Sherlock Holmes Review; Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None; Mystery Draft Project: Day 2

Period 3:

This morning, review The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on YOUR blog. Consider the following writing ideas (you may combine and develop any of the following):

• Which stories did you like the most & why?
• Which stories did you dislike the most & why?
• What did you learn about writing mysteries from reading Arthur Conan Doyle's work?
• What did you notice about Sherlock Holmes as a character that developed as you read the collection? Why does the character intrigue us even today?
• Which characters were your favorite and why? 
• Written and published in 1892, is the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes worth the read? Why or why not?
• Other*

Include a picture or video of Sherlock Holmes or Watson on your blog.

Part 2: After writing, please head to the library for your next novel: And Then There Were None.  We will begin reading chapter 1 in class together. The first thing we should do as writers is to share our characters with the reader. The reader needs, just like in real life situations, to meet the characters before we bump them off or arrest them for a crime. Your first job (and probably the most important job) is to create effective and interesting characters. 

As we read Chapter One, notice how Agatha Christie attempts to introduce us to her cast of characters for the novel. What do we learn about each one? Take character notes in your journal!

Period 4:

• Tips When Writing Mysteries/Thrillers
• How to Create Suspense

Use these ideas/tips as necessary. You may be able to use them for your own mystery story project. Use the rest of class to continue writing your mystery story draft--or read your homework. 

HOMEWORK: Please read chapters 1-4 (pg. 1-74) for Tuesday. Bring your books and your mystery drafts back with you to class.  

Masterclass with Omar el Akkad

Today, please head down to the Ensemble theater for a masterclass with author Omar el Akkad. Please bring your journals.

If, for some reason, there is time remaining, please continue to work on your detective stories.

HOMEWORK: Please complete any stories from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that you would like to read.

Writing the Mystery Draft Project: Day 1

After today's quiz, please begin working on your detective story. Use the time in the lab to prepare, plot, and write your story. The following may help you:

1. Start planning with the crime. Choose a crime and the motive for at least 3-4 characters. Consider how each one might enact their plan and identify what motivates each character to consider committing the crime.
2. Choose one of your suspects as the criminal.
3. Name/list clues that might lead a reader to choose your suspect. You will want a list of clues that are "red herrings" or "MacGuffins" for your other 2-3 characters innocent of the crime.
4. Once you have all your answers--who done it (and why)?--it's time to get the story started.
5. Sherlock Holmes stories always start with status quo--Holmes or Watson are often together in the evening when someone with a case arrives. Holmes & Watson listen to the interested party's case and then they usually take the case and begin their investigation.
6. The middle of a Holmes story usually involves some adventure or misadventure as Holmes goes about collecting clues and/or interacting with suspects.
7. After a scene with all the possible suspects, Holmes catches the criminal in some adventurous fashion including cab chases, stakeouts, and life/death situations. The solution to the crime is explained (usually to the interested party--or sometimes just Watson) by Holmes and the end of the story occurs.
8. The end.

The basic plot elements of the mystery form:

• The baffling crime
• The singularly motivated investigator who is hired to solve the case (your protagonist)
• The hidden criminal (one of 4 or more characters)
• The cover-up (often more important than the crime itself, as the cover-up is what conceals the criminal. This leads to a variety of clues)
• Discovery and elimination of suspects (in which creating false suspects is often part of the criminal's plan)
• Evaluation of clues (sifting the true from the untrue clue(s))
• Identification and apprehension of the criminal.

Use the handouts and possibly scenes you have written during our exercises to help you with your story. Mysteries are generally longer types, so start today. We'll discuss due dates later. 

HOMEWORK: Please complete the rest of the stories in the collection. Continue to brainstorm, write, and think about your mystery draft.

Preparing the Crime; Mystery Genres Examined; Leg Work & Clues

From: EADeverell.com

WHAT CREATES MYSTERY?

