Finish up; Book Groups; Game Day

Please use the first part of period 7 to finish up any fiction assignments you have not yet completed.

Near the end of period 7, please listen to your choices for your "book group". Select your book group book from the library. Meet with your book group and make a plan to read over the break. Choose AT LEAST one story (you can choose more with your group) to complete.

During period 8, please move next door for board games and card games. Get into small groups and play. Have a nice Thanksgiving!

HOMEWORK: None. Read your book group's chosen # of pages. As you read, jot down your thoughts/questions/comments, etc. and bring these to next class.

Class Notes Exercise; Creating Characters; Completing Drafts

Congratulations to those of you who attended and performed at the Coffeehouse last night. Many parents said it was our most successful coffeehouse they have attended. We couldn't have done it without you!

Today, please complete the following assignments that are due or past due:

The Hit Man/Questionnaire Story Draft
Hint Fiction drafts (with titles!)
The prompt story draft for lesson 2.02

If you have completed these assignments, please move on to the following assignment/exercise today:

1. After reading "Class Notes", create a similar piece but use your imagination and our class. You should change the names of the people you are referring to, as a sign of courtesy.
2. Use the graphic organizers to create a character and plan a story. Once you have brainstormed or created your plan for your story's plot, choose ANY genre from lesson 2.03 and write a story draft. This particular assignment will be due by the end of next class, and you may work on completing it over the weekend.
3. Print out and gather your fiction drafts written so far for your portfolio.

HOMEWORK: None. You may finish Sudden Fiction. Bring your books with you to next class to return them.

Day of Writing

Please use your time in the lab this afternoon to write. 

Q: What fiction assignments have we done so far that are due?

A: The following fiction assignments are due or past due: (this does not include worksheets, projects, quizzes, or classwork)

• The Poetry Portfolio (past due)
• The collaborative story (Nov. 4) (past due)
• 5-7 hint fiction stories (lesson: 2.01) (past due)
• The prompt story (Nov. 12) and (Lesson: 2.02) (past due)
• Hit Man/Questionnaire story (Nov. 18) (due by end of week)
• Genre story (lesson 2.03) (due by next week)
• The Fiction Portfolio (due by Wednesday, Dec. 4)

You may also use the time in the lab today to prepare for our upcoming coffeehouse. If you attend and perform, you will get extra credit this marking period. 

Coffeehouse: Nov. 21 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater!

HOMEWORK: Read any of the short stories you'd like in the Sudden Fiction collection.

Fiction: POV

When we write stories there are some questions that an author should answer before sitting down to write. Apart from using various techniques to brainstorm or come up with an idea to write about, we must decide:

• Which POV am I going to use?
• Which genre am I going to use to write my story?
• Who is my protagonist? What does my protagonist want?

Let's look at POV today.

Choosing a POV for your character: It helps to know basic ideas for your character before choosing a POV:
We want to answer this Major Question: Who is the story about?

--Someone who is most interesting
--Someone who is involved in the action of the story
--Someone who has the most to gain or lose from the event

1st Person POV: Main character is the narrator (good subjectivity, but lacks objectivity, limited to one character’s mind). This is the best choice when you have a single protagonist who is involved in telling the story from his/her own POV.

2nd Person POV: Main character is the “reader”, used through an objective and omniscient “I” narrator (difficult to maintain for a long time, reader must be willing to play the part, difficult to reach into reader’s mind). This is the best choice for experimentation.

3rd Person POV: Omniscient or Limited
Omniscient narrators can tell the story of many characters, but this can be confusing. The reader may not know who the story is about or whose conflict is important.
A limited POV allows the writer to focus on one particular character. The story told is the story of that character. Consistent POV gives a story coherence. Inconsistent POV confuses the reader.

This afternoon, we will read the short stories: "The Hit Man" and "A Questionnaire for Rudolph Gordon" and discuss the non-traditional style of these stories. After reading, choose one of the following prompts and write a story draft:

A. Write a story in micro chapters like "The Hit Man"--make a list of events in a character's life. Each event should be a heading (as if in a newspaper article). Write a story in any POV that uses at least 5-10 chapters of a protagonists' life. Treat each chapter as a micro, sudden, or hint fiction story.

B. Write a story as a questionnaire or a quiz or in some sort of non-traditional (non-prose) style. Examples might include: a text book chapter (with bolded words or sub chapters or review questions at the end) or a dictionary/encyclopedia entry, or medical form, or as a newspaper article, or as a series of tweets or emails, etc.

Classwork: Write your story draft.

Day of Writing--Make That Date!

Please complete your short story drafts (see post below).

HOMEWORK: Complete all late assignments. Read pages 70-78, and 88-121 in your Sudden Fiction books.

