Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Pearson Buzz: Story Ideas
Ideas for Narrative Essay
Other things to think about: things the person repeatedly said; a personality trait (like Uncle Charlie's smile); a special event or incident (like the building of the cottage barn/garage). If you can think of these details, outline them here.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Colour Me Red!
Field Work: What Did You Forget?
Friday, February 04, 2011
Monologue Poems
Field Work: A Love Letter (to some thing)
Friday, January 21, 2011
Why I Write: Edits
Field Work: One Small Thing
Find one small thing near your home. The object should be no bigger than your hand.
Describe the object fully. Give colour, shape, smell details. Imagine how the object came to be at its location. What is its story?
Using Phrasal Verbs
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Why I Write
A Snippet of Conversation
Friday, January 07, 2011
Field Work: The Quietest Thing
This week, write about the quietest thing you heard in your home. Describe it fully and use metaphor or simile in your description.
After describing the quietest thing, go on to explain what paying attention to the quietest thing makes you think about or reminds you of.
A "First"
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Man Across the Street (Prompt)
Use these verbs: gasp, turns, crush, flutter, bonk
Use these nouns: Porsche, projector, tear
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Field Work: Shopping
Friday, December 03, 2010
Three Word Dialogues
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Making our Writing More Metaphorical
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A Longer Version of a Short Story
Bored? Fearful?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Stealing a Character (or two!)
Fibonacci Poem
Try a Fibonacci poem: the Fibonacci progression is a mathematical formula that starts with 0 and 1 and then builds by adding numbers that are equal to the sum of the previous two numbers. The famous sequence begins as follows: 0-1-1-2-3-5-8.
A Fibonacci poem, or Fib, is a six-line poem (though, rarely, some are longer, and multiple-stanza versions are sometimes seen). Each line contains the same number of syllables as the corresponding digit in the Fibonacci sequence: 0 - 1- 1- 2- 3- 5- 8. (The unspoken first line of each Fib is silence.) —Patchwork Farm Writing Prompt
Is it really a poem? Perhaps! In any case, it is a good mental exercise to write in such a short form. Make every word count and if you want (Linda, I'm thinking of you here) rhyme a word or two for practice. Write more than one if the spirit moves you . . .
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Imitating Sentences from Established Writers
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Story: One Scene (or more!)
Friday, October 29, 2010
What are you reading these days?
Type the sentences into your comment so we can examine them carefully in next week's class. Also, if you like, please choose a really interesting (musically speaking) sentence for us to look at and imitate.
Link to Story Plots (the ones we didn't print properly last class)
Another version of the same plots with different, more easily understandable explanations.
TSA Writing Tips - THEMATIC PREMISE SHEET
TSA Writing Tips: No Nos (common plot problems)
Tennessee Screenwriting Association (home page for all above; lots to look at here)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Rules for Writers: Janet Fitch
Story Idea
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Varying the Narrative "Voice"
*For an extra challenge: try doing the rewrite as a change from the omniscient narrator (all-seeing) to a first person (or the reverse, depending on your original).
Sunday, October 03, 2010
A Jealous Character
Write, using only description of a person's actions and thoughts, to show a person who is "jealous." According to Wordsmyth, jealous is "envious of the qualities, possessions, or achievements of another." It can also mean, "doubtful and suspicious of the faithfulness of someone for whom one has affection; fearful of losing the other's affection."
Choose the kind of jealous you wish to express.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Field Work: Describing a Setting
Explore the possibilities! Add a polysyndeton if you can.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Describing a Person
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Portfolio: Problems and Solutions
The Woman in the House on the Left
Word list for today’s writing:
NOUNS: brush, roses, blender, bandanna, ring, kiss
VERBS: scurry, snag, whirl, nest, paint, argue
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Man Across the Street (Prompt)
Begin the story with this setting/idea. It is not necessary to put the words in the piece if you don't wish to do so.