A few elements are vital to keeping a mystery story moving forward:

• Questions – A single question can be enough to sow doubt in a reader’s mind, and create a mystery where previously there was none.
• Answers – The dance between questions and answers is what keeps readers engaged in a mystery. Every answer creates a new question until the final dénouement resolves the last loose ends… Or does it? 
• Suspense – Between the questions and the answers there’s…SUSPENSE.

The mystery genre often solidifies these elements around physical objects – a dead body, a murder weapon, a clue, a suspect, etc. – whereas a psychological thriller will focus on the internal, non-material aspects – a doubt about another character, the suspense created by a ringing telephone, the silence on the other end, etc.
Use the crime you chose to write about in last class's writing activity. If you did not select a crime, select one from the blog post below. Write for 5 minutes all the details, characters, settings, actions that might go along with that crime. Burglary, for example, will have different characters, settings, or actions than a typical assault & battery. Simply put, the burglar is seldom the thug, although desperation and fear of getting caught can often change a person's personality.

How to Observe a Person (Things to Look For)--building a clue list. Using the information in this linked video, create a list of 4, 8, or 12 clues that might go along with the kind of crime you have selected.

Then let's read the article: "The Differences Between A Crime Novel, a Mystery Novel and a Thriller" by David Corbett for Writer's Digest.

After clearing that up, let's get back to writing. Again, choose one of the following scenarios and write. We will write for 10 minutes. Don't give up. If you give up, bother another student, talk or start a conversation, or just stop writing for more than a few seconds, you "die"--and will not be rewarded at the end of your writing time...! Your story pieces do not have to connect at this moment.

11	A character trails another character.	Are they detected?
12	A character is found dead.	Who could have foreseen this?
13	A character is abducted, or discovered to have been abducted.	How does this help to deepen the mystery?
14	A character defends another character.	Do they know who’s guilty?
15	A character plants a false clue.	Who discovers the false clue?
16	A character tries to obstruct the investigator.	Who are they trying to protect?
17	Someone sets a trap to catch the perpetrator.	Do they have the right person?
18	Someone solves the mystery.	What do they do with this new information?
19	A character is discovered to have a secret identity.	Who are they really?
20	A secret passage is discovered.	Where does it lead?

Finally, with the rest of our class, prepare more ideas for your original mystery. Complete the character motivation worksheet and then the solving a mystery worksheet. These worksheets are meant to give you ideas for your detective story. Taken together with the other assignments we have written in the past few classes, start stitching together a plot line for your mystery draft in your journal.

If you cannot write for some reason, use your class time to read (see homework!) Do not bother other students, please.

HOMEWORK: Read the following short stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: "The Man With the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." Take notes in your journal to keep the plots/characters of each story straight. Notice how Doyle uncovers clues and handles the structure of each of these stories. Have you noticed a pattern to his writing yet? Stories should be completed by next class (Monday). 

Critical Thinking; Preparing the Crime/Mystery Story

After our pop quiz, please make sure you have completed your character sketch exercise from last class. See handout.

Tips on Writing in the Detective Fiction Mystery Genre

• 5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking
• Writing Detective Fiction

Extra: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (and become smarter...)
Now try these strategies and solve these riddles/puzzles: 13 Short Detective Stories & Math Riddles to Test Your IQ

Let's pick a crime. Please watch the video, then record a crime & a "country". The crime will be used in the prompt below. The "country" will help you further define your character or victim(s). Most common crimes in the US:

• Theft (the action or crime of stealing)
• Larceny (theft of personal property)
• Burglary (entry into a building illegally with intent to commit a crime)
• Assault (physical attack or violence against a person)
• Robbery (theft using force or threatening force)
• Drug use (illicit drug use)
• Drunk driving (DUI)
• Fraud (a person deceiving others intended to achieve financial or personal gain)
• Blackmail (demanding money or profit in return for not revealing information about the victim)

How to Observe a Person (Things to Look For)--building a clue list. Using the information in this linked video, create a list of 4, 8, or 12 clues that might go along with the kind of crime you have selected.

