Driving Miss Daisy: Plot

A plot is the sequence of actions or incidents occurring in a story (often in chronological order). In the play Driving Miss Daisy, the author Alfred Uhry relies on plot to show the lives of his main characters Hoke and Daisy.

Today, please examine the play for its plot. Use the handout sheet to track the major events of the play and how the playwright begins, develops, and ends the plot. What central events set off a chain of events (cause and effect) in the play? Follow the MAJOR events in the play and how these events CAUSE an EFFECT that creates a chain of events.

When you have completed your sheet and analysis of the play, please turn in this sheet for participation credit.

If you finish early, I know you are stressed about completing your project for Ms. Gamzon. Please use any time remaining today completing her assignment. Don't waste your time in the lab! No music, no distractions, no wandering around procrastinating! Get your work done!

HOMEWORK: If you have not yet read Driving Miss Daisy, please complete your reading. Also please read "Being a Playwright" (the handout from last class) please do so and complete three of the five exercises at the end of the chapter IN YOUR JOURNAL. See previous post for more details. Otherwise, none.

Driving Miss Daisy & Intro To Playwriting

Please complete the following today in class:

Journal Writing/Brainstorming/Gathering Ideas: 1st step in the writing process:

• 1. In your notebook/journal, etc. write the first 10 names you can think of.
• 2. In your notebook/journal, etc. write the first 10 settings you can think of.

We will now go the library to pick up the play Driving Miss Daisy. When we return from the library, please look up the following information:

1. Who is Alfred Uhry?
2. What year did Uhry write Driving Miss Daisy? What year did he win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?
3. What was Atlanta, Georgia like in 1940's through the 1970's?
4. What famous historical American figure lived in Atlanta, Georgia in 1948?

The third question concerns SETTING, an essential element of playwriting. Every story and script needs an interesting SETTING.

A setting is: The natural and artificial scenery or environment in which characters in literature live and move. It is the when and where your story takes place.
A setting can be: INTERIOR (happening inside) or EXTERIOR (happening outside)
A setting includes: 

• Artifacts or Props (the things characters use)
• Clothes (the things characters wear)
• Time of day, conditions of the weather
• Geography and location
• Trees, animals, and nature
• Inside and outside sounds, smells, sights
• All physical and temporal objects. So that means setting refers to:
• The location (locale) or place the story is set
• The weather (including the season)
• The time
• The time period (historical period)

As you read Driving Miss Daisy, please identify all aspects of the SETTING. See handout.

Please gather in these groups to read the play. Each student should take one of the parts of the play and read it aloud together. One person should read the stage directions and keep track of time.

Group A: Branden, Diamond, Kayli, Ben, Evan
Group B: Frances, Carly, Imani G., Thiery
Group C: Gena, Nicole, Ethan, Nathan
Group D: Imani M, Shayzonique, Isaiah, Grace
Group E: Alexis, Jahni, Kamphasong, Damarys

HOMEWORK: Finish the play on your own. Bring your plays back with you to next class. Please read the chapter handout on "Being a Playwright" from the book The Elements of Playwriting by Louis Catron.

Particularly take note of the writerly advice (most of which should sound familiar): to overcome a blank page, the only way to push through "writer's block" is to write. Set time aside every day to write. For you (and your busy lives) use the time given to you every day in the lab to focus on your writing. You can socialize later. The more you practice, the better a writer you will become!

This marking period we will be doing a lot more reading. Find inspiration from reading plays and seeing plays, when possible. Get involved in theatre in order to understand the form. This is how you grow as a student and a writer.

After completing the handout, please complete three of the five exercises at the end in your journal. (Do not turn these in to me--put them in your journal). You should continue to keep a journal to jot down ideas and exercises we complete in class. Continually add to your brainstorming. As you know, brainstorming or gathering ideas is the first step in the writing process. What you put there you can use for writing projects later.

Fiction: Unit Test & Forum Response

After taking the Unit Exam on Fiction, please visit the creative writing forum and post your response to your second short story collection. This post is due by Sunday, December 9 at 11:59 p.m. The forum question is posted on the...forum.

Our next unit will cover stage and film writing. On the index card, write down the last 10 (or as many, up to 10) plays or live performances you have seen, or plays you have read. Turn in your index card by the end of class for participation credit.

HOMEWORK: None.

Fiction Portfolio Due!

 Please choose one of the stories from your short story collection and complete either "Story Map #1" or "Story Map #2" for that story. Turn in your analysis by the end of class today.

When you have completed this task, please work on preparing your portfolio:

What goes into a portfolio? Pretty much everything you write.

