Welcome to Mr. Culbert's Creative Writing 12 Class Blog for Sept 2024 to Jan 2025. 

January 17, Friday (79)

Appreciation

Students were asked to write a letter of appreciation to someone and thank them for the help that they have done for them this semester. Hopefully students take this seriously and then deliver the letter to the person they appreciate. 

Best of luck to you all in the next semester. Thank you for coming on the journey with me. I hope you all have discovered or rediscovered an identity as a writer. Don't stop writing or seeing and hearing the world with the eyes and ears of a writer. All the best to you for now and beyond. 

End of line.

January 16, Thursday (78)

Portfolio Conferences

I began meeting with students to discuss their learning and their grade. Always enjoyable.

Next Class: Last bit of writing and maybe some poetry sharing

January 15, Wednesday (77)

Portfolio Conferences

I began meeting with students to discuss their learning and their grade. Always enjoyable.

Next Class: More of the same.

January 14 , Tuesday (76)

Portfolio Conferences

I began meeting with students to discuss their learning and their grade. Always enjoyable.

Next Class: More of the same.

January 9 - 13 Thursday, Friday, Monday (73 - 75)

Portfolio Work Days

Students had time to work on complying their portfolios

January 8, Wednesday (72)

Publishing, and Gallery Walk

1. We started with a talk about publishing work. I gave the following information and link.

Polished, completed, typed poems can be sent to publications for publishing. Almost all publications ask for work you have not submitted before or that has never been published before.

Step one is to submit poems to magazines and enter reputable poetry competitions. 

The best source of information about magazines is the internet.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/a-guide-to-canadian-literary-magazines-and-journals-open-to-submissions-1.4242191

Be prepared for rejection. Lots of rejection. Do not take it personally. Research the publication first – certain publications have certain themes, and if your writing is not of that theme, it will be rejected. They will also have rules to follow – you must follow them!

Step two, after you have had poems accepted in magazines, is to contact small presses and poetry publishers.

2. Next up, we did a gallery walk of the poems. Students got a chance to read the poems and leave comments on them. I was impressed with both the poems and the feedback left. Well done. 

Next Class: Portfolio work time

January 07, Tuesday (71)

Working Class

Students had time to work on their portolios. We were supposed to gallery walk, but not enough students had handed in poems for us to do that. Instead students had time to work on their portfolio, or on getting through some poems. 

Next Class: Publication information and gallery walk

January 06, Monday (70)

Poems and Portfolios

We started with a free write  - What would you give up?

I gave students the portfolio assignment (available in class) for our year end wrap up, and then students had time to work on either completing their poems or on starting their portfolio.

Next Class: a gallery walk hopefully of completed poems. 

December 20, Friday (69)

Happy Holidays

Enjoy the break.

Next Class: The portfolio explained and writing time

December 19, Thursday (68)

Writing and Workshopping

Students had some time to write and we workshopped another poem. 

Next Class: Out hallmarking each other

December 18, Wednesday (67)

Workshopping and Writing

Students had some time for writing and then we workshopped 4 poems. There was some excellent content and some strong commentary. 

Next Class: More workshopping if poems are handed in, and more writing time. 

December 17, Tuesday (66)

Revision Time

We looked at revision this class and spoke about how that is the major part of writing poetry. I gave the following ideas for revising;

Revision ideas

1. Choose a different line other than the first line to begin your piece. 

2. In two separate places, pick a line and add descriptive language or a metaphor/simile. 

3. Remove some unnecessary words. Ex. just, sort of, somewhat, usually, always, and never, very, so, quite, extremely, really, and absolutely. 

4. If you have words such as “it” or “thing”, replace with a more specific word. 

5. Do a search for "ly" and edit at least four 

Not: He spoke softly and gently. 

But: He whispered. 

Not: she walked slowly to 

But: she plodded, she meandered, she ambled, she trudged 

6. If there is a word that is repeated a number of times in the passage, find a synonym 

7. Underline an awkward phrase, and then reword it. 

Next Class: Writing and Some workshopping

December 13, Friday (64)

Writing Time

Students, (those few that were here) had time to write.

