Star Wars

[Source: School Grants Blog]

Creative Writing

Here are some tips for creative writing. I have taken them from a website written by Dennis G. Jerz that has a lot more detail and can be found here.

Getting Started

1. Who is your protagonist, and what does he or she want?
   (The athlete who wants her team to win the big game and the car crash victim who wants to survive his injuries are not specific enough.)
   
   
2. When the story begins, what morally significant actions has he or she already taken towards that goal?
   ("Morally significant" doesn't mean your protagonist has to be conventionally "good"; rather, he or she should already have made a significant choice that sets up the rest of the story.)
   
   
3. What unexpected consequences -- directly related to the protagonist's efforts to achieve the goal -- ramp up the emotional energy of the story?
   (Will the unexpected consequences force your protagonist to make yet another choice, leading to still more consequences?)
   
   
4. What details from the setting, dialog, and tone help you tell the story?
   (Things to cut: travel scenes, character A telling character B about something we just saw happening to character A, and phrases like "said happily" -- it's much better to say "bubbled" or "gushed" or "cooed.")
   
   
5. What morally significant choice does your protagonist make at the climax of the story?
   (Your reader should care about the protagonist's decision. Ideally, the reader shouldn't see it coming.)

Developing Characters

In order to develop a living, breathing, multi-faceted character, it is important to know way more about the character than you will ever use in the story. Here is a partial list of character details to help you get started.

Name Age Job Ethnicity Appearance Residence	Pets Religion Hobbies Single or married? Children? Temperament
Favorite color Friends Favorite foods Drinking patterns Phobias Faults	Something hated? Secrets? Strong memories? Any illnesses? Nervous gestures? Sleep patterns

Imagining all these details will help you get to know your character, but your reader probably won't need to know much more than the most important things in four areas:

• Appearance. Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character.
• Action. Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions rather than simply listing adjectives.
• Speech. Develop the character as a person -- don't merely have your character announce important plot details.
• Thought. Bring the reader into your character's mind, to show them your character's unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.

Point of View

Point of view is the narration of the story from the perspective of first, second, or third person. As a writer, you need to determine who is going to tell the story and how much information is available for the narrator to reveal in the short story. The narrator can be directly involved in the action subjectively, or the narrator might only report the action objectively.

Setting and Context

Setting includes the time, location, context, and atmosphere where the plot takes place.

• Remember to combine setting with characterization and plot.

• Include enough detail to let your readers picture the scene but only details that actually add something to the story. (For example, do not describe Mary locking the front door, walking across the yard, opening the garage door, putting air in her bicycle tires, getting on her bicycle--none of these details matter except that she rode out of the driveway without looking down the street.)

• Use two or more senses in your descriptions of setting.

Rather than feed your readers information about the weather, population statistics, or how far it is to the grocery store, substitute descriptive details so your reader can experience the location the way your characters do.

The Plot

Plot is what happens, the storyline, the action.

Understanding these story elements for developing actions and their end results will help you plot your next short story.

• Explosion or "Hook." A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs the reader's attention right away.
• Conflict. A character versus the internal self or an external something or someone.
• Exposition. Background information required for seeing the characters in context.
• Complication. One or more problems that keep a character from their intended goal.
• Transition. Image, symbol, dialogue, that joins paragraphs and scenes together.
• Flashback. Remembering something that happened before the short story takes place.
• Climax. When the rising action of the story reaches the peak.
• Falling Action. Releasing the action of the story after the climax.
• Resolution. When the internal or external conflict is resolve.

Brainstorming. If you are having trouble deciding on a plot, try brainstorming. Suppose you have a protagonist whose husband comes home one day and says he doesn't love her any more and he is leaving. What are actions that can result from this situation?

1. She becomes a workaholic.
2. Their children are unhappy.
3. Their children want to live with their dad.
4. She moves to another city.
5. She gets a new job.
6. They sell the house.
7. She meets a psychiatrist and falls in love.
8. He comes back and she accepts him.
9. He comes back and she doesn't accept him.
10. She commits suicide.
11. He commits suicide.
12. She moves in with her parents.