Use these verbs: crouch, squash, scratch, stab, stroke, caress
Use these nouns: shirt, laptop, lady, stranger, bikini, garden
A Rant or a Rave About Sports!
Thursday, May 06, 2010
I'm Watching a Flagger
Starting writing with “I’m watching a flagger (someone who controls traffic with a handheld sign) . . . As you write make sure to use all the following verbs. Use the verbs in the same order as given below.
curse, tangle, flick, sweat, kneel, buzz, flip, grasp
On Language: Vocabulary Size
Friday, April 30, 2010
A Favourite Tree
See the previous classes' tree stories here.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
A Catch-All Post
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Field Work: Parenting Styles
Consider the article on parenting styles discussed in class today. For next week, write a parenting styles article based on your own experiences. You might make it a fiction if that feels more comfortable to you, but base it on what you have observed.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
What's the Recipe?: Writing About Food
Field Work: A New Place
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Travel Writing (How To Write the Perfect Travel Article)
Field Work: Take Off Your Shoes and Socks
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Field Work: Closed Eyes in Your Kitchen
Write something that begins with "It was there . . ." and use your notes as a guide.
The Pearson Buzz: Revisions and Edits and More
Note that new pieces are welcome here, too.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Pearson Buzz: First Draft of an Article
Field Work: Looking Out a Small Window
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I'm Watching an Insect . . .
Use all (or some) of the verbs from the list in your piece.
gurgle, murmur, hum, stall, kiss, curse, scale, leap, tangle, fondle, flick, fry, kneel, nest, thread, buzz, flip, grasp
Field Work: Magazine Random Write
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Olympics!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Colour Me Red
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Here I Am
Postcard Stories
Field Work: The Quietest Thing
Shh!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Reflecting on Writing 12
Field Work: One Small Thing
Describe the object fully. Give colour, shape, smell details. Imagine how the object came to be at its location. What is its story?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Why I Write (Short Essay)
Could Elaine please post the information about the TV show on Bravo here for us all to see. Thanks for sharing that!
Field Work: Overheard Conversation
With the snippet, write something about what you've heard, for example, imagine the reason for the person saying it or imagine the character of a person who says something like that etc.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
A First
Field Work
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Specific Nouns Exercise
Orchid, garlic, sushi, kiwi, persimmon, high heels, diamond, iron.
Have fun! See you in 2010!
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Boredom and Fear
Write, using only description of a person's actions and thoughts, to show a person who is "bored." According to the Encarta Dictionary bored means “tired of and slightly annoyed by a person or situation that is not interesting, exciting, or entertaining.”
Now, do the same for the word “fear.” According to the Encarta Dictionary fear means “an unpleasant feeling of anxiety or apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger.”
More information on the semicolon.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Commas, Commas, Commas
If you'd like to practice, try writing a short piece that uses all the different kinds of commas discussed on your worksheet (without being boring!)
The Jealous Character
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Taking a Walk with a Notebook in Hand
On the way back (or later), closely observe two locations. You might choose a place you like and another that you dislike. Take a good look. Slow down and notice things: maybe that fence needs painting. Or the 30 meter fir tree swaying in the wind. Whatever you see . . .
Write your impressions immediately into your notebook. If you have a digital camera, take a picture of the scene to aid your memory.
Write a brief report on your experience. What did you find? Did you notice anything new? Do you have any ideas you could use in your writing?
A Person You've Noticed: Using the First Person
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Posting Versus Commenting
I noted that Lola and Kay both posted work rather than entering it as a comment. I've duly moved your work into the correct post, so not to worry. Please look at post titles to find the right place to put work so it stays organized and easy to find.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Smelly Story?
Begin with these words: "I remember the smell . . .
Sorry that I sent the wrong file to myself. It will need to wait until Wednesday. Sorry!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Story Idea?
Present a story idea for discussion. Create a basic dilemma for a character to experience. Choose a genre. Create a basic plot (what happens) and list it in point form.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
"Rain on My Face" Writing
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
What about Style?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Characters Interacting with Setting
Choose one of the places and have your character interact with that place. Remember that setting includes the social world (the manners and customs of people). For example, a strictly moral or religious person might find the manners of people in a bar unattractive.