Next Class: Ekprastic Poetry

December 11, Wednesday (62)

Writing Time

Students had time to write and work on their poems today.

Next Class: Poets in Dialogue

December 9, Monday (60)

Sound Devices

We did a sound devices lesson. I spoke about alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance/cacophony, euphony, onomatopoeia, and repetition. We looked at a couple of poems that played with these devices. Students then had time to write and play with the devices their selves. 

Next Class: Tricky styles. 

December 6, Friday (59)

Writing Time

Students had time to work on their poetry writing. I am hoping to have some pieces to work shop next week.

Next Class: Sound Devices explored. 

December 5, Thursday (58)

Writing Time

Students had time to work on their poetry writing.

Next Class: More writing time. 

December 3, Tuesday (56)

Theme of Coming of Age/Loss of Innocence/ Growing Up

Today we looked at poetry around the theme of Coming of Age / Loss of Innocence  / Growing Up. We looked at a small package of poems and students had some time to read through and do some simple annotation on a few poems then we talked about it as a class.

After we were done sharing, and looking at samples, students had a chance to write on the topic themselves. All these poems can be part of the poetry portion of the portfolio. 

Next Class: A look at structure and form

November 29, Friday (54)

Poem Challenge

I challenged students to have fun with five lines and gave them information on writing a Cinquain (American style), Limerick or Tanka poems. A good way to learn and play with meter and style.

Next Class: More on styles

November 28, Thursday (53)

Writing Time

Students had time to write and to get their script and humour piece or pieces handed in. The official due date for these pieces is today. 

Next Class: Poetry Challenge and writing time.

November 27, Wednesday (52)

Imagery in Poetry (and hints beyond)

We looked at imagery today. I gave a handout (available in class) that spoke of what it was and how it worked, but mainly it had many poems that were heavily laden with imagery. Students were given time to read the poems and do some light annotation work around a poem or two and the imagery in the poem and see what work the images were doing for the poem. (okay I tried to get discussion going and some of you got involved briefly - I was hoping for more talk from you about the poems and the images that they created.) 

I also gave a heads up as to what we can expect over the next three weeks.

Between now and Jan 6, students are responsible for completing and handing in 3-5 revises and polished poems. Between now and then we will be taking a look at many forms/styles and techniques of poetry and students will be expected to try each one. We will also have writing classes, and time for feedback, and students are expected to get feedback on the poems that they will submit. Remember to have some fun with this process too.

Next Class: A final work block and then handing in the scripts and humour pieces. 

Nov 26, Tuesday (51)

Writing Block

Students had time to write. 

Humour and Script Pieces are due on the 28th. Poems are underway.

Homework: Find song lyrics that are full of imagery, or have imagery in them.

Next Class: Imagery in poetry

Nov 21, Thursday (49)

Writing

Students had time to write. No student had sent in material for workshopping so it was a writing block. 

Next Class: We begin looking at some poetry

November 20, Wednesday (48)

Writing then Workshopping

Students had some more writing time and then we did some workshopping of pieces towards the end of class. 

Next Class: Workshopping and writing

November 19, Tuesday (47)

Writing Time

We started with a free write today, the prompt was "I had two words on my mind, ..."

Students then had writing time. I handed back some work too. 

Next Class: Constructive Criticism Workshop and writing time.

November 18, Monday (46)

Elite Comedy and Writing Time

Subverting the joke is an exceptional thing. One must know the joke and the technique, and then break it to find more humour. We listened to Norm MacDonald tell the famous "moth joke" which is a great example of this. We also listened to a mastercraft story delivery of a humour piece called "The Salt and Pepper Diner" by John Mulaney. Two pieces that I think are very funny.

Students then had time to write.

Remember, you are responsible for a script and a humour piece. The two could be combined into a humour script, or two separate pieces of the script and a humour piece, like a long form joke, an humourous anecdote, a absurdist short story or even a satirical essay. Both peices are due on the 29th.

Next Class: A free Write and writing time and setting up of critique workshop on Wednesday. 

November 15, Friday (45)

Writing Time

Students had time to write.