The next step is to select one action from the list and brainstorm another list from that particular action.

Conflict and Tension

Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions. By balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep readers glued to the pages wondering how the story will end.

Possible Conflicts Include:

• The protagonist against another individual
• The protagonist against nature (or technology)
• The protagonist against society
• The protagonist against God
• The protagonist against himself or herself.

Conflict Checklist

• Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.
• Empowerment. Give both sides options.
• Progression. Keep intensifying the number and type of obstacles the protagonist faces.
• Causality. Hold fictional characters more accountable than real people. Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap rewards.
• Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far in advance.
• Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (or night sweats).
• Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
• Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time.
• High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone they care about could lose something precious. Trivial clashes often produce trivial fiction.

The Climax

This is the turning point of the story--the most exciting or dramatic moment. The crisis should always be presented as a scene. It is "the moment" the reader has been waiting for. In Cinderella's case, "the payoff is when the slipper fits." While a good story needs a crisis, a random event such as a car crash or a sudden illness is simply an emergency --unless it somehow involves a conflict that makes the reader care about the characters.

The Resolution

The solution to the conflict. In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a complete resolution and you often need to just show that characters are beginning to change in some way or starting to see things differently. The following are some options for ending a story.

• Open. Readers determine the meaning.
• Resolved. Clear-cut outcome.
• Parallel to Beginning. Similar to beginning situation or image.
• Monologue. Character comments.
• Dialogue. Characters converse.
• Literal Image. Setting or aspect of setting resolves the plot.
• Symbolic Image. Details represent a meaning beyond the literal one.

Paranormal State

While some school photos were being taken we had a look at the television show Paranormal State which is a docu-drama series about a student led college club, the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society. The show depicts the students' investigations of paranormal activity and supernatural phenomena.

The producers of the show use every trick in the book to entertain us. From quick edits, infra red video, shaky cam, distorted audio etc. we are meant to be conbvinced that it is real. It could be real or it could be fake. Who knows? Apart from the link to the University club above have a look at the show's website or videos on YouTube if you're interested. If you're not, don't.

Language Devices

I found this informationon the Brooklyn High School of the Arts site. It's from a teacher called Mr. Braiman and he has posted some wonderful resources. Here is his list of Literary Devices (or as we call them Literary Techniques). Enjoy!

Literary Devices

Allegory: Where every aspect of a story is representative, usually symbolic, of something else, usually a larger abstract concept or important historical/geopolitical event.

Lord of the Flies provides a compelling allegory of human nature, illustrating the three sides of the psyche through its sharply-defined main characters.

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds within close proximity, usually in consecutive words within the same sentence or line.

Antagonist: Counterpart to the main character and source of a story’s main conflict. The person may not be “bad” or “evil” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a significant way. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

Anthropomorphism: Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs, facial features, human locomotion or other anthropoid form. (This technique is often incorrectly called personification.)

The King and Queen of Hearts and their playing-card courtiers comprise only one example of Carroll’s extensive use of anthropomorphism in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Blank verse: Non-rhyming poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter.

Most of Shakespeare’s dialogue is written in blank verse, though it does occasionally rhyme.

Character: The people who inhabit and take part in a story. When discussing character, as distinct from characterization, look to the essential function of the character, or of all the characters as a group, in the story as a whole.

Rather than focus on one particular character, Lord assembles a series of brief vignettes and anecdotes involving multiple characters, in order to give the reader the broadest possible spectrum of human behavior.

Golding uses his main characters to represent the different parts of the human psyche, to illustrate mankind’s internal struggle between desire, intellect, and conscience.

Characterization: The author’s means of conveying to the reader a character’s personality, life history, values, physical attributes, etc. Also refers directly to a description thereof.

Atticus is characterized as an almost impossibly virtuous man, always doing what is right and imparting impeccable moral values to his children.

