Let's clean out the barn and put on a play!

“To translate knowledge and information into experience: that seems to be the function of literature and art.” 

                            ― Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life & Work

The Hero’s Adventure Basic Recipe

Here is a basic recipe to demonstrate how the Hero’s Adventure plays out. This is a template you can apply to your own work-in-progress—you might be surprised by how closely it matches elements you already have in play.

• A messenger comes. The messenger might be human, or a message might come from an experience—like a brush with death or a dream. At any rate, something has gone wrong; the natural order of the world has been disturbed.
• A problem is presented. Perhaps something has been taken away from the tribe, or some misfortune or malfeasance has occurred.
• Someone is marked out as the person to solve this problem. She is chosen according to some past deed of her parents or by her own reputation or happenstance. This person, of course, emerges as the hero at the end.
• A challenge takes shape. The challenge may be refused, at first. “No way, I’m not going to risk my neck for that!”
• A refusal, often. But eventually the hero decides to accept the challenge. She might even be forced to accept it by circumstances.
• The challenge is accepted. The adventure begins.
• The hero leaves the familiar world. And she sets off into another world. It’s dangerous. The hero could use some help, and very often …
• Helpers materialize. A helper might have special skills the hero doesn’t have, or he might have special insights or wisdom, in which case he takes the form of a mentor.
• Setbacks occur. The hero is tested, she makes gains, she endures setbacks, she fights for what is right, she resists evil. The going’s tough!
• The hero regroups and gains some ground again. Maybe she needs another visit to a mentor, or maybe she makes a personal breakthrough and overcomes a great inner obstacle, perhaps her own fear.
• The foe is vanquished or the elixir is seized. Eventually she defeats the foe or comes into possession of something that will restore the natural order—a cure, or new knowledge that will bring justice or the return of prosperity.
• The hero returns to the familiar world. And the problem is fixed, or justice is done. The natural order is restored.

The person who accepts the challenge and prevails is elevated to a special position, somewhere above human, somewhere below god. She is the hero.

The Hero’s Adventure at Work

Famous stories from King Arthur and Excalibur to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to The Little Engine That Could to Harry Potter are based on the Hero’s Adventure. Let’s look at a concrete example from a well-known source: the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

• A messenger comes. Holmes and Watson are hanging out in the familiar world of 221B Baker St. when a young lady comes calling.
• A problem is presented. The young lady tells Holmes that her sister has died under strange circumstances, and she now fears for her own life.
• Someone is marked out as the person to solve this problem. Knowing of Holmes’ reputation, the young lady asks him for help.
• A challenge takes shape. Holmes asks many questions, and perceives the seriousness of the situation.
• A refusal, often. Holmes rarely refuses a challenge, though he has been known to be reluctant at times. In this case, Holmes senses great urgency, so he doesn’t waffle.
• The challenge is accepted. The adventure begins.
• The hero leaves the familiar world. Holmes sets off from 221B Baker St. and enters the busy, raucous streets of London, thence to a creepy old mansion in the country. It’s dangerous. The hero could use some assistance.
• Helpers materialize. And guess what? He’s got Watson at his side! Much investigation occurs, with progress, and then …
• Setbacks occur. Things go wrong, problems turn out to be more difficult than anticipated.
• The hero regroups and gains some ground again. After a nail-biting, death-defying climax, Holmes prevails, discovering a deadly plot and a bizarre method of murder. The perpetrator is killed by the very method he had used to kill another.
• The foe is vanquished or the elixir is seized. Holmes and Watson wrap up the case for the local police and return to their flat in London.
• the Hero returns to the familiar world. And we feel secure because we know justice has been done; the killer cannot kill again. The natural order
  is restored.

Read or watch practically any good, successful story you will find similar story bones. This is not by accident. Good writers have instincts for such things. We sharpen our instincts by studying and by writing, which you’ve been doing all along.

Now we will choose one of the moments from the Hero's Journey to make into a two-person, maybe three-person scene. 

And how do we format a scene? 