Next Class: A bit more on funny set us and playing with expectations.

November 14, Thursday (44)

Writing Time

Students had time to write. They are tasked with writing something funny, either their script and they incorporate humour into it, or a separate humour piece, either short story or satirical. 

All scripts and humour pieces are due on Thursday Nov 28.

Next Class: Writing time.  

November 13, Wednesday (43)

Humour explored

We looked at comedy and different aspects like absurdism, farce, verbal humour, slapstick, parody, sitcoms, and satires. We then took a closer look at satire. 

Next class: Starting to write

November 12, Tuesday (42)

A Mix - from Lockdowns to Daves

We started with a lockdown drill. All good, we hung out in the dark for a few minutes.

Then it was on to a freewrite where the topic was "The funniest thing I have ever heard was ..."

We then looked at a a few Onion news videos and a Kids in the Hall song to start our look at what humour is. We will look more at this next class.

Next Class: Defining Humour.

November 8, Friday (41)

Writing Time

A shortened class.

Students have the block to work on their scripts. 

Next Class: An exploration of humour

November 7, Thursday (40)

Workshopping and Writing - again

We started today with three scripts to workshop. We had even more student involvement in the critiquing process. Good to see strong involvement and great work. The remainder of the class was writing time.

Next Class: Writing Time

November 6, Wednesday (39)

Workshopping and Writing

We started with workshopping two scripts that students put forward. Participation levels were a bit light, but we are getting there. 

Students then had time to work on their scripts. 

Next Class: More work shopping and writing time. 

November 5, Tuesday (38)

Free Writes and Writing Time

Students started with a free write. The prompt was "the best thing about you is...". We then shared a bit and discussed the writing a bit. 

Students then had time to work on their scripts. 

Next Class: Some workshoppping. Hopefully some students send me a chunk of script for us to workshop with. 

November 4, Monday (37)

Movement and Writing

We started with me talking briefly about character description and movement. We looked at a sample from an Agatha Christie play. Students then had time to continue writing their scripts. 

Next Class: Writing 

November 1, Friday (36)

Writing Day

Students had time to plan and start drafting their scripts.

Next Class: Writing and Movement

October 30, Wednesday (35)

Characters and Scripts

Today I spoke about dialogue. I showed the following;

Dialogue

“Real dialogue does not make a good script.”

Dialogue should be 3 things:

Interesting, Engaging and Tight.

To be interesting is has to be doing something. It should be doing any or all of the following;

·         Move story/conflict along

·         Reveal character

·         Be exposition

·         Create emotion

To be engaging it needs to create and break tension. Try spreading out your description or stage direction at times. Have your dialogue do different things to keep all aspects growing and building on each other.

To be tight keep close control of what is being said. Think of things like the 10/3 rule, which stands for 10 words per sentence, and 3 sentences per speech. Obviously break when necessary.  Focus on the main task that dialogue is doing, not on small talk.

Something to remember is on the nose vs subtext. On the nose is when the character directly states what they want. Subtext is where they imply what they want. It is the “go away” vs “aren’t you supposed to be busy in the other room right now”. Subtext is often better, but sometimes the situation calls for on the nose. Pay attention to tone and meaning to know when to use these techniques.

Check out the following helpful websites

http://www.whatascript.com/movie-dialogue.html

http://reelauthors.com/screenplay-coverage/how-to-write-great-dialogue.php

https://johnaugust.com/2007/how-to-write-dialogue

Then students had time to work on their characters. We then shared characters out with the class for inspiration and celebration. I also spoke with a few remaining people about their grade. The finally part of clas was time to start working on a script. We will continue building these up over the next few weeks. 

Next Class: Writing Day (reminder to hand in world building)

October 28, Monday (34)

Scripts, Characters and Grades

Today we started our two-week long look at script writing. Scripts can include everything from a full, multi-act play, to short plays, and skits, to commercial scripts. The skills involved in writing the script are many of the same skills involved in many other forms of prose writing. We started by looking at two amateur scripts from the internet, and after reading through them, I spoke of some of the components of a script. Character, Conflict and Chronology are important to script writing. After defining each of these, and adding in the fact that action needs to be shown through dialogue (the one time to break the rule of show don't tell, by telling and not showing, mostly), students then had a chance to begin creating a character. I tasked them with writing enough about the character to make them seem real, someone they could meet on the street. They needed notes on appearance, personality, quirks/flaws, interests/hobbies, background or history, and any other details that make the character seem real. Next class we will share these characters with the class.

