Micro Fiction

For those of you who like to Tweet and Twitter and so on, here's a type of fiction that has become popular lately: micro fiction!

Most short fiction can be anywhere between 3,000-10,000 words. 3,000-5,000 words are preferred by most magazines. 

Micro fiction is a very short story (usually a story between 300-1,000 words in length). It was originally meant to fit snugly on a computer screen (just like the one you're looking at right now!)

For those of you who like your fiction even smaller, there's something out there called hint fiction, which can be anywhere between 6-100 words, with the most common being 25 or 50 words in length. 

Let's take a look at some of these as models for our own writing:

Or Even Longer
Together they throw the dirt, listen to its plunk against wood, a sound so unlike anything else in the world, one you could remember forever.

Nothing Hurts Anymore
Seth’s energy paths are blocked to his spleen and stomach and large intestine. The acupuncturist places the needles in his tiny body. Seth sees Jesus.

The Test In Front Of Him
It’s that nothing stands out, each detail equal. What to focus upon? Moths in the classroom screen. Leaf-blowers. His teacher’s smile flying like birds, south.

My Son’s Fifth Grade Journal
This boy catches balls, divides fractions, won’t die if he drinks milk, grabs flags off the other team’s players. My dad loves this other boy.

See? That didn't take long at all.

How do I write a short, short story?

1. Start in the middle. Get rid of an introduction and minimize your backstory or character history. Begin with the action!

2. Use the familiar. Use familiar situations or settings. Use historical places or situations so not much description is necessary

3. Use small ideas. Focus on a single specific event or aspect of your topic. Avoid complex plots or long timelines. 

4. Build your story around one central image or moment. Choose something striking.

5. Remove unnecessary words and characters. Edit out any unnecessary words. Combine characters whenever possible. Using short, choppy sentences creates urgency.

6. End with a bang. Keep the reader guessing until the last line. Use a twist by setting up the reader's expectation (what the reader expects to happen) then turn it upside down.

As you read these examples/models, look for the six tips we just read!

Look Into My Eyes
She snaps her fingers at her companion and I cry like a baby, sucking my thumb and calling for mum. The other travelers stare and giggle, then look away.
Further down the train a man turns the pages of his newspaper. WORLD'S GREATEST HYPNOTIST DIES MID ACT reads a headline.
© Rupert M Loydell

Loose Like A Noose
His dentures were lying on the stairs.
She discovered them after the undertaker had left, so she saved them for the Chapel of Rest.
“His teeth,” she said. “They popped out when he took the leap.”
Clearing out the drawers later she found three tubes of denture glue, all unopened.
© Ben Myers 2001

Dad
I thought my father looked like Captain Kirk. There was the blond quiff and the proprietary way he marched around his supermarket, surveying the chiller cabinets.
When he left early in the mornings, I'd wave goodbye through the bug screen. He'd be multiplied in the raindrops hanging in its squares.
© Carrie McMillan 2001

ACTIVITY: Now it's your turn. Using the advice above and inspired by the models, try writing your own hint fiction: between 25-50 words. Use the title of your story to help identify a key idea, character, setting, or plot point.

Try writing a few of these short, short stories. You can put them all on the same page. Print them out when you have completed this exercise.

Poetry & Poetry Advice

Please read:
What is poetry?

Mark Strand: "Eating Poetry"
Marianne Moore: "Poetry"

There a millions of answers to this question. For our purposes, it is the careful organization of words and phrases to express an idea or emotion concerning the human condition (what is means to be human).

Poetry is found in song, in novels, in advertisement, and children's television programming. It's everywhere!

Q: Does poetry have to rhyme? NO. Rhyme is only one poetic technique that writers use. You don't only use a hammer when a saw or wrench is a better choice. So it goes with rhyme. Use it when it works; don't use it when it doesn't.

What are the ELEMENTS of a POEM?

Content: poetry can contain feelings and ideas. Poems can tell stories about famous or common people, places, or things. But content comes from the writer. It is often what the writer THINKS or FEELS about a topic that makes it appropriate for poetry.

Images: Color, taste, texture, sound, scent, temperature are all the stuff of images. Poets use imagery by using metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and other figurative language in their poems. Try to include at least one of these techniques in every poem you write.