Here is a style guide from the City Theater in Pittsburgh

Here are some one-act play resources:

This is long but really worth staying with it

Stan Lee - think butts in seats rather than turing pages

Like he says, "You just have to keep interesting yourself while you are writing it."

Read and watch to be inspired. Christopher and Jessi, if you have any suggestions feel free to send them to the class. Here are some of mine:

Take a Seat (he's channeling his inner Woody Allen.)

You can also Google "Family 2.0" and see a variety of interpretations of this short play. Here is a high school one that I like - but there are many, many variations on the YouTube

Writing practice

Pick an object at random and write about it. Dive into your sense memories and associations surrounding the object. Anything goes, as long as it is sense-bound. 

Write freely. No rhythm, no rhyme. No need for complete sentences. Use all seven senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, organic, and kinesthetic.

Travel Writing

Elements of Good Travel Writing

Travel writing:

• centers on a key event.
  
• uses background information that builds up to this event.
  
• may incorporate research to enhance the background information— even if the writer didn’t know the information things at the time of the trip.
  
• clearly describes the location and focuses on elements that are key to the story or experience.
  
• clearly describes any important people so that readers feel as if they know them a little.
  
• uses dialogue where possible to help the story“happen”for the reader .
  
• mixes reflections on the experience with the retelling to help the reader see the importance of the experience. 
  

Okay, now I want you to read some of the writing from the site Best Travel Writing. Take a look around the site and read at least three of the 10 stories on the "Great Stories" page. Use the analysis questions below to look at the stories to see what you like and what you think works. Start to think about some of those elements for your assignment. 

Analysis of Travel Writing

1. How does the author attempt to get the reader’s attention? Do you think this method is effective? Why or why not?

2. What kind of background information does the author give? Why is it necessary? Is there anything that you feel the author left out?

3. Does the author describe the setting? What kinds of details does he or she give? Why? Is there anything you wish the author had mentioned but didn’t?

4. Does the author describe any people? What kinds of details does he or she give about the people? Compare details about people with the way the author describes the location. What similar elements are provided? What different elements?
5. Does the author use any dialogue? If so, what does dialogue add to the writing? If not, where could the author make the story more lively?
6. What is the main event in the story? How do you know?
7. Are there any images or photos in the article? What do they add to the reading experience? 

Also check out these sites.
WorldHum
Smithsonian (This is a great article about the challenges of travel writing.)

Your assignment: 
TBA in class

Workshopping

When you have your writing "workshopped" you sit in the room as if you don't exist. The reader experiences your work the same as if they read it online or bought it in a bookstore. You are not there to defend the work, explain the work, interpret the work. To workshop is for you to see your words speak for themselves - and for some writers are surprised at what the work is really saying to someone.

Don’t make vague statements like “it’s good.” Rather than simply stating what you think, explain why. Think in terms of whether something “works” rather than in terms of “good” or “bad.”

Focus on strengths first, but don’t hide your constructive ideas about areas that could improve. Be sensitive but honest. The point is to help the writer consider ways to improve the work. Don’t be afraid to politely express your true reactions to the piece.

As you read each other's stories ask the text the following questions:

What is this story about?
What is the most important thing it is trying to say?
What works and what needs work?
How could the piece improve overall?
What aspects of the piece do you really like?
How did the piece affect you? What sort of impact does it have, if any?

Initial stage: Does the opening of the piece make you want to keep reading?
Setting: Is the setting apparent? Are there details about the time/ place/location? Does the setting play an important role?
Senses: Are you captivated by the writing in terms of senses/ does the writing make you taste, feel, see, smell, and hear in your imagination?
Language: Is the writing exciting? Strange? Too simple? Would you need a dictionary to understand what’s happening?
Predictability: Is the writing too predictable? Is it so unpredictable that it leaves too many loose ties at the end?
Distractions: Is there anything in the writing that takes away from its depth?

