Friday, March 21, 2014

Blue Beard and Writing

So, Blue Beard is a bad dude. I want you to keep thinking about how we've connected to themes, a dark historical past, and the ability to hide all these things under the layers of good storytelling.  If you feel like using my presentation, it's here. Today, you'll be starting your own stories. You've been "Padletting" the past few classes, and today you're going to start your stories. 

Check out this Blue Beard inspired short film. Use it as an example for you to experience a newer, creative adaptation of the tale. The use of classic subject and stories can certainly be transformed to do what you want with them. 

Writing:

Check up on your brainstorms and begin your stories! By the end of class, you should have a solid idea of the form you'll use and a rough beginning to your story. If you get done with this, discuss it with me or a partner. By the end of 8th period I want at least 750 words of your story. Stop whining, it's not that bad. remember, this is a draft, so it doesn't have to be pretty. 

Some advice on starting a story:

1) Make a declarative statement. Start bold, don't be afraid. Beginning in this way, you establish power and can grab interest quickly. It can also set the tone for the rest of the story. Beginning with a powerful statement or dialogue is a great way to grab attention. Remember hook and inciting incident. Be bold, be clear! 

2) Start with an interesting flashback. You have already practiced writing flashbacks and are familiar with how powerful they can be. They have the ability to set the reader in the fragmented nature of a character's mind. This is a powerful tool to use when beginning a story. 

3) Start with what's at stake. What's the chief crisis of your story? Start with that. Introduce the conflict, a character flaw, a secret, or a memory that pulls the reader in immediately. 

4) Don't fall into story starting cliche! Beginning stories with an information dump, boring descriptions, fanciful language, and a needless amount of questions, paths, or characters for a reader to follow are a few ways to disinterest the reader. Don't fall into these traps.

This is creative fiction, so have some fun (this beat is sick) and create something you'd want to read. If you need help, talk to each other. Or talk to me, my brain is weird. You're surrounded by creative people, talk to them. Write!

Remember the advice of this guy:


#Imagination



Homework:

None. Happy weekend.

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