While they were writing, I also started the process of discussing grades with the students and conferencing over progress. I will continue that on Wednesday.

Next Class: Scripts, Dialogue and more grade conferences.

October 24, Thursday (33)

Writing and Constructive Criticism

Students had 20 minutes or more to write and work on the revealing their world through character piece. 

Then they were given the following instructions;

Instructions

Form a group 4 (or so) and in that group, share your writing one at time. Either read it to them or let everyone read it and then ask for constructive criticism. 

As the readers of said work – offer up constructive criticism on the piece. State what works well, and what could be brought up to that same level. What do you like and how could you get more of what you like. What is unique or novel about the work and how could more of it be made to be like that. What are the strengths of the writing and what are areas of improvement. Be clear, be constructive, and be kind. 

As the writer of the work – take notes on the feedback. Refute, reject, or reconsider the advice given and make note of that on your feedback notes. 

Write a singular statement on your work that states how well you met the point of the assignment, and that was to write to reveal aspects of your world. Were you excellent at it, or just good, or okay, or struggling, or missed entirely? Feel free to add if there is anything else that you feel you need to tell me about your process or about the current result (piece you have now). 

On Monday you will hand this all into me – your writing, your notes on your writing, and your singular statement and any other comments you have on it. 

Next Class: We take a foray into script writing and start looking at some scripts. 

October 23, Wednesday (32)

Writing Time

Students had time to work on their writing to reveal piece. 

Next Class: Constructive Criticism practice

October 22, Tuesday (31)

Writing Time

Students had time to work on their writing to reveal piece. 

Next Class: More writing time.

October 21, Monday (30)

Writing to reveal.

Students were given the third exercise in world building. Writing to reveal. 

The information was Now bring some characters into your world. Create a snippet of a story (does not need to be the complete plot arc), one that is just a scene in a greater story. In your scene reveal information about your world through the actions, thoughts, and behaviours of your characters. 

Examples

• Seeing a family take care to recycle every useable item, or how a parent gets so angry when something is wasted can impress the scarcity of resources of a world. 

• A tribe that’s always watchful and serious might have to be so because they live in an area filled with dangerous predators. 

• One way to build a more immersive world is to include reactions of bystanders. If your character pulls out a device that allows them to cut through space and time in the middle of the street, how would that bystander react? Are they terrified by the devil magic that was just performed? Or do they say, there goes Tony, using his trans-dimensional shifter again.

Game of Thrones example again. 

“It’s worth taking a look at the moment when the reader first encounters direwolves in George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones to see how he handles it. He doesn’t stop the story to explain what direwolves are. He doesn’t give us a biology lecture on the genus and species of the direwolf. Instead, he weaves the information seamlessly into the narrative.  

The chapter is from Bran’s point of view—he’s a boy of seven at that point—and so Bran compares the direwolf to things that he knows: his pony and the dogs in his father’s kennel. As it turns out, these are also things the reader knows. Immediately we can picture how big this animal is because it has been compared to animals that are familiar to us. We also know there’s something strange about it being there. Not because we’ve been told, but because of how the characters react to seeing it. They draw their swords. They talk about direwolves not having been seen there for two hundred years. They don’t like it. All of this information comes to us naturally, through the interaction of the characters in scene. ”

On the back was the following information as reminder. 

Reminder

Step 1: 

Start Planning your world.

• Decide where to start.

• List the rules and laws. (major ones)

• Establish the type of world you want.

• Describe the environment.

• Define culture.

• Define the language.

• Identify the History.

Step 2: 

Double down on an aspect of your world (preferably one of interest to you). Go into more detail and specifics. Draw, list, chart, model, or whatever you need to get the full design of it. 

