home work

Write a short story or a poem! Here are some guidelines:

Short Story : 

-at some point, title it. 

-focus on an interesting first paragraph. This is going to be a short story (no more than five pages). Avoid "I watched Mrs Johnson get into her car." Go instead for, "I still don't know why I've been counting, but this is the fifteenth consecutive day that Mrs Johnson has worn black and the fourth day since her suicide attempt." Grab the reader's attention. Do not let go of it.

-present well-developed character(s). You can use the character you've already created a few weeks back. If you offer someone new, of course I recommend using the process I assigned to flesh out this person. You do not have to go to the length you did before...but then again, why wouldn't you? 

-choose the Point of View-who will be the narrator? Will it be 1st, 2nd or 3rd person? 2nd is the least common, but it might work for your story. 

-include dialogue, and make it work- Even if there is only one character in your story, have him/her then talk to himself/herself at some point, an interior dialogue. The story can be mostly non-dialogue if you wish/need, but do be sure to work on this.

-give the story at least one setting. Think time and place, give the characters context. Remember, setting can be time of day, a particular season, a particular year or century, and note how most writers follow certain tropes-think about where horror stories usually take place, where romances occur, etc, and consider how writers use these not out of laziness but because they work. Tropes are good, cliches are bad! :)

-have some idea of plot in mind. Be willing to give up that idea if the characters take you elsewhere. Still, after you're done writing, a plot generally should be discernible. Plotless stories are entirely possible but can be extreme challenges to write and to read. For now, let's avoid this.

-establish some kind of conflict. All great stories include conflict, whether it is an internal one for the protagonist or an external one between himself/herself and an antagonist. A story in which everyone is happy and everything goes perfectly is a dull story! People love drama...especially when it is not their own! :)

-keep in mind that most stories follow a basic structure. 99 percent of every story ever written follows the classic story pyramid. Include an inciting incident, exposition, complication, climax and resolution.)

-leave time for revision. This is not a "night before it is due"  type of assignment. Those students who do so are usually the ones who write to me a few days later asking if they can resubmit it. Don't be that student. When one writes and sets it aside for a few days, one can come back to it with a freshed set of eyes and mind and make meaningful edits/revisions...or even decide that none are needed. Time is the writer's friend.

Poetry:

-just like with short stories, a title can be a way into the work for the reader. Take a look at what established writers do for titles.

-make it something to which you have an emotional connection. something you care about. 

-have a theme in mind. A theme is more than a topic. A topic might be, "a place that has special meaning to me." A theme might be, "Wordsworth was right-being able to employ memory and go to our "happy place" even when we cannot physically go there is valuable and healthy."   Here's another. A line that is only about a topic is, "death." A thematic line could be, "Today I fell in love with life. Today for the first time, I did invite death to dine." Also keep in mind that a theme is not the same as a moral or a lesson. Creative writers do not usually set out to teach. Readers can learn from someone's writing, but that is an entirely different matter.

-decide if it will be a rhyming poem, or free verse (or a combination of them). If you must rhyme, go ahead-it's not a crime to rhyme! :)  Just avoid forced rhymes, going with a work not because it is powerful and adds to the meaning of your poem but only because it rhymes.

-pay attention to the sounds of the words. You've done some reading on alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc. Read your lines and the finished poem out loud...how does it all sound? 

-use some kind of figurative language. Metaphors, personification, symolism, synechdoche, metonymy and many more; the best poets typically make at least some use of figurative language, so why not give it a go here?

-ask yourself, "can I explain and justify every word and phrase and line in this poem?" Poetry is language chosen with the greatest care, a compression of powerful thoughts and feelings. Poetry should never have any "filler" in it.

-keep it manageable in length. However many stanza you make it is up to you, but make the poem at least ten lines long and no more than forty.

Tips for both story and poem:

-try to have a "writer's space" in which to work. Is there somewhere in which you can find quiet and peace and can write without interruptions or distractions? If so, go there. If not, try to create such a space.

-try to work on it over several days. At the very least, do not feel pressured to do this in one sitting. Most writers don't.

-do not show it to anyone until you have finished at least the first draft.

-if you do then ask people for input, ask them to follow the procedures for peer critiquing.

-don't fall in love with your writing. Be willing to cross out. To throw out.

-have fun! Yes, this is WRITING...but it also is just writing. You can write it again, Or not. You can write something else. You're learning about and engaging in a form of art, but it's one course in college, and it is not meant to give you the keys to the universe or ask that much of you. Tell us a story. Write us a poem. Do it first for yourself. Have fun.