The purpose of the portfolio is to collect your writing in various stages of completion. A first draft is always a good start, and the more you write, the stronger your writing should be if you are applying the concepts and skills we have been working on in class. As such, I should see anywhere from 3-8 short stories. Some of these will have a second or third draft attached to them, others may still be first drafts. Some stories will be short, others longer. I will be grading your work on a rubric (see above by end of class). Portfolios should include a short reflection about how you're doing in the class. This is where you can explain your progress to me. If there are issues that are harming your progress, please let me know what they are.

Your portfolio is due at the end of class today.

On Thursday, there will be a test on the following:

Plot; plot structure: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, crisis or turning point, climax, denouement or resolution, etc.; conflict; the different types of conflict; linear versus non-linear plots; setting; setting (artificial or manufactured and natural); exterior versus interior settings; locale; functions of setting; regional writers; POV; the different types of point of view; omniscience; multiple-viewpoint; skeptical POV; objective 3rd person POV; choosing a point of view; hamartia; round versus flat characters; characterization; character types; portraying a character; persona; description (particularly using description to characterize a character); character key terms; ways to develop a character; structuring a story and techniques to structure a story (Nov 1 post); ideas for fiction; genres; reader's expectations of any of the following genres: science fiction, romance, literary fiction, historical fiction, mystery/thrillers, fantasy, realistic fiction, etc.; types of readers: fantacists, realists, pragmatists, etc.

To review, please go back starting from Oct. 22 (the beginning of the second marking period) and read the blog posts. Take notes as appropriate and note everything on these posts. Additionally, read the handouts on: genres (brochures), POV, character, characterization, description, setting, plot, etc. 

HOMEWORK: Study for the unit exam.

Plot & Portfolio

Today, please read this blog post and complete the class note questions. Our test next week will cover plot, setting, POV, description, characterization, and character. You should be familiar with all the various terms (see post above this one for a list from which to study for the test). 

PLOT

Plot refers to: the actions or incidents occurring in a story (usually in chronological order, but not always). Stories can be plotted in other ways. See below for details.

Without plot, we do not have a story. A plot is a plan or groundwork of human motivations, with the actions resulting from believable and realistic human responses. In simple terms, plot deals with CAUSE and EFFECT.

E.M. Forester:
“The king died, and then the queen died.”

To have a good plot, a sequence of events must include motivation which is based on reaction to action.

“The king died, and then the queen died of grief.”

Events and time in a story are not important in and of themselves but because one thing happens because of another thing (i.e. cause and effect).

Conflict is the essential element of plot because this is where human responses are brought out to their highest degree.

Once two (or more) forces are in opposition, there is doubt about the outcome, thus producing tension and suspense as well.

There are typically four types of conflict in literature, the last three could also be added in contemporary fiction:

• Person versus person
• Person versus self
• Person versus nature
• Person versus society
• (Person versus God is also another common conflict used in literature.) 
• (Person versus machine) (that which is unnatural)
• (God or "fate" versus everybody) 

Plot Structure: The arrangement and placement of materials (characters, etc.) or events within a narrative or drama. Plot structure unifies a story so that it all comes together.

• Plot: Describes the conflicts in a story or narrative.
• Structure deals with the way a work is laid out and given form to bring out the conflict.

Categories of Plot Structure:

• Exposition
• Rising Action/Complication
• Crisis or turning point
• Climax
• Denouement/falling action/resolution

Typical Plot Arrangements

• Linear (a story that focuses on a specific cause and its effects; this is most typically created when the author uses chronological time to organize the plot events; e.g., one moment or scene or day followed by the next and so on)
• Non-linear (a story that is not organized by chronological time; a story that uses flashbacks or flashforwards, skipping from one time or event to another) 

How to improve your 1st drafts and their plots:
1. Choose a story you have written in which you are dissatisfied with the plot.
2. Rearrange the plot so that it is not linear. Use a non-linear structure by using a flashback or flash forward technique.
3. Examine one of the weakest points of your plot. Is your story weak because of a crisis, a climax, a conclusion or denouement, or perhaps you did not include an exposition. Rewrite the story by adding any one or more of these details.
4. Examine your story for conflict. Is the conflict appropriate for the story?
5. According to E.M. Forester, to have a good plot, a sequence of events must include motivation which is based on reaction to action. Does your story have this? Rewrite to include character motivation as a reaction to the action of your story.

Lab: Write. Prepare your portfolio. Turn in your questions by the end of class today.

HOMEWORK: Your portfolio is due next class. Please catch up and complete your work. Please bring your short story collections to class on Tuesday. We will be using them in class.