Climax: The turning point in a story, at which the end result becomes inevitable, usually where something suddenly goes terribly wrong; the “dramatic high point” of a story. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of structure; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

The story reaches its climax in Act III, when Mercutio and Tybalt are killed and Romeo is banished from Verona.

Conflict: A struggle between opposing forces which is the driving force of a story. The outcome of any story provides a resolution of the conflict(s); this is what keeps the reader reading. Conflicts can exist between individual characters, between groups of characters, between a character and society, etc., and can also be purely abstract (i.e., conflicting ideas).

The conflict between the Montagues and Capulets causes Romeo and Juliet to behave irrationally once they fall in love.

Jack’s priorities are in conflict with those of Ralph and Piggy, which causes him to break away from the group.

Man-versus-nature is an important conflict in The Old Man and the Sea.

Context: Conditions, including facts, social/historical background, time and place, etc., surrounding a given situation.

Madame Defarge’s actions seem almost reasonable in the context of the Revolution.

Creative license: Exaggeration or alteration of objective facts or reality, for the purpose of enhancing meaning in a fictional context.

Orwell took some creative license with the historical events of the Russian Revolution, in order to clarify the ideological conflicts.

Dialogue: Where characters speak to one another; may often be used to substitute for exposition.

Since there is so little stage direction in Shakespeare, many of the characters’ thoughts and actions are revealed through dialogue.



Dramatic irony: Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware.

Macbeth responds with disbelief when the weird sisters call him Thane of Cawdor; ironically, unbeknownst to him, he had been granted that title by king Duncan in the previous scene.

Exposition: Where an author interrupts a story in order to explain something, usually to provide important background information.

The first chapter consists mostly of exposition, running down the family’s history and describing their living conditions.

Figurative language: Any use of language where the intended meaning differs from the actual literal meaning of the words themselves. There are many techniques which can rightly be called figurative language, including metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, verbal irony, and oxymoron. (Related: figure of speech)

The poet makes extensive use of figurative language, presenting the speaker’s feelings as colors, sounds and flavors.

Foil: A character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc. which are directly and diametrically opposed to those of another character, usually the protagonist. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

The noble, virtuous father Macduff provides an ideal foil for the villainous, childless Macbeth.

Foreshadowing: Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen. Foreshadowing can take many forms and be accomplished in many ways, with varying degrees of subtlety. However, if the outcome is deliberately and explicitly revealed early in a story (such as by the use of a narrator or flashback structure), such information does not constitute foreshadowing.

Willy’s concern for his car foreshadows his eventual means of suicide.

Hyperbole: A description which exaggerates, usually employing extremes and/or superlatives to convey a positive or negative attribute; “hype.”

The author uses hyperbole to describe Mr. Smith, calling him “the greatest human being ever to walk the earth.”



Iambic pentameter: A poetic meter wherein each line contains ten syllables, as five repetitions of a two-syllable pattern in which the pronunciation emphasis is on the second syllable.

Shakespeare wrote most of his dialogue in iambic pentameter, often having to adjust the order and nature of words to fit the syllable pattern, thus endowing the language with even greater meaning.

Imagery: Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual imagery and sound imagery. Also refers to specific and recurring types of images, such as food imagery and nature imagery. (Not all descriptions can rightly be called imagery; the key is the appeal to and stimulation of specific senses, usually visual. It is often advisable to specify the type of imagery being used, and consider the significance of the images themselves, to distinguish imagery from mere description.)

The author’s use of visual imagery is impressive; the reader is able to see the island in all its lush, colorful splendor by reading Golding’s detailed descriptions.

Irony (a.k.a. Situational irony): Where an event occurs which is unexpected, in the sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking opposition to what would be expected or appropriate. Mere coincidence is generally not ironic; neither is mere surprise, nor are any random or arbitrary occurrences. (Note: Most of the situations in the Alanis Morissette song are not ironic at all, which may actually make the song ironic in itself.) See also Dramatic irony; Verbal irony.

Jem and Scout are saved by Boo Radley, who had ironically been an object of fear and suspicion to them at the beginning of the novel.

Metaphor: A direct relationship where one thing or idea substitutes for another.

