What about Style?

What does style mean to a writer? What makes some writing more stylish?

Be specific and answer in a paragraph (or two or three). We'll discuss more next week.

Characters Interacting with Setting

Name five places your character loves; name five places your character hates. Feel free to choose another student's character or work on your own.

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

Imitate, as closely as possible, O'Connor's structure but make the writing your own.

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

This time, make a note of something about the physical world around you. Try for an observation you've never made before.

Online Notebook: October 8 to 15

As always, any observations you make are welcome here. Treat it as a chance to write your thoughts and perhaps to give us something to discuss in class the following week.

Ziggurat Sentences (Copy the Style)

Take the sentences from this week's worksheet and try to do a version of your own. Use the same number of words, the same style, the same general ideas and so on. If, for example, three sentences begin with "They would . . ." do the same. If you wish, use the description to describe your own character from last week's exercise.

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?

Take two (or three if you are daring) characters created by the class and put them together in some kind of situation. Given what you know about the characters, have them act in appropriate ways. Include some dialogue. No set length, but not too long!

Online Notebook for October 1 to 8

If you have any observations, comments, thoughts, place them here.

Create Your Own Character

Using the Episode 2: Characters sheet as a guide, provide a paragraph description.