The Many Things You Could Write About in Your Portfolio This Quarter

By -
Writing challenge: Use Campbell's theories and Jungian archetypes in a story of your own. You can combine this with intertextuality, mythology, stream of consciousness, or any other idea we have covered so far in this course. If you create anything (a draft or more) put it in your writing portfolio!

Writing challenge: Question(s) to consider: What's up with our fascination with strong men like Hercules? What role does gender play in our culture regarding "strength"? Write about any of the following contemporary articles:
Story idea: retell Herakles' story about trying to gain immortality--what might that mean for a man (or a woman) in today's culture? How do we hope to obtain fame that lasts beyond our lives? Why should we?

Complete and develop your written analysis of Pinnochio. 

Rewrite the myth of Cupid & Psyche (Cupid & Eros)

Check out this link. Choose a Greek myth of your liking and retell it in a modern style (see Dead Father's Club for examples/ideas); For example, after reading about the Myth of Sisyphus, you could tell the myth from the POV of a student who, no matter what she does, cannot pass her class--or cannot join the cheerleading squad, etc.

Take your Namesake baseline fiction draft and do one of the following:
  • Skip a line (white space) to transition to the 3rd person perspective of a second character. This character should have been mentioned or referenced in the first draft.
    • The character should be a different character from the 3rd person over-the-shoulder narrator in the first draft.
    • The character's story could run parallel to the story told in the first draft (i.e., the story can take place at the same time in a different place, scene, or be the other side of the first character's story
  • Advance time by at least a year (or more). Use white space to transition into this new year or setting. Continue the story, thinking about the consequences of time. You are allowed to flashback to earlier times too. You may advance the story by a year or more, more than once, if you wish.
Or...
  1. Complete your cultural poem draft. 
  2. Write about your name (or your namesake), or the events of your birth, or an important memory or event from your early childhood. 
  3. Write about how you are a "copy" of one of your parents or grandparents or siblings or relatives.
  4. Write about your nickname and the story of how you got it. 
  5. Use your long sentence in one of your drafts or start a new story based on it. Punctuate your long sentence with a very short sentence or fragment. 
  6. Play around with sentence structure in your story drafts.
Develop and revise your How It Feels To Be Me essay draft.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Namesake Analysis/Discussion Chp. 1 & 2; How It Feels To Be Colored Me

By -
Image
Let's go back to examining  The Namesake , Chapter 1 this morning to continue examining the writing style going on here. Take a closer look at these passages: Pg. 3 (1st full paragraph) to 4 (end of 1st full paragraph): How is Ashima's character compared/contrasted with the American women in the hospital? What do you notice about the sentence structure of this paragraph? What does the use of dialogue in this paragraph provide for the reader? What literary devices do you notice? Can you find figurative language/metaphor/alliteration or other elements of imagery? How are the sentences similar to a contraction (the action in the scene)? Pg. 10-12: how is Ashoke's character presented? How does his story parallel or contrast with his wife's? How is Ashoke different from the other American men in the waiting room? What details do we learn about him?  Pg. 13-14: Nickolai Gogol and the short story "The Overcoat" is alluded to here. Just notice it for now. This al
Read more

Clash of the Titans (Conclusion); Creation Myths

By -
Clash of the Titans (conclusion) Clash of the Titans   (1981)--produced and designed by  Ray Harryhausen . Directed by  Desmond Davis . Starring:  Laurence Olivier  as Zeus,  Maggie Smith  as Thetis,  Harry Hamlin  as Perseus, and  Burgess Meredith  as Ammon. Clash of the Titans (2010) & Clash of the Titans (2010) Medusa Scene Wrath of the Titans (2012) Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (2010) Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (2013) Percy Jackson Titan's Curse (2017) Use mythic criticism to review (in writing or as a podcast or vlog post)  Clash of the Titans . Take notes during the film to help you prepare your review. Myth Criticism  asks: 1. How does the story resemble other stories in plot, character, setting or use of symbols? 2. Are archetypes presented, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, descending, or withdrawals and returns? [Use your handout/notes to help!] 3. Does the protagonist undergo any kind of transformation (such as movement from innoc
Read more

Wilderness Tips - Examination & Analysis

By -
Image
Use period one to continue the story draft you started last class. Use your time to develop your ideas, theme, work on plot, character development, setting, and other aspects of your fiction writing. Remember, your story should include the following: Write a draft that includes a flashback . Consider an urban setting, but at some point in your story, move to a more natural setting. The setting should reflect the inner conflicts of your protagonist if possible. Avoid character cliches: surprise your reader (and possibly yourself or even your character) Include a secondary character who should act as a foil to the protagonist. Write in present tense ; (flashbacks can be written in past tense); Use 3rd person POV (limited, omniscient, objective). See the previous post for more details. Period 2: Let's discuss what we've read so far in the collection. Wilderness Tips is   Margaret Atwood’s second volume of short stories ( Bluebeard’s Egg and Other Stories (198
Read more