Dialogue: Does it blend well with the writing? Are the dialogue lines “normal” or too “forced”? Would you actually overhear people talking like that?
Characters: Are they well-developed? Can you imagine them being actual people?
Scenes and Scene Transitions: Can you tell when the scenes change? Can you keep track of the time//location throughout the story?
Pace: Are there parts of the story that are “too slow” and could perhaps be more exciting or cut? Is there too much action and not enough “thinking time” in the piece?
Believability: Are aspects of the story just too impossible?
Conflict(s): Is there an apparent issue in the story that is attended to and resolved?
Resolution: Does it appropriately tie up the issue? Is it too farfetched or cliched?

  Be sensitive but honest. The point is to help the writer consider ways to improve the work. You may say something like

“The dialogue in the opening scene is an effective idea–I feel like it captures interest right off the bat–but it starts to get confusing towards the end of the opening scene...I’m not making all the connections between the characters’ lines...maybe the writer has those connections in his mind, but needs to give more direction to us readers so that we can make those same connections.”

Flash Fiction

This is the best information on Flash Fiction

For Monday

Hi Gang,
I have to have an emergency meeting with Dean Coker at 2 p.m.

HAVE CLASS WITHOUT ME
1. Spend Friday's class reading through the blog and the suggestions about writing short stories.
2. Spend the weekend writing the first scene for the short story that should be based (even loosely) on the story poem you have been working on. This scene needs to start with action right away. Drop the reader in the middle of some chaos.
3. In Monday's class Dr. RT Goode is going to take us through a guided meditation to help us with our writing practice. Monday is the only day he can come to our class. Have your scene written but be ready to have the meditation practice influence what happens in the scene next.

Any questions?
Email me
Text me
Call me
and
Write
Write
Write

Telling the short story

Kurt Vonnegut

Here are some short stories to read for free (Yeah!)
Here is a list of "Best short stories of all time" (Also free)
Yellow Wallpaper is a favorite of mine

If the link is broken or you can't find it look on Project Guttenberg

They include biographical essays which you will also write in this class.
Read in order to write.
Read in order to write.
Read in order to write.

We will go over this list of things that make a short story and other kinds of storytelling work.

Poetic Storytelling

Get some idea from these slam poets

• explore, as a basis for your poem, personal observations and understandings of a specific (real) person's character which might include exploits, action(s), mannerisms and personality
• successfully present these interpretations by writing a poem in "brief" poetical format that "tells a story" about the observed person. The "character" should NOT be one's own self!)
• become more attentive to particular human quirks and personalities
• demonstrate the ability to utilize specific words and short phrases in place of long descriptive sentences and paragraphs in presenting a story.

Hint: This poem might be described as a "snapshot" of words that quickly, yet effectively tells a "story" about a single, select character.  Perhaps the story focuses on an event or the cumulative results of a personality trait related to the character's life.  Good subjects could include: a grandparent or other relative or, a peculiar neighbor or acquaintance.

Write a poem which satisfies the following criteria:

1. The poem is in the past tense.
2. The poem is no more than thirty lines in length
3. The poem is in the third person, about somebody (a protagonist) "other" than yourself, somebody colorful and vivid enough to make for interesting reading. The protagonist should be non­fictional (You might select one of the more eccentric people you remember from high school) unless you can, as Louis Simpson does in the poem “Caviar At the Funeral," create a convincing fictional character.
4. The poem should not be end-rhymed.
5. The title of the poem should be the name of the protagonist.
6. The main body of the poem should present a scene (as in a movie) dramatizing a telling incident in the life of the protagonist. The scene might well center around some kind of initiation experience, certainly around some experience from which the protagonist learned something important about himself/herself, about the people around him/her or about both. (Experiences which resulted in disillusionment are often particularly suitable for such ultra-short stories.) .
7. The background of the main character or characters should be sketched in by means of digressions.
8. The scene should show the protagonist faced with a situation in which he/she must make a decision.
9. From the decision which the protagonist makes, the reader should gain some insight into the protagonist.
10. From the way in which the author presents the scene, the reader should get a sense of the author's judgment of the character. 
11. This judgment should be very tactfully suggested, by innuendo, through hints and through the author's tone of voice, not blatantly stated.
12. Though told with, great economy, the story should contain enough physical details and images to enable the reader to vividly picture the story's central scene.

