A Snippet of Conversation

Write down a snippet of conversation you've overheard in public. Take a notebook with you when you are out to make it easier to remember the words.

Beginning with the snippet, write something about what you've overheard; imagine the reason for the person saying it or imagine the character of a person who says something like that etc.

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"

Share your story here. Embellish your original by adding a bit of dialogue, a metaphor, and a sentence fragment (on purpose).

The Man Across the Street (Prompt)

The man across the street is trimming branches off a tree with a chain saw. He stops suddenly and tries to see into the window of the house. 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: gasp, turns, crush, flutter, bonk

Use these nouns: Porsche, projector, tear

Field Work: Shopping

Note your observations while shopping. It can be any kind--for food, for clothes, for electronics. Describe one of the shopkeepers and one of the shoppers. If something bothers you when shopping, note that also.

*Try to do this exercise before we return to class on January 6, 2011

Three Word Dialogues

Put your dialogue here, but add a bit of narration to it to make it more interesting (description of characters' actions, a bit of setting and so on) However, remember that the dialogue is still limited to only three words!

Making our Writing More Metaphorical

Using the handout as a guide, find three or four (or more!) places in your current story to add metaphor. Paste your original sentence and then provide us with a new, improved and wonderfully metaphorical one in its place.

Writers slip sliding on thin ice making metaphors just in time to prevent themselves from falling in . . .

A Longer Version of a Short Story

Here goes: Try for as close to a full draft as possible. Looking forward to seeing your writing before next week's class.

Bored? Fearful?

Try in 50 to 100 words or so to "show" a bored person without saying it directly. Do the same for someone who is fearful. Don't be boring!

Stealing a Character (or two!)

Take one (or more than one; you might even take two from different scenes and different students) and put him or her in a new situation. Try to reflect the personality of the character in the new setting as well as you can. The motorcycle father meets the blonde bombshell?!

Have fun with it. Once you've done it, you might feel inspired to work on your story by adding more to your current scene.

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 . . .

Imitating Sentences from Established Writers

To make things easier, I've made a Word file with all of our contributions in one place. Work on your imitations in Word and then paste your results into a comment here. Do as many (or as few) as you wish. Be sure to include the original for comparison.

Established Writers' Sentences

Story: One Scene (or more!)

Follow Janet Fitch's advice to write one scene for a story. Base it on any plot you wish (feel free to steal from Linda or Tiffany or Marco or me). Or, create your own.

Linda's Scene

a) A scene starts and ends in one place at one time (the Aristotelian unities of time and place–this stuff goes waaaayyyy back). b) A scene starts in one place emotionally and ends in another place emotionally. Starts angry, ends embarrassed. Starts lovestruck, ends disgusted. c) Something happens in a scene, whereby the character cannot go back to the way things were before. Make sure to finish a scene before you go on to the next. Make something happen.

What are you reading these days?

Give an account of your reading to us (why, where, how, what kind) and select one or two sentences that you think best reflect some of Janet Fitch's ideas.

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)

Rules for Writers: Janet Fitch

Write a short comment (100 to 150 words) about one of Janet Fitch's rules for writers. Does it make sense to you? Why or why not? Is her advice familiar or unfamiliar to you?

Story Idea

Give us a plot and basic theme that you think might make the "bones" of a short short story of 1 500 words or so.

Varying the Narrative "Voice"

Take one of your pieces and rewrite it according to the way events and characters might be viewed by a very different narrator. Try to include all the same elements of setting, dialogue, plot and character.

*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).

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.

Field Work: Describing a Setting

Write 100 words or so based on your field observations of a new place. Make the setting appear either extremely negative or very positive. For fun, you might try describing a dirty or disgusting setting as positively as possible or a clean and bright setting as negatively as possible.

Explore the possibilities! Add a polysyndeton if you can.

Describing a Person

Write a paragraph about someone that includes one example from each category: physical characteristics; behaviours; anecdotes. Include asyndeton if you can. Any length is fine. I'll provide a sample on the weekend for you to follow.

Nice to meet you all. I think we have a solid class this term!