Choose;

• A religious system

• A social Institute (School, Community Centres, Hospitals, etc)

• A piece of technology

• A significant place (town, building, landmark, location) and detail its importance on cultural, social, economic, religious, spiritual, historical or what-ever-apply levels. 

Step 3: Write to Reveal

Have your characters reveal information (from step 2) about your world through their behaviour, description, action, and dialogue. Write a story chunk (does not need a complete plot arc).

Next Class: Writing Time

October 18, Friday (29)

Writing Day

I had hoped to do a share of the short stories, but a number of students were away, and some were not ready yet. Remember, we always write for an audience. 

Instead we had a writing day. Students got a chance to work on their world building exercise 2 from last class. 

Next Class: Writing to Reveal.

October 17, Thursday (28)

World Building further

We started with a free write, "And the award goes to ...".

After the free write students looked over their world building notes from yesterday and had a chance to continue developing aspects that they had not got to. 

10 minutes later, they were given the following instructions;

After you have some notes on the overall shape and scope of your world …

Double down on an aspect of your world (preferably one of interest to you). Go into more detail and specifics. Draw, list, chart, model, or whatever you need to get the full design of it. 

Choose;

• A religious system

• A social Institute (School, Community Centres, Hospitals, etc)

• A piece of technology

• A significant place (town, building, landmark, location) and detail its importance on cultural, social, economic, religious, spiritual, historical or what-ever-apply levels. 

Students had time to work on this in class, and there will be more time before we begin to use this as the backdrop for a piece of writing.

Next Class: Short Story Completion Celebration and Writing Time. 

October 15, Tuesday (26)

Writing Time

Students had the block to work on their short stories. Stories are due on Thursday.

Next Class: World Building

October 11, Friday (25)

Writing Time

Students had the block to work on their short stories.

Tuesday will now be a writing block and stories are due on Thursday.

Next Class: Writing Day

October 10, Thursday (24)

Writing and Workshop Time

Student spent 20 minutes writing. We then tried out some constructive criticism workshop circles. 

I went over the constructive criticism guidelines (see attached below), and then students were given the directions of: In small groups 3 to 5 people have one person read their passage. Everyone else listens and then a discussion is had about the piece. Each person should offer up one constructive criticism about the writing. Remember the guidelines we just covered and remember that the writer can take or politely reject all criticism, but they should listen. Once the conversation around that piece of writing is done, then move on to another piece and repeat the process. 

We put this all in to practice to begin getting feedback from each other. 

Next Class: Writing Time

October 9, Wednesday (23)

Writing Time and Emotions in Writing

Students had some time to work on their short stories and then we switched gears and they were given the following instructions,

Write about an emotion without stating the emotion.  Avoid stereotypical responses to the emotion as well; if you character is sad, convey it in a different way than making them cry, or if they’re happy, show it some way besides them smiling or laughing.

Write in any format.

Towards the end of class students got a chance to share their piece and let the rest of us guess what emotion they were going for.

Next Class: Writing Time and some practice at constructive criticism.

October 8, Tuesday (22)

Writing Day

Students had the class to work on their short stories. Reminder, short stories are due next Tuesday. 

Some students came to see me and show me a portion/chunk of their short story and ask me questions about it if they wished. I hope to have all students check in with me before the due date.

Next Class: Emotion with out saying it exercise

October 4, Friday (20)

Writing Block

Students had time to work on their short stories. Short stories are due on Oct 15. 

Next Class: Writing an argument. 

October 2, Wednesday 

Mountain Madness was happening. No class.

Oct 1, Tuesday (18)

Free Write, Weak Words and "Snow"

We started with a free write, prompt - "The best day off ever and I ..."

Next, I spoke about words that are weaker and get over used. They are our fallback words when we get lazy or are not pushing ourselves to be more creative, or succinct or whatever. I started a list and got students to offer up words that they are aware they use too much in their writing.

The goal is not to ban these words, as sometimes they are necessary, but instead to think every time we use one (or more) of them in our writing. Think, is there another way to write this sentence that does not use this word.

The list so far is;

thing, stuff, nice, this/that, anyway, however, said/say, okay, show/shows, mean/means, like, good/great, just, because.