"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf." The underlined portions were to be interchanged with words that pertain to that person's story. For example: For Drama Queens Who Have Considered changing When the passion is Enuf....or For fathers Who Have Considered leaving When the pressure is Enuf.


Who
Does what to Whom
And How
And Where
And When
And what happens at the end of the doing

How do we develop a poetic voice?

Catching light through the cracks.
I did not find most of the poetry visual enough. (But that is okay) 
Let us go through a set of tips

1. Know Your Goal.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there? What are you trying to say? What is the So What?

Before you begin, ask yourself what you want your poem to “do.” Do you want your poem to describe an event in your life, protest a social injustice, or describe the beauty of nature? Once your know the goal of your poem, you can conform your writing to that goal. Take each main element in your poem and make it serve the main purpose of the poem.

2. Avoid Clichés

How to Improve a Cliché

I will take the cliché “as busy as a bee” and show how you can express the same idea without cliché.

1. Determine what the clichéd phrase is trying to say.
   In this case, I can see that “busy as a bee” is a way to describe the state of being busy.
2. Think of an original way to describe what the cliché is trying to describe.
   For this cliché, I started by thinking about busyness. I asked myself the question, “What things are associated with being busy?” I came up with: college, my friend Jessica, corporation bosses, old ladies making quilts and canning goods, and a computer, fiddlers fiddling. From this list, I selected a thing that is not as often used in association with busyness: violins.
3. Create a phrase using the non-clichéd way of description.
   I took my object associated with busyness and turned it into a phrase: “I feel like a bow fiddling an Irish reel.” This phrase communicates the idea of “busyness” much better than the worn-out, familiar cliché. The reader’s mind can picture the insane fury of the bow on the violin, and know that the poet is talking about a very frenzied sort of busyness. In fact, those readers who know what an Irish reel sounds like may even get a laugh out of this fresh way to describe “busyness.”

3.  Avoid Sentimentality

4.  Use Images

“BE A PAINTER IN WORDS,” says UWEC English professor emerita, poet, and songwriter Peg Lauber. She says poetry should stimulate six senses:

• sight
• hearing
• smell
• touch
• taste
• kinesiology (motion)

Examples.

• “Sunlight varnishes magnolia branches crimson” (sight)
• “Vacuum cleaner’s whir and hum startles my ferret” (hearing)
• “Penguins lumber to their nests” (kinesiology)

Lauber advises her students to produce fresh, striking images (“imaginative”). Be a camera. Make the reader be there with the poet/speaker/narrator

5. Use Metaphor and Simile

Use metaphor and simile to bring imagery and concrete words into your writing.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a statement that pretends one thing is really something else:

Example: “The lead singer is an elusive salamander.”

This phrase does not mean that the lead singer is literally a salamander. Rather, it takes an abstract characteristic of a salamander (elusiveness) and projects it onto the person. By using metaphor to describe the lead singer, the poet creates a much more vivid picture of him/her than if the poet had simply said “The lead singer’s voice is hard to pick out.”

Simile

A simile is a statement where you say one object is similar to another object. Similes use the words “like” or “as.”

Example: “He was curious as a caterpillar” or “He was curious, like a caterpillar”

This phrase takes one quality of a caterpillar and projects it onto a person. It is an easy way to attach concrete images to feelings and character traits that might usually be described with abstract words.

Note: A simile is not automatically any more or less “poetic” than a metaphor. You don’t suddenly produce better poems if you replace all your similes with metaphors, or vice versa. The point to remember is that comparison, inference, and suggestion are all important tools of poetry; similes and metaphors are tools that will help in those areas.

6. Use Concrete Words Instead of Abstract Words.

Concrete words describe things that people experience with their senses.

• orange
• warm
• cat

A person can see orange, feel warm, or hear a cat.

Poets use concrete words help the reader get a “picture” of what the poem is talking about. When the reader has a “picture” of what the poem is talking about, he/she can better understand what the poet is talking about.

