Some reminders for you in the first few sentences. The things we're getting toward in the writing process have already been reviewed. Mr. Craddock has kindly resurfaced past information to help you start, continue, and refine your writing. Hit that link to have another look at: beginnings/middles/ends, conquering write's block/getting unstuck, finding a theme, and establishing structure. Go check this stuff out!
Today, you're at different points in the writing process. Some of you have strong beginnings of your stories and others have only started to scratch the surface. Since you know writing isn't a process where everyone will be at the same place at the same time, this is totally natural. For those of you who haven't typed a solid beginning of your story, today you're required to do so. Last class's blog gave tips on the beginning of stories, so I'll again post them here:
1) Make a declarative statement. Start bold, don't be afraid. Beginning in this way, you establish power and can grab interest quickly. It can also set the tone for the rest of the story. Beginning with a powerful statement or dialogue is a great way to grab attention. Remember hook and inciting incident. Be bold, be clear!
2) Start with an interesting flashback. You have already practiced writing flashbacks and are familiar with how powerful they can be. They have the ability to set the reader in the fragmented nature of a character's mind. This is a powerful tool to use when beginning a story.
3) Start with what's at stake. What's the chief crisis of your story? Start with that. Introduce the conflict, a character flaw, a secret, or a memory that pulls the reader in immediately.
4) Don't fall into story starting cliche! Beginning stories with an information dump, boring descriptions, fanciful language, and a needless amount of questions, paths, or characters for a reader to follow are a few ways to disinterest the reader. Don't fall into these traps.
If you've not really started your story, by the end of class today, you're to have written at least 750 words. Remember, this is the beginning of your story, so it doesn't have to be perfect. You should strive for that, but recognize that's it's okay if it's not perfect.
On the other hand...
For those of you who've solidly started your stories, now is the chance to do one of two things: 1) write to a decent stopping point and then re-read/edit. 2) stop where you are and re-read/edit. Why would we do any of these things? Writing process, foo. Here's some stuff to consider:
1) When starting a piece of writing, the first words on the page are sometimes a way of the author getting out the nonsense before actually getting into the meat of the story. Like when someone clears their throat before speaking.
2) Read it out loud to yourself. Or, even better, have someone else read your work aloud. When reading ou own writing, we automatically correct any awkwardness in our own heads, making us sort of blind to the imperfections in our own writing. When someone else reads your writing aloud, everything becomes much more clear. It's weird. Like when Aleah reads my blog posts out loud. I'm like, "Ugh, is that how I really sound?"
3) Look for the unnecessary information and cut it out! In the first stages of writing, we sometimes tend to get overly excited and start going into such gruesome detail that it bogs down the pace of the story. Look for this! remember to choose only the most important pieces of information to include. You have to be disciplined with yourself and your own writing habits. Constantly ask yourself, "Do I need this? Is this important?"
4) Share with each other. I know y'all do this anyway, but take some time to really listen to, read, and critique stories of your peers. When ideas are tough to come by, it's often just a little nudge that's needed from a friend or someone who sees things a smidgen differently. So, never say you're stuck or don't know what to write. Ask the opinion of other people. Do you have to do what they say? Nope. It helps to have ideas coming from other people. Use everything around you, twist it, cut it up, blend it, turn it into your own.
The moral of the story in today's class is that you'll have: at least 750 words written for the late starters and 750-1000 well-written words for those going through their work a second time.
Homework:
I didn't forget about the books. You're supposed to have read for today, but I've decided today was to be a writing day. By Wednesday, both novels are to be finished completely.
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