Ziggurat Sentences: Part Two
Sample One:
“Just . . .” The new girl blushed, then went pale. “Well . . . you know. It’s like I said before.” After that, she put her hands in her lap, became very quiet, and seemed to shrink to half her size.
Sample Two:
He took to wearing a kerchief and giving his lips a hasty wipe after every meal.
Online Notebook: October 15 to 29
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Online Notebook: October 8 to 15
Ziggurat Sentences (Copy the Style)
Sample One: "His lips were fat and earthworm pink, his eyes were asymmetrical, and his eyebrows were like forests of black wire."
Sample Two: "They would sprinkle his hide with lead. They would pound him with their fists the way flies pound themselves against windows. They would attempt to reason."
Our Characters Meet: What Happens?
Friday, October 02, 2009
Online Notebook for October 1 to 8
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Create Your Own Character
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Online Notebook: September 24 to October 1
More information arising from our class discussion:
Learn to use the dash: Making the Dash Work for You (worksheet; teacher writing sample)
Learn to use the semicolon: Using the Semicolon (Wisely and Well)
Avoiding Run On Sentences (PowerPoint; clearly explained)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Creating a Setting with Two Opposite Atmospheres
blood, spit, vomit, urine, feces
Write a scene (setting) that contains one of the ingredients and write it to make us feel disgusted and then write it a second time to make us feel it is acceptable. (50 to 100 words maximum for each)
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Class Evaluation
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Things I Learned in Writing 12 (short essay)
An Exercise in "Memory" (with eyes closed)
What did You Collect?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Help! I Need Somebody (Pieces for Comment)
Why Don't You Forget?
"Why won't you forget? List six true sentences that begin with the words 'I'll never forget...' Then use all six of your sentences in a paragraph, poem, or longer descriptive piece."
—Prompt taken from WritingFix.com.
Imitating a Great Writer
A. Also there were apes (of whom I will say more later) and birds, birds everywhere: not only flocks of sparrows (or so I called them) that flitted all day chirruping from bush to bush, but on the cliffs above the sea great tribes of gulls and mews and gannets and cormorants, so that the rocks were white with their droppings.
B. In the angle between two of these rocks Cruso had built himself a hut of poles and reeds, the reeds artfully thatched together and woven in and out of the poles with fronds to form roof and walls.
C. For surely, with every day that passes, our memories grow less certain, as even a statue in marble is worn away by rain, till at last we can no longer tell what shape the sculptor’s hand gave it. What memories do you even now preserve of the fatal storm, the prayers of your companions, your terror when the waves engulfed you, your gratitude as you were cast up on the shore, your first stumbling explorations, your fear of savage beasts, the discomforts of those first nights (did you not tell me you slept in a tree?)?
D. He was a kindly man – let me say so now, lest I forget – who deserved a better end.
E. I found it strange that Friday should not understand that firewood was a kind of wood, as pinewood is a kind of wood, or poplarwood; but I let it pass. Not until after we had eaten, when we were sitting watching the stars, as had grown to be our habit, did I speak again.
(all quotes from the novel, Foe, by J. M. Coetzee; 1987)
Monday, May 18, 2009
Hongxin's Piece, "Visiting Laoshan Mountain" Edited
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Something that Happened
First, make a list of 20 things that have happened to you this month. Try to find some that are funny, some embarrassing, some happy, some that made you mad. After you make the list, write about one of the incidents.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Fibonacci Poem
Try a Fibonacci poem: the Fibonacci progression is a mathematical formula that starts with 0 and 1 and then builds by adding numbers that are equal to the sum of the previous two numbers. The famous sequence begins as follows: 0-1-1-2-3-5-8.
Here’s an example:
So
Thick this
Summer day
I can barely see
Ginkgo offer small umbrellas