From: edeverell.com (Eva Deverell)

• Choose 1 of the prompts below.
• Write whatever details come to mind for 5 minutes. Do not leave off your writing or disrupt others or stop writing or leave the room or put your pencil down (or you have "died"). Survivors will receive a prize at the end of this exercise. 
• You may start a new prompt from this list if you finish one before time is called.
• Stories do not have to be linked to events that occurred before you started writing (you do not need to write from beginning to middle to end...)
• This is just an exercise. 

Choose 1 Prompt to Start & Write for 5 Minutes without Stopping:

01	A note is discovered.	Who was the intended recipient?
02	A character who was thought lost or who departed reappears.	Why did they stay away until now?
03	A new (contradictory) clue is discovered.	Is it a red herring?
04	An old clue is reevaluated.	How has the evaluator’s perception changed?
05	Suspicion shifts to another person.	Why were they not previously suspected?
06	The investigator examines the scene of the mystery.	What seems out of place?
07	A previously innocent or unrelated person is connected to the mystery.	Why wasn’t their connection noticed earlier?
08	The investigator explains their own interest in the mystery.	Are they qualified to try and solve this?
09	A character puts two and two together.	What leads them to the connection?
10	A character finds they’ve misread someone’s MOTIVATION.	How were they misled?
	Write a scene... NOTE: this is not a complete story in itself!

HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories: "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", & "The Five Orange Pips." Continue to take notes about the stories in your journal.

Arthur Conan Doyle; Reading Strategies; Character Sketch; Crime Prompt

After our short quiz, please visit the link below and take notes on the author Arthur Conan Doyle.

Perhaps the greatest known detective character is the famous Sherlock Holmes, a creation by Arthur Conan Doyle. Please go to Arthur Conan Doyle's website today and in your physical writing journal take notes on key fact about him. You may find helpful links under the heading Arthur Conan Doyle: biography, characters, and film & tv.

Got an idea as to who this guy is/was?

Now: let's act like a detective and jot down in our physical journals details about Doyle's characters from the stories in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Keep a page open and find:

• What "clues" from our reading do we know or come to understand about the character of Sherlock Holmes? (Indicate story & page # whereupon you found this evidence...):
• Ex. "emotions are abhorrent to him." (Scandal, pg. 1)
• Ex. "He has a cold, precise, and balanced mind." (Scandal, pg. 1)
• Ex. "He was the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that Watson had ever seen." (Scandal, pg. 1)
• Find 5-10 more...
•   Begin reading "The Red-Headed League" (see homework)

You can keep track of major characters in a novel or short story--or film, or play, etc. by writing down details about that character in your journal. Doing this can also help you see how an author sprinkles details about a protagonist or character throughout a story. You may use this technique as well to create your own original character for a story you will write in the future.

How to Create a Great Character (video)

• Our turn: what makes Watson an interesting character?
• What makes Irene Adler an interesting character? (likeability, competency, activity)

Creating Captivating Characters (video tutorial)

• Create an original "captivating" character using the character sketch graphic organizer handout.

Let's pick a crime. Please watch the video, then record a crime & a "country". The crime will be used in the prompt below. The "country" will help you further define your character or victim(s). Most common crimes in the US:

• Theft (the action or crime of stealing)
• Larceny (theft of personal property)
• Burglary (entry into a building illegally with intent to commit a crime)
• Assault (physical attack or violence against a person)
• Robbery (theft using force or threatening force)
• Drug use (illicit drug use)
• Drunk driving (DUI)
• Fraud (a person deceiving others intended to achieve financial or personal gain)
• Blackmail (demanding money or profit in return for not revealing information about the victim)

From: edeverell.com (Eva Deverell)

• Choose 1 of the prompts below.
• Write whatever details come to mind for 5 minutes. Do not leave off your writing or disrupt others or stop writing or leave the room or put your pencil down (or you have "died"). Survivors will receive a prize at the end of this exercise. 
• You may start a new prompt from this list if you finish one before time is called.
• Stories do not have to be linked to events that occurred before you started writing (you do not need to write from beginning to middle to end...)
• This is just an exercise. 

