Thursday, September 25, 2014

October 2

Great discussion on ELEMENTS OF STORY STRUCTURE today!

Today we also talked about the intention of our assignments: they are to help you move towards your creative goals and to help you become a great writer. I believe these assignments will help you reach those goals. I want you to complete them all because I really believe they will help you advance in your writing and storytelling skills. You have all committed to at least 3 hours of study in this class each week. If you go deep on some of the assignments and are loving it and you have studied for 3 hours and you don't have time, don't stress about going through the assigments like a checklist. Instead, follow your creative passion and the Spirit. This class and the assignments are tools to assist YOU in your scholarly progression. I respect you, your time, and trust your judgement in how you use that time to study. In return I hope you'll trust me and give these assignments your time and best effort. I see great things on the horizon for each of you!

Here are your assignments due October 2nd:

ONGOING ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Write in your Writer's Journal 10 minutes everyday (except Sunday if you prefer). Writing your story or working on character profiles etc. counts for this. Writers write everyday. See "Writing Prompts for Daily Writing" on page 6 of your writing workbook for ideas if you are drawing a blank.

2. Work on adding writing and images to your literary arts blog. Add your character profiles and any writing you'd like to share and get feedback on. Make your blog a storehouse for your creative bursts of inspiration!

3. If you haven't yet, send your blog's name/ address to Sister Johnson. We will want to be reading and commenting on each other's blogs right away.


THIS WEEK'S ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS: (in order of importance)

1. Choose 1 storyline for your short story from the 3 you came up with last week. Choose one you love enough to commit to writing through completion :)

2. Start writing your story. Remember, take Jack Weyland's advise and just write without being too critical of your work. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, or getting it "right" on your first couple drafts. Write with joyful abandon! :) The rest of our lessons will guide you through the writing process and give you lots of ideas and suggestions for making your story irresistible!

3. Use your Story Structure Worksheets (pg. 2) as a tool to help you construct your plot and create all the elements of Story Structure we talked about in class. You should be working on completing these worksheets over the next couple weeks.

4. Read "To Build a Fire" (pg. 44) from your writing workbook. Look for the elements of story structure we learned about in class. (Warning: this is one of our longest stories so give yourself enough time to read it without feeling rushed. Curl up with a blanket and snack and settle in for a good read.)

5. Analyze the structure of "To Build a Fire" or one of your favorite stories or novels. You could choose a story or novel that's similar to the one you want to write. Look through it for the structural elements we discussed in class:

  • Who is the protagonist?
  • What's the protagonist's main goal?
  • Does the protagonist have weaknesses that get in the way of this goal?
  • Does anything happen that makes the stakes higher for the protagonist to achieve the goal?
  • What obstacles does the protagonist encounter? Make a list.
  • Are there antagonists? Who? What?
  • What characters bring out the protagonist's strengths or weaknesses?
  • Does the protagonist change between the beginning and the end of the book? If so, how? What changes him or her?
  • Do you see the 2 layers in this story? The Plot Level where the events happen in the story and the Character Level where changes take place in the protagonist caused by the struggle or conflict?
  • What is the story climax?
Good luck this week and HAVE FUN CREATING!!!
Sincerely,
Sister Miller

 

 

 

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