Abstract words refer to concepts or feelings.

• liberty
• happy
• love

“Liberty” is a concept, “happy” is a feeling, and no one can agree on whether “love” is a feeling, a concept or an action.

A person can’t see, touch, or taste any of these things. As a result, when used in poetry, these words might simply fly over the reader’s head, without triggering any sensory response. Further, “liberty,” “happy,” and “love” can mean different things to different people. Therefore, if the poet uses such a word, the reader may take a different meaning from it than the poet intended.

Change Abstract Words Into Concrete Words

To avoid problems caused by using abstract words, use concrete words.

Example: “She felt happy.”

This line uses the abstract word “happy.” To improve this line, change the abstract word to a concrete image. One way to achieve this is to think of an object or a scene that evokes feelings of happiness to represent the happy feeling.

Improvement: “Her smile spread like red tint on ripening tomatoes.”

This line uses two concrete images: a smile and a ripening tomato. Describing the smile shows the reader something about happiness, rather than simply coming right out and naming the emotion. Also, the symbolism of the tomato further reinforces the happy feelings. Red is frequently associated with love; ripening is a positive natural process; food is further associated with being satisfied.

7. Communicate Theme.

Poetry always has a theme. Theme is not just a topic, but an idea with an opinion.

Theme = Idea + Opinion

Topic: “The Vietnam War”

This is not a theme. It is only a subject. It is just an event. There are no ideas, opinions, or statements about life or of wisdom contained in this sentence

Theme: “History shows that despite our claims to be peace-loving, unfortunately each person secretly dreams of gaining glory through conflict.”

This is a theme. It is not just an event, but a statement about an event. It shows what the poet thinks about the event. The poet strives to show the reader his/her theme during the entire poem, making use of literary techniques.

8 Subvert the Ordinary.

Poets’ strength is the ability to see what other people see everyday in a new way. You don’t have to be special or a literary genius to write good poems–all you have to do is take an ordinary object, place, person, or idea, and come up with a new perception of it.

Example: People ride the bus everyday.

Poets’ Interpretation: A poet looks at the people on the bus and imagines scenes from their lives. A poet sees a sixty-year old woman and imagines a grandmother who runs marathons. A poet sees a two-year old boy and imagines him painting with ruby nail polish on the toilet seat, and his mother struggling to not respond in anger.

Take the ordinary and turn it on its head. (The word “subvert” literally means “turn upside down”.)

9 Rhyme with Extreme Caution.

Rhyme and meter (the pattern of stressed and unstressed words) can be dangerous if used the wrong way. Remember sing-song nursery rhymes? If you choose a rhyme scheme that makes your poem sound sing-song, it will detract from the quality of your poem.

I recommend that beginning poets stick to free verse. It is hard enough to compose a poem without dealing with the intricacies of rhyme and meter.  

10 Revise, Revise, Revise.

The first completed draft of your poem is only the beginning. Poets often go through several drafts of a poem before considering the work “done.”

To revise:

• Put your poem away for a few days, and then come back to it. When you re-read it, does anything seem confusing? Hard to follow? Do you see anything that needs improvement that you overlooked the first time? Often, when you are in the act of writing, you may leave out important details because you are so familiar with the topic. Re-reading a poem helps you to see it from the “outsider’s perspective” of a reader.
• Show your poem to others and ask for criticism. Don’t be content with a response like, “That’s a nice poem.” You won’t learn anything from that kind of response. Instead, find people who will tell you specific things you need to improve in your poem.

Breath deep the gathering gloom

Well writers, it seems we will not be together today or maybe even Monday we have to start thinking about poetry NOW. 

Here is some information on Slam Poetry

Look for 5-7 poems that you are digging. Don't just sue my suggestions but find some of your own. Take a look at these poets and get an idea of what works for you. These are considered "serious" poets (whatever that means) so look at some of what they have done and see if anything speaks to you.

Nick Flynn

Frederick Seidel

Mary Karr

C.D. Wright (She just died this month - Geez!)

These are Poetry Slam poets. The same but different. 

