Writing Assignments for Week SIX and More
As we move to the concluding sections of the term, you will have a short fiction-writing assignment this week, one that requires imaginative fun with words that you can take as seriously as you like.
In addition, here I will chart out for you the remaining Non-Fiction and Fiction assignments. You will in addition complete a couple very short, entertaining, and imaginative assignments this week and the next.
For this week, write a "short story" using the following instructions--you should, by the way, have a tremendous amount of fun with this assignment, in which you want, in addition, to put into play the techniques about which you have read, including the use of poetic devices to make the language as emphatic as necessary for a good narrative:
Write a scene (approximately 1.5 to 2, double-spaced pages) in which a character ponders a decision of some kind. The actual conflict should be neither life threatening nor resolved.
In this particular scene, use/mention the following items:
A pair of tight-fitting gloves; Jerry Springer; Top Ramin; an animal from Australia; three colors; a pungent odor; snow; American Idol; Existential Philosophy; a pink sweat shirt; a broken DVD player, and the title of a song.
When you complete your assignment, send the document to me on the appropriate assignment link and post on the Discussion Thread dedicated to this particular assignment, where you can discuss the serious fun.
You have two other more formal assignments for the term:
Assignment due by the conclusion of Week Seven: You can, to be sure, begin work on this story now and share its development with your colleagues. At the conclusion of next week, you will turn in this short story of between 400 to 500 words.
This short story will be written in the First or the Third Person. And you will go into the mind of only one character--so keep the narrative focused.
You can, thus, reveal the thoughts of only one character.
In addition, introduce no more than two or three characters other than your protagonist.
You will also utilize the flashback technique, showing your protagonist in two different time frames. I suggest that you allow a recent event to take the protagonist to a situation in the past that bears directly on the present conflict--memoir writers often use this technique.
In the narrative account, then, place the event in the very recent past which you recount, bringing to this occurrence an event further in the past that bears on the issue and the conflict at hand.
Do not, in other words, place the story in the present tense. Listen to the video for Weeks Six and Seven for further discussion.
Final Project and Oral Project: Due no later than midnight Sunday, at the conclusion of Week Eight.
Write another piece of Non-Fiction or Fiction (your either/or choice here) of 400 to 500 words. If you write fiction, you may enter the mind of only one character. The topic is up to you, though I suggest that you look at the various exercises in the text for inspiration.
And between now and the preceding date complete your Oral Project. Make available to me and the class a seven- to-ten-minute video presentation in which you read at least two of your works and discuss their genesis. Make your video available on line; you can load to You Tube, for example, or other places, including a blog.
Contact me if you have any questions. I used this assignment for the Proctored Final; people enjoyed the process so much, I decided to continue the practice of this non-graded requirement.
In effect, you have approximately three weeks to complete these two assignments, either two short stories or one short story and another work of creative non-fiction.
As always, share with your colleagues on the appropriate Discussion Thread.
And, of course, contact me if you have questions.
Continue with revisions, for I will endeavor to get as much work as possible back to you for reconsideration.
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