Read the handout on SETTING. Answer the following question and hand in today for participation credit:
1. How can you not only entertain your reader, but also inform or teach your reader?
2. Why do we want to avoid thinking of our writing (and setting in particular) as BORING?
3. What are five different types of stories that use setting predominantly?
4. List advice that the author gives about how to create an effective setting. How can you use this advice to improve your writing?
After 20 minutes we will move on to the second part of our class today. If you are still writing your chapter 9 assignment, please work on that until 20 minutes have lapsed. Try to avoid fooling around and wasting your valuable time--you will hate yourself for it later.
At 1:10 we will stop. A bell will ring. Please save your work and prepare for our next writing assignment. Minimize your windows and pay attention to instructions.
Journal/Brainstorming: (new story or help with a previous story)
1. pick a stick. This will serve as your setting.
2. pick a character from the list. Put this character in your chosen setting.
3. pick an action. Begin the story by describing your character engaged in this action.
4. Lost or bored? Try one of these tips:
+ Get your character moving! Give your character an action to perform. This often helps drag us into writing a story.
+ identify what your character wants. Without motivation a character doesn't know what to act toward.
+ Identify where your character is. Setting provides a stage for your character. All settings create limits for your character.
+ If you feel you must take a break - talk to someone OTHER than the person you always talk to. Talking to other people sometimes gives us ideas to use in our stories. Don't do this TOO often or you will not get your work done and fail this course.
+ Get into your character's head! Share your protagonist's feelings. Feeling bored, maybe your character is too; write about your character's boredom.
+ Use your own experiences; recall what happened to you in a similar situation, if appropriate. Or imagine what you would do in a similar situation.
+ Read. Sometimes seeing others' work is helpful in jump starting ours.
+ Include information you are covering in another class. Write about history or science or math. Use what you are learning. Write about what you are interested in. Life if just FULL of interesting things. Only observers are boring.
+ Write about something you care about. Often writers forget that you are writing for your own enjoyment or enrichment. Don't worry about your audience during a first draft.
+ Teenagers are apathetic by nature. You are sleepy and tired and stressed. You worry too much about peer pressure. You lack the wisdom of foresight that comes with age. Try to fight through this "phase" of your life. If you care about your writing, you will succeed.
Q: WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY CHAPTER 9 STORY IS NOT DONE?
A: After working a bit on the journal exercise, finish it in lab today. It is due today at the end of class. If you didn't finish today, you have additional homework. We have already delayed this deadline, so get the work done and turned in.
HOMEWORK: Please read: Woman Hollering Creek. Be prepared to use it to answer a test on setting and characterization.
1 comment:
1. By researching your predetermined setting, and using that research in authentic and well-described descriptions.
2. Because writing shouldn't be boring. All writing has the capacity to be at least a smidgin' interesting, and besides, you should never be okay with having "boring" writing.
3. Science fiction, westerners, mysteries, legal thrillers, medical thrillers, and regional and ethnic fiction.
4. Research, research, research. The author also suggests the use of suspense, and using character to explain the setting. The author basically suggests that you view the setting as a character, and use methods of characterization (like portrayal by dialogue, 1st person observation, the remarks of others) to set your story up.
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