Let's watch a few poems:

Billy Collins: The Dead
Some Days
Alone
The Letter
The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac
Shel Silverstein: Crocodile's Toothache
Shel Silverstein: The Giving Tree
Dr. Seuss: Fox in Sox

POETRY VOCABULARY & DEVICES (to use when writing poetry):

Ode: A poem praising its subject. Please read Pablo Neruda's ode: Ode to My Socks in which he praises his socks.

Elegy: a poem of mourning or grieving about something or someone lost.

Ballad: a narrative poem (a poem that tells a story), usually written in quatrains (4 line stanzas) and often sung.

Here's an example of a ballad (and elegy, come to think of it): Molly Malone sung by Sinead O'Connor

List or Pattern poem: a poem that repeats a particular phrase. For example: "I Believe" "I Am" or "I Remember" poems.

Lyric Poem: A short poem about an emotion, meant to be sung or read with music.

Song: a lyric poem set to music.

Repetition: a line or phrase that is repeated in a poem. Usually a key phrase or important idea is repeated.

Verse: A stanza in a poem.

Chorus: A repeated line or group of lines in a song. Another word for this is REFRAIN.

Tercet: a 3-lined stanza.

Quatrain: a 4-lined stanza often found in Ballads.

List or Slam Poem

A list poem repeats a significant phrase or line throughout the poem. It is generally used in Slam and performance poetry. The use of REPETITION or (REFRAIN) is a poetic device poets and writers use to stress an important idea in a poem. In music this would be the refrain or chorus. It works the same way. Each time the phrase is repeated, it gains strength and stresses the point.

In PROSE (and poetry) writing, a repeated phrase in the beginning of a sentence is called an anaphora. At the end of the phrase or sentence it is called: epistrophe. And when it is used at the end and then again at the beginning of a sentence it is called anadiplosis.

Click on the links above for examples of these forms and what they look like. At this point you may begin using anaphora, epistrophe, and anadiplosis in your writing, along with metaphor, simile, personification and chemomorphism.

Here are some sample poems that are list or slam poems:
classic examples

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

What Teacher's Make by Taylor Mali
I'll Fight You for the Library by Taylor Mali
Kill Them With Love by Boonaa Mohammad

LAB WORK: Choose a line. Any line. Use this line as an anchor, a repetition of idea or theme.

Some sample lines might be:

• I believe...
• When I die, I want...
• The world I live in...
• This is for...
• Tomorrow I will go...
• I am...

or pick any other line starter you'd like.

Use metaphor or simile or chremomorphism or personification, anaphora, epistrophe, anadiplosis to help explore your theme.

Oroboros: Writing Prompt

Plan to work with a partner for this exercise.

1. You will be writing a collaborative story/poem/script (your choice) with at least one other author.

2. Choose your writing partner.

3. Decide together on the type of genre for your writing (are you writing a poem, short story, script?) Is your short story a: mystery, an adventure, a fantasy, a romance, a western, a crime story, a realistic story, a story for teenagers, a paranormal story, a fairy tale, a horror story, a children's story, a suspense story, etc. Agree on the type of story or poem you are going to write. Choose a POV for your story: will you write in 1st person POV, second person POV, or third person-limited or third person omnscient POV?

4. From this list of ideas, choose one you will work on:

• a story about the dark
• a story about shoes
• a story about a game
• a story about an idea
• a story about music
• a story about smoke
• a story about something you can't see
• a story about something broken
• a story about something old
• a story about trust
• a story about a surpise

5. ALONE: choose one of these options and begin your story/poem/script with that idea. The idea will change through the exercise, so don't worry. Let the ideas flow. Write for five minutes. When the bell rings, stop where you are.

6. At that point when the bell rings, exchange places with your partner.

7. Read what your partner wrote on their computer. Continue the story. Write for five minutes. When the bell rings, stop where you are.

8. Exchange places again. Write for five minutes. When the bell rings, stop. Continue to exchange places and continue to write until your story is complete. The original author (the one who started the exercise) should end the story.

Picture Prompt: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

Choose one of the pictures below and write a script, story, or poem based on what you notice. Click on the picture to make it bigger. Decide WHO is most important and may be telling the story or speaking. WHAT does the character want? Consider WHY the character is speaking to us. Use FIRST PERSON POV.

Recipe Poem

Before you attempt this prompt, please finish the other writing prompts assigned. For those of you who are ahead and keeping up with the material, try the Recipe Poem.