Shakespeare often uses light as a metaphor for Juliet; Romeo refers to her as the sun, as “a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear,” and as a solitary dove among crows.

Mood: The atmosphere or emotional condition created by the piece, within the setting. Mood refers to the general sense or feeling which the reader is supposed to get from the text; it does not, as a literary element, refer to the author’s or characters’ state of mind. (Note that mood is a literary element, not a technique; the mood must therefore be described or identified. It would be incorrect to simply state, “The author uses mood.”)

The mood of Macbeth is dark, murky and mysterious, creating a sense of fear and uncertainty.

Motif: A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.

Blood is an important motif in A Tale of Two Cities, appearing numerous times throughout the novel.

Onomatopoeia: Where sounds are spelled out as words; or, when words describing sounds actually sound like the sounds they describe.

Remarque uses onomatopoeia to suggest the dying soldier’s agony, his last gasp described as a “gurgling rattle.”

Oxymoron: A contradiction in terms.

Romeo describes love using several oxymorons, such as “cold fire,” “feather of lead” and “sick health,” to suggest its contradictory nature.

Paradox: Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it cancel each other out.

In 1984, “doublethink” refers to the paradox where history is changed, and then claimed to have never been changed.

A Tale of Two Cities opens with the famous paradox, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Parallelism: Use of similar or identical language, structures, events or ideas in different parts of a text.

Hobbs’ final strikeout parallels the Whammer’s striking out against him at the beginning of the novel.

Personification (I) Where inanimate objects or abstract concepts are seemingly endowed with human self-awareness; where human thoughts, actions, perceptions and emotions are directly attributed to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. (Not to be confused with anthropomorphism.)

Malamud personifies Hobbs’ bat, giving it a name, Wonderboy, and referring to it using personal pronouns; for example, “he went hungry” during Hobbs’ batting slump.

Personification (II) Where an abstract concept, such as a particular human behavior or a force of nature, is represented as a person.

The Greeks personified natural forces as gods; for example, the god Poseidon was the personification of the sea and its power over man.

Plot: Sequence of events in a story. Most literary essay tasks will instruct the writer to “avoid plot summary;” the term is therefore rarely useful for response or critical analysis. When discussing plot, it is generally more useful to consider and analyze its structure, rather than simply recapitulate “what happens.”

Point-of-view: The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story. May be third-person (no narrator; abstract narrative voice, omniscient or limited) or first-person (narrated by a character in the story or a direct observer). Point-of-view is a commonly misused term; it does not refer to the author’s or characters’ feelings, opinions, perspectives, biases, etc.

Though it is written in third-person, Animal Farm is told from the limited point-of-view of the common animals, unaware of what is really happening as the pigs gradually and secretively take over the farm.

Writing the story in first-person point-of-view enables the reader to experience the soldier’s fear and uncertainty, limiting the narrative to what only he saw, thought and felt during the battle.

Protagonist: The main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to identify. The person is not necessarily “good” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is most invested. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

Repetition: Where a specific word, phrase, or structure is repeated several times, usually in close proximity, to emphasize a particular idea.

The repetition of the words “What if…” at the beginning of each line reinforces the speaker’s confusion and fear.

Setting: The time and place where a story occurs. The setting can be specific (e.g., New York City in 1930) or ambiguous (e.g., a large urban city during economic hard times). Also refers directly to a description thereof. When discussing or analyzing setting, it is generally insufficient to merely identify the time and place; an analysis of setting should include a discussion of its overall impact on the story and characters.

The novel is set in the South during the racially turbulent 1930’s, when blacks were treated unfairly by the courts.

With the island, Golding creates a pristine, isolated and uncorrupted setting, in order to show that the boys’ actions result from their own essential nature rather than their environment.

Simile: An indirect relationship where one thing or idea is described as being similar to another. Similes usually contain the words “like” or “as,” but not always.

The simile in line 10 describes the lunar eclipse: “The moon appeared crimson, like a drop of blood hanging in the sky.”

