Bradbury Story Project

From our reading last class, please complete the writing assignment in the next 30-40 minutes. See previous post for details. Yes. Deadline and pressure. Write. Complete the exercise.

If you finish early, please continue reading The Martian Chronicles during period 7. During period 8, we will move ahead with a writing project and work on the Penfield Poetry contest.

Bradbury fiction assignment:

According to Ray Bradbury in his non-fiction writing guide: Zen in the Art of Writing, Bradbury mentions a technique he uses to come up with ideas. He says that he imagines a hallway with a door at the end. When he begins a story, he imagines himself walking down the hallway, turning the doorknob, and entering this "room" or "space" behind the door. Then he starts writing what comes to mind. Try this exercise as often as you need to complete your stories/poems/plays, etc.

Today and Thursday, please use this technique to write a short story that is limited to 5 or 6 pages (about 500 words). If you finish one, write a second one. If you write a second one, write a third. Etc. Use the time in lab to write. Yes, really. Drafts at this point don't need to be thematically connected and should include DIFFERENT characters (but hint, hint...) this is the beginning of a larger assignment.

HOMEWORK: Please read Damon Knights' article "Getting Ideas" and take notes about key concepts or advice in the article. Keep reading The Martian Chronicles. Plan on finishing The Martian Chronicles over break. If you did not complete the writing assignments above, please complete for homework so you are not behind.