Ideas for Fiction

Ideas For Fiction. Key Points:

Stories come from:

• 1. Our experiences
• autobiographical writing can be vivid, direct, and introspective. Your observations provide you with the details you need to start a story and make it real.
• 2. Our imagination
• Working from one's imagination allows for the most freedom. Imaginative writing can be vivid, direct, and introspective, but it is also the most creative.
• 3. Our passions
• Use your emotions to move your stories. Live through your characters.

Most stories begin with a seed idea. You may need to model your work on writers you admire to get started. You may need to research your topic and idea more fully before you can start. Most writers build a scaffold around their idea and construct a story.

If you have nowhere to begin, start with a theme. Since there are only 4 of these: nature, life, death, love: pick one. Next, apply a message. What do you want to say about: life, love, death, nature? This will usually get you started or unstuck. If you feel like your story is the same as thousands of other stories, change elements of your fiction until you have a variation on the theme. Your writer's voice will make sure your treatment of the theme and message is completely your own.

Use your imagination to move your story forward. If you are stuck, give your character something to do or think about. An intriguing image, a line of dialogue, or a complication or problem will usually force you to continue.

Write the parts of the story that you can during your first draft. You can always fill the story in later with more details, research, and events.

Today in the lab please work on lesson 02.00 and 02.01 if you have not yet done these assignments. They likely will only take you a few minutes. When you have completed these lessons, please continue by completing lesson 02.02: Getting Ideas for Fiction.

Choose one prompt and write a story. Length, genre, style and structure is up to you.

A. Select a photograph or picture and use the photo or picture as either the beginning, middle, or ending scene of your story. Once you write this scene, work backwards or forwards to add the rest of the story.

B. Choose any of the following prompts:

Write a story about a lie

Write a story about something that really happened to you or a family member

Write a story about an animal

Write a story about and object that has been lost

Write a story about leaving

Write a story about a wish

Write a story about a broken promise

Write a story about something that was stolen

Write a story about a party

Write a story about something that hasn't happened yet

Write a story about a child

Write a story about a secret

Write a story about finding something unexpected

Write a story about someone you don't know very well (make up the details)

Write a story about a traumatic event

Write a story about a coincidence

Write a story about the weather

Write a story about a family

Write a story using your own ideas/creativity

 

C. Choose one of the groupings and use the items, settings, characters in various combinations. Try to use all three somewhere in your story. You may, of course, change one if you come up with a better idea:

1. A stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger.
2. A taxi, an old enemy, and Valentine's Day.
3. Identical twins, a party invitation, and a locked closet.
4. A broken wristwatch, peppermints, and a hug that goes too far.
5. Aerobics, a secret diary, and something unpleasant under the bed.
6. An ex-boyfriend, a pair of binoculars, and a good-luck charm.
7. An annoying boss, a bikini, and a fake illness.
8. The first day of school, a love note, and a recipe with a significant mistake.
9. A horoscope, makeup, and a missing tooth.
10. A campfire, a scream, and a small lie that gets bigger and bigger.

When you have completed your story draft, please print it out and turn it in for class/assignment credit.

39 Steps; Fiction

Our Coffeehouse is coming up: November 21 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theatre. 

If you are attending the 39 Steps field trip, we will likely return to class during 8th period. If you are left behind because you did not complete the proper paperwork, I'm sorry for you. Use the time in the lab to get caught up with all of your school work (particularly for creative writing) and complete the assignments for fiction in eLearning and/or prepare a coffeehouse reading selection.

HOMEWORK: Read Sudden Fiction: pp's 39-63.

Sudden Fiction; Writing with a Partner

Please turn in your permission slips for the field trip to my in-box. I will collect them.

Together in groups of 2-4, please take the first 10-15 minutes of class to read the short story from your Sudden Fiction collection on page 20-23 "Sunday in the Park". After you read the story, identify the characters, the setting, the tone, and the major conflict in the story. Discuss the story. How might you change it to make it better or different in your opinion?

Then, pair up with a partner for this next exercise. Taking turns at writing paragraphs, create a story together. The trick though is to only communicate with your partner through writing. That means instead of talking about what will happen in the story, write, and then let your partner read and continue the story. Keep passing off the story one paragraph at a time with your partner until you have at least 1 full page (or between 1-3 pages). Title your story when you are finished and print it out and turn it in for credit.

When you have completed this assignment, please continue to work on your eLearning modules or read the next few stories in your Sudden Fiction books (see homework).

HOMEWORK: Please read pp. 24-38. As you read, pay attention to how the author creates a conflict, setting, and complete short story all in under 3-4 pages. Choose one of these stories as your favorite and be prepared to discuss it next class. 

Poetry Portfolio Due; Module 2: Fiction

Please complete your poetry portfolios. These are due today. See previous posts for details.

When you have completed your portfolio, please work on Module 2: Fiction, lessons 1 & 2.

During 8th period, we will go to the library and check out our first fiction short story collection.

HOMEWORK: Please read pages 3-19 in Sudden Fiction.