Choose 1 Prompt to Start & Write for 5 Minutes without Stopping:

01	A note is discovered.	Who was the intended recipient?
02	A character who was thought lost or who departed reappears.	Why did they stay away until now?
03	A new (contradictory) clue is discovered.	Is it a red herring?
04	An old clue is reevaluated.	How has the evaluator’s perception changed?
05	Suspicion shifts to another person.	Why were they not previously suspected?
06	The investigator examines the scene of the mystery.	What seems out of place?
07	A previously innocent or unrelated person is connected to the mystery.	Why wasn’t their connection noticed earlier?
08	The investigator explains their own interest in the mystery.	Are they qualified to try and solve this?
09	A character puts two and two together.	What leads them to the connection?
10	A character finds they’ve misread someone’s MOTIVATION.	How were they misled?

HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories: "The Red-Headed League" & "A Case of Identity". Continue to take notes about the stories in your journal.

Hemingway Post; Arthur Conan Doyle & Sherlock Holmes

Please submit a draft of your Hemingway story to our Google classroom. Drafts are due today.

3rd Period:

Examine the stories in Hemingway's collection and divide them into 3 sections (perhaps using your physical journal...): stories you liked, stories you didn't like, stories that didn't impress/annoy you one way or the other.

On YOUR blog, write a post examining one story you liked AND one story you didn't like. Leave the ones that made no impact on you alone. In your post make sure you:

• Name the story you like/didn't like
• Summarize each story briefly (about 3-5 sentences--remember to write about the premise...this story was about...etc.)
• Discuss what you liked/didn't like about the story.
• Discuss what you learned about Hemingway's style and how these things (or his personal life) found its way into the story you liked or didn't like
• Include a graphic or video relevant to the collection of short stories

Your blog post is due by the end of period 3. (See below...)

After posting, please complete the mystery genre padlet activity.

Mystery Genre Padlet Class Activity:

Go to the following link and add typical characters, plot events, themes, settings, or items often found in mysteries. For example: Detectives would be a typical character found in a mystery story. If you are in need of some help coming up with ideas, check this link.

You can include text, videos, links, or pictures.

Period 4: Please go to the library to pick up our next book: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Perhaps the greatest known detective character is the famous Sherlock Holmes, a creation by Arthur Conan Doyle. Please go to Arthur Conan Doyle's website today and in your physical writing journal take notes on key fact about him. You may find helpful links under the heading Arthur Conan Doyle: biography, characters, and film & tv.

When time is called we'll take a look at the padlet we created and begin reading the first story in the collection.

HOMEWORK: Please complete the first story in the collection. Look for examples that might have been listed on the padlet we created in class.

Hemingway Drafts #3 & #4

Period 3:

Improve Your Writing: Show, Not Tell
Motivational Words from J.K. Rowling

After our inspirational video, please complete draft 2 of the Hemingway Project. Use your time constructively in class. Write. If you need a break, read Hemingway. But do not bother others. You may find it helpful to sit apart from your best friend and siren.

If you finish draft #2, you may move on to draft #3. (See below...)

Period 4:

You should have a first draft (labeled first draft...)

You should have a second draft (labeled second draft). Make sure you have ITALICIZED your flashbacks!

Then move on to draft 3. Keep this draft separate (copy your second draft and paste it in the same file as a copy. Then edit/add stream of consciousness...label this draft DRAFT #3. 

Draft Three: Stream of Consciousness

1. Examine your flashbacks. Find moments where your character can include digressions, get stuck on topics, trail off, etc. You are trying to replicate or reproduce how the character’s mind works.
2. Write these flashbacks using stream of consciousness.

When you have completed this part of the story project, please move on to our final draft version: style. 

Draft Four: Style & Syntax: Sentence length

1. Keep your sentences short and declarative in your non-flashback section of the story. Remember dialogue sounds more realistic when you speak in short sentences or fragments.

2. In your flashback scenes, find moments where you digress and create long, complex sentences. Use em dashes to indicate digressions. Use semicolons ; to connect related clauses (but don't over use these). Use commas to make a simple sentence into a complex one. Use an ellipsis … to indicate trailing off. Use repetition of a phrase to expand or stress a comment. Repetition can be anaphora, epistrophe, or epimone, for example. See the link for repetition for more obscure types...

