Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hemingway Quiz/Short Story Project Draft Due!

Today, please take the first 5 minutes of class to review your Hemingway collection and read about Hemingway at this link.

Then we will take our quiz on the collection. If you finish early, please complete your Hemingway drafts and await further instructions from Mr. Ludwig. 

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.

Draft Four: 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 semi colons ; 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 phrase to expand a comment.

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. 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.

Each class for the next few weeks you will want to check Mr. Ludwig's blog for our daily agenda.

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About this course!

This course stresses understanding the characteristics & techniques in the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. This course will continue to build on students’ reading and writing skills begun in previous creative writing classes. Readings and discussions of works by major writers in the field will be examined as inspiration and models of fine writing. This educational blog is designed for the use of the students at the School of the Arts in Rochester, NY.