Agenda Wed. 10/29 Elements of fiction/Objective POV

1. Quiz on video--elements of fiction

2. Finish the Wade Boggs exercise

3. Read and discuss Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver--Objective POV

Little Things by Raymond Carver

Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too.

He was in the bedroom pushing clothes into a suitcase when she came to the door.

I’m glad you’re leaving! I’m glad you’re leaving! she said. Do you hear?

He kept on putting his things into the suitcase.

Son of a bitch! I’m so glad you’re leaving! She began to cry. You can’t even look me in the face, can you?

Then she noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up.

He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room.

Bring that back, he said.

Just get your things and get out, she said.

He did not answer. He fastened the suitcase, put on his coat, looked around the bedroom before turning off the light. Then he went out to the living room.

She stood in the doorway of the little kitchen, holding the baby.

I want the baby, he said.

Are you crazy?

No, but I want the baby. I’ll get someone to come by for his things.

You’re not touching this baby, she said.

The baby had begun to cry and she uncovered the blanket from around his head.

Oh, oh, she said, looking at the baby.

He moved toward her.

For God’s sake! she said. She took a step back into the kitchen.

I want the baby.

Get out of here!

She turned and tried to hold the baby over in a corner behind the stove.

But he came up. He reached across the stove and tightened his hands on the baby.

Let go of him, he said.

Get away, get away! she cried.

The baby was red-faced and screaming. In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot that hung behind the stove.

He crowded her into the wall then, trying to break her grip. He held on to the baby and pushed with all his weight.

Let go of him, he said.

Don’t, she said. You’re hurting the baby, she said.

I’m not hurting the baby, he said.

The kitchen window gave no light. In the near-dark he worked on her fisted fingers with one hand and with the other hand he gripped the screaming baby up under an arm near the shoulder.

She felt her fingers being forced open. She felt the baby going from her.

No! she screamed just as her hands came loose.

She would have it, this baby. She grabbed for the baby’s other arm. She caught the baby around the wrist and leaned back.

But he would not let go. He felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard.

In this manner, the issue was decided.

“Little Things” from Where I’m Calling From: The Selected Stories Atlantic Monthly Press, 1988. Copyright © 1988 by Tess Gallagher.

The story appeared as “Mine” in Furious Seasons And Other Stories Capra Press, 1977 and as “Popular Mechanics” in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Knopf, 1981.

Agenda 10/27 Elements of fiction

1. View video on Fiction

2. Read Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings". Discuss elements of fiction in story.

3. Do Wade Boggs Activity and finish working on 15 sentence portrait revisions

4. HMWK: STUDY NOTES FOR QUIZ ON VIDEO ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY: We'll read some Poe stories.

15 sentence Portrait/ Agenda 10/21 and 10/23

The fifteen-Sentence Portrait

This assignment will generate descriptive writing. It is purposefully guided. So, begin by choosing a person to describe. Then follow the directions.

1. Picture in your mind a person you have strong feelings for. The subject may not be a "love" interest, but should be someone you feel strongly about. The person can be living or dead but should be someone you know or knew rather than a famous character.
2. For a title, choose an emotion or a color that represents this person to you. You will not mention the individual’s name in the writing.
3. For a first-line starter, choose one of the following and complete the sentence:

1. You stand there . . .
2. No one is here . . .
3. In this (memory, photograph, dream, etc.), you are . . .
4. I think sometimes . . .
5. The face is . . .
6. We had been . . .

1. Following your first sentence, build a portrait of this individual, writing the sentences according to these directions:

1. Sentence 2: Write a sentence with a color in it.
2. Sentence 3: Write a sentence with a part of the body in it.
3. Sentence 4: Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as).
4. Sentence 5: Write a sentence of over 25 words.
5. Sentence 6: Write a sentence under 8 words.
6. Sentence 7: Write a sentence with a piece of clothing in it.
7. Sentence 8: Write a sentence with a wish in it.
8. Sentence 9: Write a sentence with an animal in it.
9. Sentence 10: Write a sentence in which three or more words alliterate; that is, they begin with the same initial consonant: she has be left, lately, with less and less time to think . . .
10. Sentence 11: Write a sentence with two commas.
11. Sentence 12: Write a sentence with a smell and a color in it.
12. Sentence 13: Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as).
13. Sentence 14: Write a sentence that could carry an exclamation point (but do not use the exclamation point).
14. Sentence 15: Write a sentence to end this portrait that uses the word or words you chose for a title.

1. Next, read the portrait. Underline sentences in which you discovered new things about this individual or your feelings and attitudes toward him or her.
2. Now, use this portrait as a starting point for a poem or prose portrait or simply revise what you have. (Be sure to keep a copy of the original, so that you can examine the changes between original and revised piece.) Do anything you need to make this a piece of writing that you like. Choose a new title, use the person’s real name, and so on.
3. http://jkkelleywritenow.blogspot.com/2007/05/starlight-white.html
   

Agenda 10/9 Happiness Exercise Hass

1. Watch video about punctuation

2. Read "Happiness" by Robert Hass

Happiness by Robert Hass

Happiness
Robert Hass
Sun Under Wood: Ecco Press, 1996

Because yesterday morning from the steamy window
we saw a pair of red foxes across the creek
eating the last windfall apples in the rain—
they looked up at us with their green eyes
long enough to symbolize the wakefulness of living things
and then went back to eating—

and because this morning when she went into the gazebo with her black pen and yellow pad
to coax an inquisitive soul
from what she thinks of as the reluctance of matter,
I drove into town to drink tea in the café
and write notes in a journal—mist rose from the bay
like the luminous and indefinite aspect of intention,
and a small flock of tundra swans
for the second winter in a row was feeding on new grass
in the soaked fields; they symbolize mystery, I suppose,
they are also called whistling swans, are very white,
and their eyes black—

and because the tea steamed in front of me,
and the notebook, turned to a new page,
was blank except for a faint blue idea of order,
I wrote: happiness! it is December, very cold,
we woke early this morning,
and lay in bed kissing,
our eyes squinched up like bats.

*************

Bob Hass at the Thursday night reading.

At bat. Hit a double.

3. Using "Happiness" as a model, write a one sentence poem using as many different punctuation marks as you can. Use the periodic sentence structure, delaying the subject and verb of the independent clause until the end of the poem.
Post your poems!

4. finish any other work you have.

Agenda 10/07 Alphabet, Lie, Empty

grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/quiz_list.htm
Work on a few interactive quizzes in punctuation, grammar, spelling, and mechanics at this website.


Creative Writing Exercise:
Pick one exercise:

1. The Alphabet Story/Essay: Write a story or essay in which each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet, beginning with A (i.e. 26 sentences).

or

2. Write about a lie. Was it your lie? Was it someone else's lie? What were the consequences of the lie? Were they positive? Negative? What feelings were involved?

or

3. Here's your title: Empty. create a piece of writing that fits that title.

or

4. It's election season and although you cannot vote, you have opinions.
What's right about this country? You have only 100 words, so use them wisely.
What's wrong with this country? You have only 100 words, so use them wisely.

Agenda 10/3

1. Do Set 26 and 27

2. FINISH AND SHARE RUN, LOLA, RUN stories

Agenda Wed. 10/1 Modifiers

1. Check out videos and new format on grammar and style page.

2. MODIFIERS---Handout Do Set 24 and 25

3. Work on finishing Run, Lola, Run stories. If finished, share with peer editor/reader in writing group.