Thursday

Good morning,
Today we learn some tricks for formatting in g-docs and also publishing. If your paper gets perfect you should read the short story linked below. There will be a bonus question about it on your quiz tomorrow. Also read the blog post I put up yesterday afternoon.

Story to read: Canning Day

A little update

If you've been in class you know we've been very busy this week.
Monday you met with your writing groups.
Tuesday we had a lesson about the importance of setting and you had time to work on your draft.
Today (Wednesday) we had a lesson about using present and past tense correctly in fiction and then you met with your group again. Remember, dialog can be in any tense, but narration is almost always in the past tense. Do not switch between past and present in your narration.
Thursday is a short day, we will discuss formatting and publication options.
For Friday I feel a quiz coming on...and some of you who are brave (or in need of some extra points) will get to read your stories to the class.

Writing Groups

Good morning,

Today you share your fiction draft with your writing group. I am going to be strict about the group rules today.

1. Everyone reads their draft OUT LOUD.
2. Writers remain silent while the group discusses the draft. Discuss each draft right after it is read to you by the writer.
3. The writer may respond to the group AFTER the group has finished their discussion.
4. Today you will have a notetaker in your group. The notetaker will write down (yes on paper) who shared and what the group discussed about each writer's work. This is due today from each group.

Listening to Internal Thought

Good morning,
Yesterday you made some great strides learning about dialog. Today you have a quick quiz and then we are going to look at adding a character's internal thought to fiction writing.

Click her to take the quiz.

I've searched online and found several sources that discuss adding character's thoughts to fiction, but those sources are actually discussions going on in writers' forms. It seems even professional and aspiring novelists struggle with adding internal thought and they have a debate going on about how to punctuate it. Some say characters thoughts should be in quotation marks just like dialog. Others say to put internal thought in italics. There is even debate about the verb tense appropriate for internal thought. I have a story for you today, but it isn't on line, so we will look at it in class and come to our own agreement about what to do with internal thought.

This message will not self destruct, but you must now shut down your computer and prepare to experience an off-line activity. If you have a highlighter get it out.

Don't forget you have a draft due on Monday.

Dialog

Good morning,

Yesterday we did not have a blog post, so lets review for those of you playing along at home. Our lesson was about the difference between writing that tells the reader something and writing that shows the reader something. I'll give you one of the favorite examples we used in class.
Instead of: He was proud of his car
We wrote: I can't believe it is mine, all mine. Tomorrow I will wash it and wax it. When I save some money I will get chrome rims.
Hint: watch out for the words: was, is, were, are. That could mean you are telling instead of showing the reader the story.

Today we move on (quickly I know) to dialog. Lucky for us lots of writers like to write about writing and one of the things they really like to write about is dialog. I'm sending you to a few blog posts about dialog. Read what you find. I expect you to write about your findings in your English Journal.
Robert J. Sawyer- His blog give some great advice about making dialog sound real and still be readable.
Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue- There is some very good advice here.
A Few Good Men- This site gives an example using dialog from the movie and it really shows you how important it is to be clear about what you are saying.

The Flowers

Good morning,
Yesterday you began to plan your own short story. Today, to help you, we will look at a very short piece by Alice Walker and compare the elements of that text with the things you are looking for in your own fiction. When writers read good fiction they often read it more than once. Be prepared to read this story several times.
The Flowers by Alice Walker

Questions to consider:
Can you picture Myop in your head as a real little girl? Why or why not?
What do the details of the story tell you about her at the beginning?
What has Myop found in the woods?
What does Myop learn in the story. How do you know she learned this?
What is the setting? How does it change? What makes it seem real?
What do you think will change about Myop after this?
What elements in this text will you try to include in your own story?

Further into Fiction

Welcome back,

I hope you all had a great break. Mine was really eventful. More on that later.
Today:

1. Open your English journal and write two paragraphs about what you did over break.
2. Look at your next major writing project The Fictional Assignment and read it over carefully.
3. Copy and paste the questions on the assignment sheet into your English Journal and answer them.
4. Shortly you will meet with your group to talk about your answers. You won't be sharing any documents with them, just talking about what you want to write about for the project.

As for my eventful break. There was the usual holiday joy, plus both my sons have their birthdays during winter break and the surprise event was that my sister-in-law had her baby a month early and I was able to be present at the birth of my niece, Alexis. It was amazing.

Poe and King

Good morning,
Stephen King is often considered the modern equivalent of Edgar Allen Poe. In may ways these authors are similar.
Your assignment: In your English Journal write a 3-4 paragraph short essay about the ways Poe and King are similar. Remember to include examples from the works we have read by both authors. 300 words should do it. Don't get into their differences. Focus on similarities.

Have a great break and think about the piece of fiction you want to write in January.

Stephen King

Good morning,
Good work on your Poe analysis yesterday. Today we move on to one of Poe's most famous literary descendants. No, they are not actually related (as far as I know), but Stephen King's writing shares many of the features that Poe has in his writing. Watch for the similarities.

We will begin with a presentation about Stephen King. After the group presents please use this link to evaluate their presentation.

Stephen King's work is still copyright protected and thus it is not freely available on-line. We will read the screenplay "Sorry, Right Number" from the book. You will need your English Journal for notes.

Themes and Features in Poe's Writing

Good Morning,

Today we will look at the themes and features common in the works of Edgar Allen Poe. A theme is a large idea that can appear over and over in many different texts. A feature is a specific literary device, setting, object or character that an author uses. We will discuss this more in class.

You will work with your writing group to find examples of both in Poe's works and submit your findings to me through a form. Please have only one person submit the form, but you should all be actively searching out quotes and writing explanations about your findings. You may wish to use e-mail to send what you wrote or found to the person working on the form for your group.

Link to the form: Themes and Features in Poe's WritingHint: Use links in earlier blog posts to find the on-line versions of what we read.
Yes, this is due today.

Absent students: You may work by yourselves and submit your own form. Please note that in the space for group names.