I mentioned that each student will have their own list. But be intentional about the words you use, not accidental. 

Finally we looked at an art form short story called "Snow" by Ann Beattie. I read it to the class and then we talked about it briefly, how it works, what works in it and so on. It is an interesting story in its approach to storytelling. Then students had time to write. 

Next Class: Mountain Madness (the class after we will talk of Dialogue, Flashback's and Endings)

Sept 27, Friday (17)

Writing Day

Students had time to work on their mood piece or on the short story. Mood pieces are due on Tuesday. 

Next Class: Snow and Weak Words.

Sept 26, Thursday (16)

19 Tips

Today we looked at 19 tips about writing from professional writers. We discussed them and how they could impact us. 

https://wordsbyevanporter.com/writing-tips-from-famous-writers/

Next Class: More Writing Time

Sept 25, Wednesday (15)

Writing Day

Students had time to work on their mood pieces and polish them up for submission. Or they could start on their short stories and do some planning like we talked about in yesterday's lesson. 

Next Class: Some writing tips and maybe a little writing time. 

Sept 23, Monday (13)

Writing Time

Students had the block to work on their mood pieces. Students wrote. A few students brought their work up for me to look at and give some feedback. 

Next Class: Beginning short stories

Sept 19, Thursday (12)

Gallery Walk

Today, we gallery walked the pieces of writing submitted the previous day. Students got a chance to read each other's work and be inspired. It also marks a formal letting go of the pieces that students write. The pieces also represent where each student starts. 

I spoke about critique and positive feedback and how to receive it. 

Then we got silly with some fun questions.

Next Class: Writing Time

Sept 18, Wednesday (11)

Playing with Colour

Today, we took a look at symbolism then, colour and played around with it. 

After what was hopefully a useful lesson on symbolism, I put up the following prompts for us to discuss and then begin writing 

What do you think of for each one of the following? 

• Red 

• Blue 

• Yellow 

• Green 

• White 

• Black 

• Brown 

• Orange 

• Pink 

• Purple 

Is it abstract or concrete? Try and associate it to one of each. 

What happens if you change the hue or shade of the colour? Crimson Red vs Fire Truck Red? 

What does the colour do for mood? 

The take away I hope everyone walks away with is add a splash of colour to your descriptions because it increase the imagery, and it helps to create and maintain a mood which makes the writing that much more powerful. So use colour. 

Students then had time to write and work on their mood piece, that hopefully they are adding colour too. 

Next Class: Gallery walks, Critiques vs Compliments and maybe writing time.

Sept 17, Monday (10)

Free writing is such a mood

Students started with a free write; "In the dark ..." or "In the light...". They had 10 minutes to write, and then we briefly shared.

Students looked at a short story Ghassan Kanafani's "A Hand in the Grave" and casually analyzed it for mood. (Handout available in room). Students were suggested to annotate the story to help them with the discussion. We briefly discussed it to see how it established mood.

There was some writing time and one pagers were officially due. 

Next Class: Playing with Colour and some writing time. 

Sept 16, Monday (9)

Writing Time

Students had the class to write and work on their one page first submissions that are due on Tuesday. They could also have started on the mood piece which will be assigned next.

The mood piece, which I have yet to discuss with the whole class is to create a clear sense of mood through any type of writing and about any topic. Use diction, or setting, or tone to create a very clear and defined mood. The piece need be only a page or two to establish a clear mood and not a completed story. Have fun with it.

Next Class: More looking at mood through story and a free write

Sept 12, Thursday (7)

Revision and Rewrite

I spoke about the writing process (and drew a decent freehand circle on the board). Half of the writing process is  drafting and revision. Students had a chance to find a person in class to read through their work and offer suggestions. They then had revising time to rewrite their piece.

I think these should be due on Tuesday, Sept 17. 

Sept 11, Wednesday (6)

Making "room" for more description

I had students pick a room from a list of rooms that I had placed in the selection box. Students blindly selected their room and then they were given time to describe that room. They could not state the room's name in their description. After they wrote about the room they had a chance to share their description with the class. After sharing we guessed what room they had described, and then I asked them what we felt while hearing the description. Is was through this that I introduced mood. We spent a couple minutes talking about mood, and even looked at mood in texting with some very (as the kids would say) cringe examples. This took us to the end of class. 