There will be a unit test on Thursday, covering fiction elements. Please come to class on Tuesday with any questions you have on character, characterization, tense, POV, plot, setting, or description.

The Fiction Portfolio & Assignments

This marking period we have been working on the craft of fiction. Specifically, we have covered a variety of topics including: character, characterization, POV, setting, description, and will follow all this up with plot.

Today, please write. Your portfolio should include a variety of fiction (both first drafts and some second drafts). I will be grading you on your ability and crafting, as opposed to "is everything there." Your work in your portfolio should reflect the hard work and effort you put into the marking period. If you have little writing (only one or two stories that are not well written), you have not met the requirements of this course for this marking period. The portfolio should show me what you have done in the last six weeks.

Missing Assignments: On your grade report, any score of a "1" indicates that you have not turned in or completed this assignment. You are more than welcome to make up any score of a "1" for more credit, but realize that late and missing work will affect your overall grade. What are you missing? If you cannot tell, then you are either: A). not reading the blog posts each class and noting what assignments are due as HOMEWORK (posted each day at the end of a blog entry) or B). not paying attention (I remind the class verbally each day what homework was due), or C). unable to understand directions. If this is the case, please ask questions about the assignment.

LAB WORK: Please use the time today in the lab to write. If all the homework and story drafts have been completed at this point, please begin working on creating second drafts of your earlier drafts (include what you have been learning in class, and show that you understand this material by including it in your second or third drafts). Keep track of draft numbers, as always.

Finished and there's still time?
Go on to work on one of these setting exercises. This is BRAINSTORMING and should be treated as such. Don't label these exercises yet as a draft ONE. You may complete as many of these exercises as you wish. Change anything you feel you need to as this is just BRAINSTORMING - the first step in the writing process. When you have written one or more of these things, you may use what you've written to start a new draft of a story, or add details to your previous drafts.

HOMEWORK: Select one story from your collection and examine the story for the author's use of SETTING. Write down your observations on an index card and turn in next class. Please also read the handout on Setting and Description.

Setting

You are ready to put your characters in a setting. Before you begin, make sure you understand the following. Take notes on SETTING.
Setting: The natural and artificial scenery or environment in which characters in literature live and move.

Setting is the when and where your story takes place.
Apart from Character and Plot, Setting is one of the most important elements in your writing.

Setting includes:

• Artifacts or Props (the things characters use)
• Clothes (the things characters wear)
• Time of day, conditions of the weather
• Geography and location
• Trees, animals, and nature
• Inside and outside sounds, smells
• All physical and temporal objects

So that means setting refers to:

• The location (locale) or place the story is set
• The weather (including the season)
• The time
• The time period (historical period)

In short: setting refers to all the places and objects that are important in the work, whether natural or manufactured.

Types of Settings:

1. Natural
Nature shapes action and directs and redirects lives.

2. Manufactured
Manufactured things always reflect the people who made them.
Possessions often enter into character motivation and development.

3. Interior: locales INSIDE. Symbolically often refers to private/domestic issues.

4. Exterior: locales OUTSIDE. Symbolically often refers to societal issues.

What is a regional writer?
• A regional writer chooses to set all of his/her stories in one general place or time period. This place usually reflects how the author grew up.

Regional writers include:
• William Faulkner
• Stephen King
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Flannery O’Connor
• Bharakti Mukerjee
• Eudora Welty

Function of Setting:

1. Setting as Antagonist.

• Settings can cause problems/conflict for characters

2. Setting as reflection of mindset or ideology of one of your characters (often your protagonist)
3. Setting as character portrait

• Settings reflect or contrast character’s wants/desires, goals

4. Setting as quality of narrative vision

• Setting establishes trust between storyteller and audience
• Description of setting helps reader visualize the fictional world

5. Setting as reflection of theme or idea
6. Setting as reflection of conflict
7. Setting as mood or atmosphere
8. Setting as foreshadowing of plot
9. Setting as beginning and ending (establishing and closing shot…or frame)

Now, (THIS IS STILL BRAINSTORMING AND SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN YOUR JOURNAL): choose 1 or more of your characters that you created a character sketch for. This character will be your protagonist. The story should at this point revolve around this character. Put your character in your setting and write a short scene (1-3 pages).

Finished and there's still time?
Go on to work on one of these setting exercises. This is BRAINSTORMING. Don't label it yet as a draft ONE. You may use as many of these exercises as you wish. Change anything you feel you need to as this is just BRAINSTORMING - the first step in the writing process.