Think of the format of a food recipe. First there is a list of ingredients you will need, then the explanation of how to mix the ingredients together, and finally the cooking procedures and cooking time.

Click here to view a few recipes.

Using this format, write a recipe poem that has nothing to do with food. Ex. you might write a recipe for how to make good conversation, how to climb a tree, how to fight with your father, or how to fall in love, etc. See the example and model poem below for ideas and formatting:

Example poem:

Recipe Poem: How to Make a Morning
By Elaine Magliaro

Melt a galaxy of stars
in a large blue bowl.
Knead the golden sun
and let it rise in the East.
Spread the sky
with a layer of lemony light.
Blend together
until brimming with brightness.
Fold in dewdrops.
Sprinkle with songbirds.
Garnish with a chorus
of cock-a-doodle-doos.
Set out on a platter at dawn
and enjoy.

Writing Prompt for 5/21

Please use the lab today to complete last Friday's prompt assignment:

1. Choose one of these options:

• write a story/poem/script about a lie
• write a story/poem/script about something that has never happened to you
• write a story/poem/script about a lost or missing object
• write a story/poem/script about a wish
• write a story/poem/script about leaving

2. You may combine any of the bulleted prompts in any way you wish.

3. Once you have chosen which prompt(s) you will be using, decide on the genre (is this going to be a mystery, a sci-fi adventure story, a romance, realistic, comedy or drama, etc.?) AND the POV (point of view): 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person - limited, 3rd person - omniscient. Select the best POV for your story/poem/script.

4. Write.

Short Story Prompt(s)

Today, if you have not yet completed these writing prompts, please do so:

1. The genre/trope story (see post, Thursday, May 10)
2. The personification writing exercise (see post, Friday, May 11)
3. The 15 sentence poem exercise (given to you in class on Wednesday & Thursday, May 16 & 17)

If you are ready to move on, please complete the following writing prompt:

1. Choose one of these options:

• write a story/poem/script about a lie
• write a story/poem/script about something that has never happened to you
• write a story/poem/script about a lost or missing object
• write a story/poem/script about a wish
• write a story/poem/script about leaving

2. You may combine any of the bulleted prompts in any way you wish.

3. Once you have chosen which prompt(s) you will be using, decide on the genre (is this going to be a mystery, a sci-fi adventure story, a romance, realistic, comedy or drama, etc.?) AND the POV (point of view): 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person - limited, 3rd person - omniscient. Select the best POV for your story/poem/script.

4. Write.

A note about formatting:

A poem is single-spaced and generally written left-justified (not centered). It is broken into lines. Here's an example of the format.

A story (prose) uses normal fiction/non-fiction writing format. That is each paragraph is indented 1-tab or 5 spaces (use the tab key). Prose is written in complete sentences with end punctuation, indentation for each paragraph, and is double-spaced. Dialogue is separated by quotation marks. Each new speaker is given his/her own paragraph. Change paragraphs every time you start a new speaker's line of dialogue. Here's a sample prose format.

A script can be written in two ways. The easiest is to indicate the name of the character in BOLD, followed by a colon. The line of dialogue follows. A script is single-spaced, with a skipped line (hard return) after each character's line. It looks like this.

Hoodwinked

Hoodwinked: to deceive; to trick or hide the truth.

POV (Point of View)

When writing, we can use four different points of view to tell the story:

1. 1st person POV (I, me); The narrator is also a character in the story (usually the protagonist)
2. 2nd person POV (you); The narrator is omniscient, but the reader is part of the narrative
3. 3rd person - limited (he, she, it, etc.) told from the perspective of a main character or protagonist
4. 3rd person - Omniscient (he, she, it, etc.) told from an all-knowing, all-seeing narrator (usually not involved in the action of the story).

Multiple Perspective: When narration switches between more than one character's POV.

As you watch the film, note details that change the original story. How does each narrator change the story?

Today's Class

1. Complete your genre trope story. Try to finish your trope/genre story you started yesterday.

2. If you have time, please read the post below and work on your assignment regarding PERSONIFICATION. Instructions are posted on this blog.

Personification

What is personification?