Next class: Revision and Rewriting one-pagers

Sept 9, Monday (4)

Writing Day

Students were given the block to work on thier piece of writing. The writing task is to write a new, original piece of writing, no more than one page, in any format you wish. It can be a short-short story, a poem, or something else of one page length. You can write about any topic you wish.

Students had time to work on it. Next up we will do some revision of the piece and some rewriting. 

Next Class: Peer Editing, Revision, and Rewrite. 

Sept 6, Friday (3)

From Abstract to Concrete and the set up. 

We started with students writing a verb on the board before we got started. We then did another free write, and the prompt this time was to pick a verb on the board and use that as the prompt. Students wrote and then had a chance to share again. 

Next up, we looked at going from the abstract to the concrete. There was a info on the board. We played around with writing an example or two and sharing and talking about them. 

Finally, we did some planning. The task is to write a new, original piece of writing, no more than one page, in any format you wish. It can be a short-short story, a poem, or something else of one page length. You can write about any topic you wish.

This should be a worked piece of writing –so that means you will write it, work on it, get some feedback, and re-write/revise/edit as necessary. 

Our timeline for this is next class we will have a writing class, so a class where you can just write, but also consult with me, if necessary, on your idea or execution of your idea. The class after we will do an in class share and hopefully have time to work on them a bit. They will be due on a date set for next week. 

Next Class: Writing Block

Sept 5, Thursday (2)

Free Writes and Metaphor Shuffling

Today, we started with the notion of timed, free writing. Students decided had 10 minutes as the amount of time in which to write. 

The following was posted on the screen:

The basic unit of writing practice is the timed write exercise.

The Rules
1. Keep your hand moving – Do not pause to reread the line you have just written. That is stalling and trying to get control of what you are saying.
2. Do not cross out – That is editing as you write, even if you write something you did not mean to write, leave it in.
3. Do not worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar – do not even worry about the lines or margins on the page.
4. Lose control
5. Do not think. Do not get logical.
6. Go for the jugular – If something comes up in your writing that is scary, or emotional, dive right into it, it probably has lots of energy.

These rules will help you explore the rugged edge of thought.

You have 10 number of minutes. Write from the prompt, beginnings.
When the time is up – choose one person in the room to share your writing with.
 

After our timed writing exercise we started to play around with metaphors. Students were responsible for coming up with as many overused similes and metaphors that they knew and writing them on the board. We then erased the last words and started to replace them with something new and completely different. The whole point is to learn to recognize cliché and start to avoid them by writing around them. Description is key, but cliché description locks more doors than it opens. Once we had them replaced we spent time thinking about our favourite one and writing it down in the hopes that we could incorporate it into a piece of writing later. Hopefully some fun was had while we did this too.

Homework: Think of a topic you want to write about. 

Next Class: Another timed write and moving from the abstract to the concrete. 

Sept 4 Wednesday (1): Opening Class

We started class with opening remarks, outline, and expectations. 

We then got to writing down our first words in class as our last words. We wrote an epitaph for an introduction.  the instructions were as follows; 

Imagine you are faking your death to finally shut off your social media accounts. What will your epitaph be?

An epitaph is the words written on your tombstone (or your finally entry on your snap-a-gram account) that makes a statement for you or about you.

For instance:

“She asked for so little, but gave so very much.”

Or

“I’m a writer, 

but then

nobody’s perfect” Filmmaker Billy Wilder

When writing your epitaph get to the point, you have between 5 and 12 words. Think about who you are leaving the message for, loved ones, friends, enemies, strangers, the future, or in this case, yourself. Think about what you stand for, your core principals, values and beliefs.

You can be serious or have some fun. 

Feel free to write more than one.

Finally, have some fun – and we are going to share these to introduce ourselves to the class today.

I also pointed out the web site for students (this site). 

Next Class: We explore free writing, and the metaphor shuffle.