Last Day

Your stories are due, obvi. So, I want those. 

As an appropriate topic, we're going to talk briefly about endings. We've been storytelling in one form or another since I've started here. I've read some awesome stuff and have thoroughly enjoyed being here, teaching y'all over the last 8 weeks. Omg it's been 8 weeks. As we reach the end of our own story together, do you have any questions? That was a terribly lame joke, but whatever. Seriously, any questions? 



Check this out:

For 3rd period, blog about your experience over the past 8 weeks. Think about all of the things we've done. Free write and really think about how you felt. I want you to do this because it'll help me gauge where your heads are at as my own experience comes to a close and allows your voices to be heard. Sometimes the greatest advice that never gets heard or asked for is from the students. Since I'm a student myself, I'm all ears. So, as your last assignment, do this. Give me a full blog post. By now y'all know what that is. Do it, blog it. Boom. Kthx.

Homework:

I'll be back with your stories after the break. I'll do my best to get through them all and give the greatest comments ever. 

2nd to Last Class and Story Endings

Hi.

Your stories are due Thursday morning. Before class. Not after class. If you give me a story late, you'll lose points. It's pretty simple, but you already knew that. Recall the requirements from the blog last class. If you can't remember, scroll down and check. 

Today is the last day you'll have to draft in class. You should have a fairly complete story. A few of you gave me copies for review. Check out my comments. I'm available for individual writing help, so don't hesitate to ask.

If you're struggling with ending your story, check out these tips:

1) Your ending should definitely be related to the rest of your story, it should tie it together. It can be however you want it to be, as long as it brings everything back together. 

2) If you have no idea what to do, write several endings. Free write, brainstorm again, re-read your work. 

3) Write in concise sentences. Remember, this isn't a beginning. It's an ending. Avoid going into great detail while trying to end. The end should be final, even if the story is to be continued. 

4) Go back and proofread your entire story. I cannot stress this enough. It is likely that most of you will end up losing points for punctuation, spelling, grammar, usage, and mechanical mistakes. They're easy to miss, so you must read through your work. This is an incredibly important part of the writing process. 

Clearly, you have until Thursday to finish your stories outside of class. Thursday (before class) they're due. By then you will have a published piece of work for me to read! If you're at all curious as to what I'm going to use to grade your stories, click here. Hint: it's a rubric. 

Now write! 

Struggle City for Writers

Pause.

Happy Friday.

With a neighbor, I want you to talk about what you personally are having trouble with regarding the writing of your story. Don't act like there isn't at least one thing that's giving you a hard time. It can be something small.

For instance, when I practice creative writing, I always struggle with starting and continuing. I'll doubt my work and start over. Several times. It's a terrible habit that eventually leads to producing something mediocre at the last minute. 

Everyone in the room is going to share a struggle with their story. So, don't be shy (as if). This is full class discussion. Prepare yourselves. 

Of course, we'll talk about ways to get through those struggles and you'll have a good deal of writing time. Remember that these stories are due on Thursday and that really, you only have this class and Tuesday's class to get them finished and perfected. I hate last-second stuff, it's uncomfortable and makes me late for dinner. I don't like being late for dinner. I don't like being uncomfortable. 

Important notes:

You're not done. Don't hand me your story and tell me it's done. If you want me to go over it and shred it with my pen, that's fine. The feedback I give you is going to turn up as the drafting process continues, so be ye warned. 

Due: The beginning of class on April 10th, 2014. That's a Thursday. At the beginning of class.

Heading:
Your Name
My Name (Mr. Ludwig)
Class Name (Performance, Word, and Text)
Due Date (4/10/2014)

Other than that...

Have a fab weekend.

Continued Writing Workshop

Some things: 

A final copy of your stories are due on Thursday, 4/10. That day just so happens to be my last day teaching your class. Super #sadface. I'd much rather spend that last day with minimal writing and more celebrating, etc. However, that's a week away and in the meantime we'll have a great deal of writing time for you to sharpen your stories into portfolio worthy pieces of creative literature!

I've read through your drafts. They're good, but there's still work to be done. Some specific problematic areas:

1) Use of excessive, unimportant details. These things will slow you down and make your writing a task to read. Keep only the most important stuff there! However, you decide what's most important. Decide carefully!

2) Dialogue punctuation is a very specific thing. Many of you don't punctuate dialogue correctly. You have Google at your finger tips. Also, you could open just about any book with dialogue to see how it's properly punctuated. Or try this spot, too. Learn it. 

3) Some stories barely have beginnings. Let me remind you that these stories are due (no exceptions) on Thursday, April 10th. Today, if your story is still lacking, you're writing. Go through any comments that I've made (and comments your peers have made) and address them.  Keep writing! 

Now, you're writing. You can conference with me individually and we can talk about your stories. P.S. Write. Kthx

Requirements:

Length - at least 10-12 pages, double spaced. That's 5-6 single spaced. A reasonable 10-12 point legible font. 

MLA Heading - Top left of page

Your Name 
My Name (Mr. Ludwig)
Class Name (Performance, Word, and Text)
Due Date (4/10/14)


Homework:

Keep writing. Don't forget the due date! Prepare yourselves to miss me :(

Sleeping Beauty and Sharing Time

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Today, you'll be printing out and sharing your story progress. In the past blogs, it's been suggested that you have your stories at a certain length. Today, you'll be in discussion groups, sharing what you have thus far and giving feedback to your peers. It's a nice time to have some creative sharing. Here's how it's going to work:

1) Print out your stories. 