Go find the lyrics to 3-5 of your favorite songs. (I’m sure most of you are like me and there is no single “Favorite Song”)

Using your song selections, identify poetic devices within the lyrics. Some devices to include: alliteration, imagery, metaphor, personification, simile, rhyme, repetition, apostrophe, echo, allusion, hyperbole, euphemism, and paradox.

I love the blues. Classic, right? It is what most of today’s music is based from - so let us get a handle on The Blues in order to understand some of the poetic devices I mentioned above. Click on the link to hear the whole song.

• "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child" (simile) (Sung by Odetta, John Legend, Van Morrison, Ella Fitzgerald and many more. I chose John Legend and Odetta as my faves. Figure out yours.
• "Sun going down, dark gonna catch me here" (personification, imagery)
• "They got me accused of forgery and I can't even write my name" (paradox) 'Death Cell Blues' BLIND WILLIE McTELL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5OF_51eX9s
• "You've got a good cotton crop, but it's just like shootin' dice" (simile, paradox)
• "I had religion this very day, but the whiskey and women would not let me pray" (internal rhyme, personification) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkMf4GOYh7A
• "I can hear the Delta calling by the light of a distant star" (personification, imagery)
• "Woke up this morning with the jinx all around my bed" (metaphor) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMAlK-0DVlc
• "Go down, old Hannah; don't you rise no more. If you rise in the morning, bring judgment sure" (personification, apostrophe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBI70zeprc

Okay. Now that you have looked at your lyrics and understood what works as lyrical conventions 

alliteration, 

imagery, 

metaphor, 

personification, 

simile, 

rhyme, 

repetition, 

apostrophe, 

echo, 

allusion, 

hyperbole, 

euphemism, 

and paradox 

(If you are unsure about one, look it up :)

Now it is time for you to write your first real poem. 

Select a prominent theme in society and write two (2) poems or blues songs about it. Whether you select a poem or song,  make sure to incorporate a blues form (AAB is easiest; "Po' Boy Blues" , could serve as a poetry model, 

while "Cross Road Blues"  represents a good blues song model) as well as poetic devices. 

If you are struggling to identify a prominent societal theme, assign them to write about an event or daily occurrence in your life.

Be ready to read it all aloud on Wednesday. 

Welcome to Applied Writing

What are we doing in this class this semester?

Applied writing will give you some experiences in several different creative genres. 

• Short story (flash fiction)
• Poetry
• Travel writing
• Food writing
• Personal essay
• Playwriting/screenwriting 

You will be writing a poem a week.

5 short stories

1-2 travel

1-2 food

2 personal essays

1-2 play or film script(s)

• Students will gain an understanding of the characteristics of successful creative writing, specifically the short stories, poems, and films found in today’s commercial arena.  Why do these works succeed?  What formulas, strategies, and mechanics have the authors used to generate enthusiasm for their work?
• Students will examine writing as art and, through exercises and group critique, learn to write more effective sentences. 
• Students will incorporate techniques of developing and expanding creativity, originality, and art in writing.

What are the tools in your toolkit?

A notebook for notes, ideas snippets, conversations, ANYTHING that can/does/will spark a idea.

A notebook for morning pages, and more about morning pages, and do the morning pages. 

Finally, a notebook as your writing space (we do not write first drafts on a computer. Computers are bad for your creativity.) 

WRITE WITH A PENCIL OR PEN - There are physical and metal benefits

I have a special pen. I love my pen and have taken pictures of it. 

This is my pen. There are many like it but this one is mine. I want you to make your own writing and creativity creed. Take a look at this clip from the movie "Full Metal Jacket"

Take these actions seriously. Here a a favorite quote of mine: 

“Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.
Do it or don't do it.
It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don't do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself,. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

And here is more from Pressfield. Read him. He is a creative monster. 

Your first assignments for Friday:

• Get your notebooks and personalize them.
• Write your own creative prayer to say to yourself before starting. (I would put it inside of my new notebooks)
• Write a short but powerful paragraph about what you hope to gain through so much writing practice this semester.