How does one tell excellent stories?
For the next two weeks, we will closely read great stories so we can compose and tell our own great stories. We'll review some writing, grammar, and literary device basics along the way. My hope is that you learn to tell stories that are not only entertaining, but also wise. The book of John is a wonderful example of an excellent beginning to the most excellent of stories, and is poetic to boot:John 1 - the Word becomes flesh
1. Journal #16 - write and be prepared to share.
How is excellent writing related to excellent reading?
2. C.S. Lewis' Good Reader/Bad Reader--read, and continue Journal #16 by reflecting on how you will strive to be a better reader this semester.
*Take the following Key Terms down into your literary devices notes:
- Episodic Elaboration - plot, event, character construction
- en media res - Opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition or flashback.
- Plot Structure
- Specificity of Detail - concrete detail, imagery, vivid description
- Figurative Language and imagery - Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language (such as metaphor, simile, symbolism, hyperbole) to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object. Imagery involves any or all of the five senses.
- Style - Word choice, syntax, sensitivity to reader/audience
- Tone - the way the author expresses his/her attitude in his/her writing*
- Irony - A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and can be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean.
- Syntax - The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is sentence structure and how it influences the way a reader perceives a piece of writing.
- Narrative Voice - The way the author writes as opposed to how he/she writes. It is the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character.
*Complete the following response questions; create a new document:
Response Questions
Episodic Elaboration
1. What event in the story seems the most surprising or powerful? Why?
2. What are the consequences of this event? How does the protagonist or antagonist respond to this event, and how does this shape his/her character or affect the plot?
Specificity of Detail
3. What is a specific detail or concrete image that is particularly strong or vivid?
4. How does this detail or image contribute to the overall meaning, focus, or effect of the story?
Style
5. Where do you notice interesting, creative, and strong examples of word choice, syntax, tone, or awareness of audience?
6. How do specific devices (e.g. humor, irony, en media res, figurative language) contribute to voice of the author and the impact on the reader?
4. Review the Narrative Writing Rubric
5. Select one of the following stories to read, respond to, and base your own narrative on:
“The Princess and the Tin Box” - a fable by James Thurber with a modern twist.
“The Happy Man’s Shirt” - a folk tale told by Italo Covina, translated by George Martin, about an ironic search for happiness.
“Salvador Late or Early” - a short story by Sandra Cisneros, exploring a short glimpse of those who are easily overlooked.
Complete the same response questions to the story of your choice, on the same document that you completed the questions for "The Most Dangerous Game:"
6. Begin brainstorming and writing your own story. You may seek to mimic the form, voice, or some other aspect of the story you have chosen. It must be 2-3 pages, typed, MLA format.
In good art, all of the parts are related to the whole--there is nothing missing, and nothing excessive. Writing the first sentence can be the hardest part. Start writing--write a lot, and revise a lot. Read and re-read your own writing. The first sentence may not take shape until you have written a lot, but it is an important sentence because it initiates your readers into the story. Some famous first sentences:
"Call me Ishmael." -Herman Melville, Moby Dick
"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming
down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road
met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo..." -James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." —George Orwell, 1984
Due Dates
Response Questions to The Most Dangerous Game" and your chosen story due Wednesday, 1/20 submitted to Google Classroom
Short Stories due Tuesday, 1/26, printed and submitted physically. Do not wait to print at the ARC until the morning on the day it is due.
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