2) Take turns reading stories aloud to each other in your groups. Everyone does this. No recording, no notes, nothing. Just read out loud; give your words life! 

3) After hearing a story read out loud, take 30-60 seconds to record impressions, thoughts, etc. 

4) Once everyone has read aloud, pass the stories around the group and read them quietly, adding comments to the paper. This way, there should be comments from everyone in the group on each story being shared

At the end of class, I'm collecting these printed out stories, with comments on them. Each story must have your name on it, along with comments from your group. Again, this is due at the end of class.

If there's more time after you've gone through the stories of each group member, you're not done. Use the comments, continue writing. Bear in mind I'll still be collecting the printed copies with comments on them.

Also:

Some of you haven't really gotten much done in the way of your stories. If this is the case and you have nothing (or very little) to share in a group, you'll be writing instead. Except today, you're to print out your story and hand it to me by the end of class. No exceptions. The 750-1000 word mark isn't a suggestion. This is where you should be. If your story isn't at this length, it will be by Wednesday. The stories must continue. A full-story due-date is coming soon. 

Homework: 

If I don't receive a substantial story (with or without peer comments) by the end of class today, bring it on Wednesday. No exceptions. 

Grimm vs. Disney

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Stories change a great deal over time, we're going to start looking at how that works. Why? When you see that stories change with time, you see that authors (such as yourselves) invent new ways to share stories that have been around for a very long time. We've been looking at symbolism since last class and it's interesting for us to note that while stories may change a great deal, symbols remain quite steady over the passage of time. The way they're shown through evolving stories might be different, but the underlying meanings have deeper roots, established over a long history of continued use...

The Robber Bridegroom, Symbolism, Stories

Before we start anything today...

Read:

The Robber Bridegroom

3rd Period:

Since I don't give out reading as optional, and literally one of you responded with a blog post, you're required to read this story. Now the blog post is going to be specifically aimed toward symbolism. You've heard this term before, but in case you've forgotten what it is, I'll tell you.

Symbolism: The use of concrete objects to represent abstract ideas and emotions. 

This is similar to allegory, but the two are not the same. Omg, I know, it's complicated. Check this out. 

Allegory: A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. 

Okay, in simpler terms, symbolism applies to physical objects representing something that isn't physical. Meanwhile, allegory applies to an entire narrative and all the characters within it having an underlying meaning. 

Fairy tales contain a great deal of symbolism, that is, physical objects standing for something other than their physical appearance or definition. Can you find some examples? In The Robber Bridegroom there are several symbols waiting to be unmasked. They're hidden in plain sight, too! Read and look for them, then blog about a symbol of your choice. This is to be done by the end of 3rd period. Beyond that, if it's not done, too bad. Grade missed. You have plenty of time, so work. I expect a full blog post that really explores symbolism in this tale. This assignment is for the exercise of critical reading. 

Remember, I've read this tale 1000 times. I know the symbolism, so don't just tell me what you think might be symbolic. Explain why, how, what, etc. Think below the surface. Go one deeper! Now write. Kthx. 

4th Period:

You've started writing your long, creative fictions. 4th period is more writing time to continue your stories, revise what you've written, and generally continue the composition part of the writing process. You can revisit last class's blog to see how to begin a story. Today we're going to look at another part of the process: revisiting what you've written and continuing. This will likely spill into Thursday, so here are some tips:

For those of you who've solidly started your stories, now is the chance to do one of two things: 1) write to a decent stopping point and then re-read/edit. 2) stop where you are and re-read/edit. Why would we do any of these things? Writing process, foo. Mr. Craddock has even more tips on his blog, too! Check them out. Here's some stuff to consider:

1) When starting a piece of writing, the first words on the page are sometimes a way of the author getting out the nonsense before actually getting into the meat of the story. Like when someone clears their throat before speaking.

2) Read it out loud to yourself. Or, even better, have someone else read your work aloud. When reading ou own writing, we automatically correct any awkwardness in our own heads, making us sort of blind to the imperfections in our own writing. When someone else reads your writing aloud, everything becomes much more clear. It's weird. Like when Aleah reads my blog posts out loud. I'm like, "Ugh, is that how I really sound?" 

3) Look for the unnecessary information and cut it out! In the first stages of writing, we sometimes tend to get overly excited and start going into such gruesome detail that it bogs down the pace of the story. Look for this! remember to choose only the most important pieces of information to include. You have to be disciplined with yourself and your own writing habits. Constantly ask yourself, "Do I need this? Is this important?" 

4) Share with each other. I know y'all do this anyway, but take some time to really listen to, read, and critique stories of your peers. When ideas are tough to come by, it's often just a little nudge that's needed from a friend or someone who sees things a smidgen differently. So, never say you're stuck or don't know what to write. Ask the opinion of other people. Do you have to do what they say? Nope. It helps to have ideas coming from other people. Use everything around you, twist it, cut it up, blend it, turn it into your own.

Last time I wanted 750 words, by now you should have between 750-1000 revised, polished words. Your story's beginning should, at this point, be developing nicely. By the end of 4th period, this is what I expect.

Homework:

Read Brier Rose and pay close attention to symbolism. Next time we'll be visiting some of the more steamy symbolism in Fairy Tales.