The character’s gait is described in the simile: “She hunched and struggled her way down the path, the way an old beggar woman might wander about.”

Speaker: The “voice” of a poem; not to be confused with the poet him/herself. Analogous to the narrator in prose fiction.

Structure: The manner in which the various elements of a story are assembled.

The individual tales are told within the structure of the larger framing story, where the 29 travelers gather at the Inn at Southwark on their journey to Canterbury, telling stories to pass the time.

The play follows the traditional Shakespearean five-act plot structure, with exposition in Act I, development in Act II, the climax or turning point in Act III, falling action in Act IV, and resolution in Act V.

Symbolism: The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. This term is commonly misused, describing any and all representational relationships, which in fact are more often metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal. (In other words, a symbol must be something you can hold in your hand or draw a picture of, while the idea it symbolizes must be something you can’t hold in your hand or draw a picture of.)

Golding uses symbols to represent the various aspects of human nature and civilization as they are revealed in the novel. The conch symbolizes order and authority, while its gradual deterioration and ultimate destruction metaphorically represent the boys’ collective downfall.

Theme: The main idea or message conveyed by the piece. A theme should generally be expressed as a complete sentence; an idea expressed by a single word or fragmentary phrase is usually a motif.

Orwell’s theme is that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The idea that human beings are essentially brutal, savage creatures provides the central theme of the novel.

Tone: The apparent emotional state, or “attitude,” of the speaker/narrator/narrative voice, as conveyed through the language of the piece. Tone refers only to the narrative voice; not to the author or characters. It must be described or identified in order to be analyzed properly; it would be incorrect to simply state, “The author uses tone.”

The poem has a bitter and sardonic tone, revealing the speaker’s anger and resentment.

The tone of Gulliver’s narration is unusually matter-of-fact, as he seems to regard these bizarre and absurd occurrences as ordinary or commonplace.

Tragedy: Where a story ends with a negative or unfortunate outcome which was essentially avoidable, usually caused by a flaw in the central character’s personality. Tragedy is really more of a dramatic genre than a literary element; a play can be referred to as a tragedy, but tragic events in a story are essentially part of the plot, rather than a literary device in themselves. When discussing tragedy, or analyzing a story as tragic, look to the other elements of the story which combine to make it tragic.

Tragic hero/tragic figure: A protagonist who comes to a bad end as a result of his own behavior, usually cased by a specific personality disorder or character flaw. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

Willy Loman is one of the best-known tragic figures in American literature, oblivious to and unable to face the reality of his life.

Tragic flaw: The single characteristic (usually negative) or personality disorder which causes the downfall of the protagonist.

Othello’s tragic flaw is his jealousy, which consumes him so thoroughly that he is driven to murder his wife rather than accept, let alone confirm, her infidelity. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)

Verbal irony: Where the meaning of a specific expression is, or is intended to be, the exact opposite of what the words literally mean. (Sarcasm is a tone of voice that often accompanies verbal irony, but they are not the same thing.)

Orwell gives this torture and brainwashing facility the ironic title, “Ministry of Love.”

Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Case

For those of you looking for more information on the Scottsboro Case here is a profile of Judge Horton. It's got some good quotes, take a look:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/trialheroes/essayhorton.html

To Kill a Mockingbird - Quotes

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

"Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

"Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open."

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew."

"The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."

"The witnesses for the state have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-the evil assumption-that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber. Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men cannot be trusted around women, black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men."

"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand."

"I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep."

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

"This case, Tom Robinson's case, is something that goes to the essence of a man's conscience-Scout, I couldn't go to church and worship God if I didn't try to help that man."

Context for To Kill a Mockingbird

INTERVIEW: GROWING UP WHITE
IN THE SOUTH IN THE 1930s
http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/girl.html

INTERVIEW: GROWING UP BLACK
IN THE 1930s IN McCULLEYS QUARTERS, ALABAMA
http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/mculley.html?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0730

PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIGNS ENFORCING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html

SUNDOWN TOWNS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH
http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/content/sundown-introduction.pdf