest creative writing draft, the greatest film review, the clearest board game instructions, the tastiest recipe, the greatest greeting card, etc. Pick something and use Alexie's poem as a model or guide, try your own draft on a topic.
Period 3: Please complete the following tasks/questions/prompts and answer the questions on your handout or journal.
What does it take to be a "writer"? What skills do we need? What attitude do we need to cultivate? Let's find out.
Write the top 10 writing rules on the handout/note graphic organizer or in your journal for participation credit today.
Journaling: using your journal for the creative powers of good. Let's read the handout on journaling by Francine Prose. Glance at the exercises. We'll get to these later (see homework).
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
Journaling: using your journal for the creative powers of good. Let's read the handout on journaling by Francine Prose. Glance at the exercises. We'll get to these later (see homework).
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
Make a list of at least 10 words in your journal. Pick your favorite words or words that "resonate" with you from that list. If you wrote a vague or non-specific word, replace it with a more exact and specific one:
ex. tree = Japanese maple, hawthorn, birch, Sycamore, a linden tree in full bloom...
ex. thing = a blue bicycle, a valise with a broken lock, swimming trunks, a crushed fedora...
ex. stuff = macaroni & cheese, a dust bunny, a ball of twine, a hammer and nails, an empty can of tuna...
IMPORTANT WRITING TIP: After writing a first draft, go back through your writing and change all general or non-specific nouns and verbs into specific and concrete ones.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT WRITING TIP: Use your journal to gather a "snapshot" of objects in a room, physical details and description of a person or a setting...
ex. tree = Japanese maple, hawthorn, birch, Sycamore, a linden tree in full bloom...
ex. thing = a blue bicycle, a valise with a broken lock, swimming trunks, a crushed fedora...
ex. stuff = macaroni & cheese, a dust bunny, a ball of twine, a hammer and nails, an empty can of tuna...
IMPORTANT WRITING TIP: After writing a first draft, go back through your writing and change all general or non-specific nouns and verbs into specific and concrete ones.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT WRITING TIP: Use your journal to gather a "snapshot" of objects in a room, physical details and description of a person or a setting...
NEXT, read the following poem:
From : "Afternoons" by Jorge H. Aigla
Those afternoons, the Saturdays of my tender childhood
in Mexico City
were just lovely...
I remember going to a store
that sold mountain climbing equipment:
my father knew “The Goat,”
one of the climbers of the great Popocatepetl,
and he would show us boots, ropes, and hammers,
and photographs of the Valley of Mexico and of snow.
In the old section of the city,
where they sold model airplanes
with gasoline engines,
I would watch the wealthy kids buy
and we in our dreams would fly.
in Mexico City
were just lovely...
I remember going to a store
that sold mountain climbing equipment:
my father knew “The Goat,”
one of the climbers of the great Popocatepetl,
and he would show us boots, ropes, and hammers,
and photographs of the Valley of Mexico and of snow.
In the old section of the city,
where they sold model airplanes
with gasoline engines,
I would watch the wealthy kids buy
and we in our dreams would fly.
Now it's our turn. Let's set the timer and bleed words and ideas on the page...Take 10 minutes and write a poem modeled on the one we just read:
1. Think of a specific time and place
2. What did you think or feel while in this time and place?
3. What was going on in this time and place? What details do you remember?
4. What other image do you remember from this time and place?
5. What did you learn or come to understand about yourself by experiencing what happened in this time and place?
Your poem draft should be at least 10 lines in length. Follow the pattern.
Another example:
I was not awake--and my 7-year-old self did not yet understand
What a stroke was. My grandfather
Taught me how to plant seeds in the garden;
He taught me how to trim the grapes to cull the harvest;
He taught me how to respect the first frost.
He taught me how blood, thicker than burgundy,
1. Think of a specific time and place
2. What did you think or feel while in this time and place?
3. What was going on in this time and place? What details do you remember?
4. What other image do you remember from this time and place?
5. What did you learn or come to understand about yourself by experiencing what happened in this time and place?
Your poem draft should be at least 10 lines in length. Follow the pattern.
Another example:
Auld Lang SyneNew Years Day we got the frantic call in the morning.
I was not awake--and my 7-year-old self did not yet understand
What a stroke was. My grandfather
Taught me how to plant seeds in the garden;
He taught me how to trim the grapes to cull the harvest;
He taught me how to respect the first frost.
He taught me how blood, thicker than burgundy,
Clots. How age will somehow creep its way
Into a still man's vineyard. How it will
Sour the wine of prosperity, the leftover
Dregs of a celebration for a new year. Death wipes
Its clumsy feet on our doormat, knocking to be let in,
And I now know what it is to lose a grandfather
Locked in the glassy stare of a mortal body.
Write a poem using the model and guidelines above.
Done so soon?
Check out Sherman Alexie's poem: "How to Write the Great American Indian Novel".
TASK: write instructions on how to write the great fantasy novel, the great television script, the great science report, the great American newspaper article, the great American gay romance, the greatest hip hop song lyrics, the greatest dating quiz, the best (or worst) love poem, the greatest historical novel, the greatest creative writing draft, the greatest film review, the clearest board game instructions, the tastiest recipe, the greatest greeting card, etc. Pick something and use Alexie's poem as a model or guide, try your own draft on a topic.
Period 4:
The Creative Process: Six Steps of Art/or Becoming an Artist from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.
The Creative Process: Six Steps of Art/or Becoming an Artist from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.
- Idea/Purpose
- Form
- Idiom
- Structure
- Craft
- Surface
In your journal, reflect which stage(s) do you seem to identify with most?
Time remaining? Work on your homework. Details below!
Time remaining? Work on your homework. Details below!
HOMEWORK: Complete your poem drafts. Bring them to our next class as completed 1st drafts. Try the exercises in the handout. Read the handout on Genres and bring the article back with you to our next class for a project.
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