Personification brainstorming: (follow these steps closely)


1. Think about this school year, your art major, a personal belief, or a particular class. Choose a topic or subject. (if you have a better idea, feel free to use it--if you are stuck, choose my suggestion)

2. Give this school year, your art major, a particular class, or some aspect of your life (your religion or a personal belief), etc. a personality by defining:

• How old is this person?
• What gender is this person?
• What does this person look like? What does he/she wear? What kind of hair style or shoes does he/she sport?
• What kind of personality does this person have? (happy-go-lucky? angry? morbid? annoying? respectful? cruel? hopeful? pleasant? sad? jealous?, etc.)
• Give this person a quirk or personality trait. (Always sings in the shower, doesn't like the color green, likes to pull wings off flies, doesn't eat anything beginning with the letter "f", dislikes laziness, etc.)
• How else would you describe this person? What's his/her favorite pastime or activity? What's his/her pet peeve? Etc.

Personification writing task: After brainstorming, write a personal letter to your personified school year, art major, particular class, etc. in which you confess a secret or make a promise or tell the person off. Type up your letter.

CLASSWORK: After writing your letter, write a poem or a short story using personification. The more you write for this class, the higher your participation grade will be. Use your time in the lab effectively. Today is a day for WRITING!

Your Class Blog & Genre Story

Welcome to this blog students in the 6th marking. Every day in class, please check this website. Our daily agenda will be posted here with all the directions concerning classwork and assignments.

Rubric for participation:
Every day you will be given a daily grade based on your participation.

• 1 point = on-time, working effectively on writing projects, does not disrupt other students; spends time in class writing.
• 1/2 point = tardy, mostly working on writing projects (may spend some time talking, disrupting other students or surfing the internet BUT is productive, getting assignments done on time. Spends most of the students time in class writing, but may be off-task a bit.
• 0 points = disrupts other students in class by talking, touching, pushing, hugging, hitting, etc. Must be reminded to get work done. Spends most of the class in off-task activities (surfing the internet, playing games, etc.) or engaged in disruptive behavior (loud or obnoxious behavior). Writes little, but puts no effort into work.
  

It is important to READ these posts. All directions for an assignment are posted here. I usually break down an assignment by steps. Follow the steps to complete the projects.


For example: Today's assignment: Genre Story

1. Working alone or with one partner, please work on the following assignment today in class.
2. Looking at your list of tropes (completed this week in class), select a genre for a fiction story. You may COMBINE genres if you wish. For example: you may wish to write a fantasy-mystery story.
3. Look at the tropes you listed for your chosen genre. Tropes are typical characters, events, and items that occur in stories of this kind.
4. Use your list of tropes and include as many of them as you NEED to write an interesting story.
5. Your story should be well written, creative, and show appropriate effort.
6. If you are working with a partner, work together to suggest sentences and story ideas that you will write. Share the burden of typing by switching off. Make sure BOTH your names are listed on your paper.
7. Save your work to your creative writing folder on the network drive (H: drive). Call this assignment: Genre or Trope Story.

Welcome: 6th Marking Period CW Students

Welcome, new students for the 3rd marking period:

Agenda:

1. Course Criteria & Expectations

2. Genre

3. Writing practice/assignment

Genre

What is genre in regard to music?
What is genre in regard to dance?
What is genre in regard to visual arts?
What is genre in regard to drama?
What is genre, then, in regard to creative writing?

Genre is: a category of artistic, musical, or creative writing characterized by a particular style, form, or content.

Brainstorming: With a partner, list in your journal all the genres you can think of for each art form (music, dance, visual arts, drama, creative writing). After you have a good list, circle or underline or mark the genres on your list that you most enjoy and/or prefer.

Portfolios

Please prepare your portfolio for tomorrow. This is the last day for you to finish your stories, poems, journalism, plays, etc.

You should have completed all the assignments and prompts we did both in class and in the computer lab over the last six weeks. Your grade for the portfolio will be evaluated on how many of these assignments you completed, how many pages of writing you wrote, and the general quality of the writing.

Your grade in this class is also participatory: attendance, behavior, and being on-task and writing or completing your work is also averaged into your final grade. Refer to your rubric and course criteria sheet for further details.

Last Day for Something New

Your portfolios and all the writing assignments are due by Friday. Today is the last day for you to start anything new.

Today, write what you want: a story, a poem, a creative memoir, a list of your favorite jokes, a fable or fairy tale, a parody or play script. Anything you want to write.

Wednesday through Friday will be reserved for finishing all your work for this class. Those of you finishing early, may gain extra credit by continuing to write.