Ex: “They knew who had shot their fathers, their relatives, their brothers, their friends…”;

Use conjunctions to add phrases to your independent clauses (and, or, but, etc.)

3. Try to find a rhythm in your writing. Most paragraphs start out with short sentences (or end with them). This allows for a certain length of speed. Then as your sentences get longer and more complex, you can slow or speed the eye of the reader. Usually, you want important information to be delivered slowly. The use of repetition helps create a meter and rhythm for your sentence structure.

After completing draft 4, proofread your draft. Add details where necessary for clarity (remember setting, character, theme...), and cut unnecessary details. You may also focus on fine-tuning your work by examining the effectiveness of your diction and tone.

HOMEWORK: Complete your Hemingway draft if you did not complete it during class this week (there should be four drafts, each one making your work stronger) I'm interested in the last draft, but keep all your drafts in the same file. Make sure you have numbered them!

Turn in your draft when you have completed it (all 4 draft versions in one file please) with an MLA formatted heading (your name, the name of the assignment, the class, and the date...); print out or submit your work to our Google classroom by Tuesday, March 12.

Finally, complete the collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway by reading "The Short Unhappy Life of Francis MacComber". Please bring your texts back with you to our next class to discuss the book.

Hemingway: Day 3

Stream of consciousness: a narrative device or technique a writer uses to develop character (characterization). The writer does this by presenting the THOUGHTS of a character as they would occur in the mind. It is similar to an internal monologue that a character has about his/her situation in the narrative of the story. The character is speaking to him/herself in stream of consciousness. This technique is unique to fiction or poetry. It is similar to the voice over (VO) in film or the soliloquy in plays. It is useful to:

• Provide characterization or develop character
• Explains the attitude or POV of the character's mind or thought process

Flashback: a narrative technique useful in plotting. Usually, stories are written in chronological time (i.e., a story is told from the beginning to the end of an event). A flashback, however, allows the writer to insert a scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point (present). Flashbacks are used to:

• Provide important background or story details
• Develop details about a character (characterization)
• It helps to develop setting
• It can be used to create suspense

Let's read a little bit of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro." Complete this longer short story for homework if you did not do so already. See homework below...

Diversion: Advanced Time Management; let's see if there's more to learn...

Most of Hemingway’s stories have simple plots revolving around the theme of death or alienation. Two characters usually do not have the same world view (or opinion) and their conversation or relationship is strained by miscommunication (or the fact that a character cannot explain him/herself to another human being.) This is a typical trope in 20th-century literature, and in particular of writers of the Lost Generation. [Take a couple of minutes to learn about the Lost Generation--see link]!

In your first draft you should have chosen a situation, written a story that focused on the here and now--a single moment or a limited time period in one location. You were instructed not to get into the minds of the characters yet, but focus on the dialogue between the two or three characters. For further details, please refer to the assignment below this post.

By now you should have a completed draft #1. If you do not have a complete draft #1, please complete draft #1 and label it as such before you continue.

Complete? Then go on to these instructions:

Draft Two: Flashback

1. After you complete the basic story. Write a second draft including the following:

a. Find moments in the story for your character to think about or refer to his/her past. Select these moments and for each one, develop the inner dialogue of your protagonist.
b. This “flashback” should reveal personal opinions, reflect on the situation, and/or connect ideas and people with your character’s past. Your character’s past should be detailed with much verisimilitude.
c. You may cover years or many days or a great length of time for your flashbacks. You may also change scenery or setting.
2. Separate your flashbacks for now by italicizing them.

Write your draft #2. Please label this draft, draft #2! Use the rest of your class time today to write. You may also work on your homework if you need a break from writing...

HOMEWORK: Read the stories in the collection: "A Way You'll Never Be" & "Fifty Grand". If you missed any of the first 7 stories, read them too. Notice what we discussed in class concerning Hemingway's style. Bring your completed draft two story drafts back with you to our next class.

Hemingway: Day 2; Time Management for Writers

Please turn in any late work that may have been missing. We are 1/2 way through the marking period. Try to keep up with our writing/assignments!

YOUR BLOG: Writing 5-10 minute post.

• Choose 1 of the following 2 prompts and write a blog post on YOUR blog in the next 5-10 minutes.
• 1. Post Option #1: Write a post discussing the two short stories you read from the Hemingway collection of short stories: "Fathers and Sons" and "The Gambler, The Nun, and the Radio". What were these stories (what was their premise)? What did you notice about the writing style (tense, syntax, diction, sentence structure, use of literary elements like imagery or metaphor or symbol)? Hemingway's characters and characterization? Hemingway's plotting or themes or message? Hemingway's use of dialogue or POV? What questions do you have if you could ask Hemingway a question about these two stories? What connections can you make after learning a little about the author (how are the stories taken from Hemingway's own life experiences or seem similar to his life...)?
• 2. Post Option #2: Write about your own struggle with procrastination as a writer or artist. What is keeping you from focusing on your work? How might you overcome procrastination issues? How might you manage your time better?
• If you finish one post in the time given to you in class, you can always write a second post as extra credit.

• 5 Time-Management Skills of Successful Writers

Today we'll read "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" (the second story in the collection), and the first part of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". After reading a bit, we'll discuss the author's style and use of stream of consciousness. 

Consider these key narrative concepts: (write notes in your physical journal...)

Stream of consciousness: a narrative device or technique a writer uses to develop character (characterization). The writer does this by presenting the THOUGHTS of a character as they would occur in the mind. It is similar to an internal monologue that a character has about his/her situation in the narrative of the story. The character is speaking to him/herself in stream of consciousness. This technique is unique to fiction or poetry. It is similar to the voice over (VO) in film or the soliloquy in plays. It is useful to:

• Provide characterization or develop character
• Explains the attitude or POV of the character's mind or thought process

Flashback: a narrative technique useful in plotting. Usually, stories are written in chronological time (i.e., a story is told from the beginning to the end of an event). A flashback, however, allows the writer to insert a scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point (present). Flashbacks are used to:

• Provide important background or story details
• Develop details about a character (characterization)
• It helps to develop setting
• It can be used to create suspense

Then, let's read the short story, "A Day's Wait" from your collection (story #3), and with time back to another section of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro." Complete this longer short story for homework. See homework below...

Advanced Time Management; let's see if there's more to learn...

Most of Hemingway’s stories have simple plots revolving around the theme of death or alienation. Two characters usually do not have the same world view (or opinion) and their conversation or relationship is strained by miscommunication (or the fact that a character cannot explain him/herself to another human being.) This is a typical trope in 20th-century literature, and in particular of writers of the Lost Generation. [Take a couple of minutes to learn about the Lost Generation--see link]!

In your first draft you should have chosen a situation, written a story that focused on the here and now--a single moment or a limited time period in one location. You were instructed not to get into the minds of the characters yet, but focus on the dialogue between the two or three characters. For further details, please refer to the assignment below this post.

By now you should have a completed draft #1. If you do not have a complete draft #1, please complete draft #1 and label it as such before you continue.

Complete? Then go on to these instructions:

Draft Two: Flashback

1. After you complete the basic story. Write a second draft including the following:

a. Find moments in the story for your character to think about or refer to his/her past. Select these moments and for each one, develop the inner dialogue of your protagonist.
b. This “flashback” should reveal personal opinions, reflect on the situation, and/or connect ideas and people with your character’s past. Your character’s past should be detailed with much verisimilitude.
c. You may cover years or many days or a great length of time for your flashbacks. You may also change scenery or setting.
2. Separate your flashbacks for now by italicizing them.

Write your draft #2. Please label this draft, draft #2!

HOMEWORK: Finish the first story in the collection: "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", and the two stories "In Another Country" and "The Killers" for next class. Feel free to work on your second draft (flashbacks). Bring your books back with you to next class.