An Overview: Syllabus and Policies

Writer’s Workshop, sometimes still called Writing for Publication

Mr. James Cook

jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us

WritForPub.blogspot.com

TheElicitor.blogspot.com

Term One: Exploration of genres

• Students read examples of literature written in a particular genre.
• Students (guided by the teacher) create writing exercises based on the examples.
• Students write their own literature using the exercises.
• Students turn in a sample of each exercise and a revised draft of one exercise.
• Students give feedback to each other in peer review sessions called “workshops”.
• Students then use the feedback to revise their work of literature.
• We move on to a new genre and begin the process again.

Genres:

            Fiction

Microfiction/Flash fiction/Sudden fiction/short short story

Poetry

                        Narrative verse

                                Lyrical verse

                                Formal

                                Free verse

                                Experimental

                                Poetic Journal

            Non-fiction prose

                        Journalism: articles, features, profiles, reviews, columns, etc.

                                Personal essay/memoir

            Dramatic Scripts

                        Plays, screenplays, teleplays, etc.

Grades:

• Unedited “first” drafts (usually done in your notebook during class) 30%
• Edited “second” drafts (polished up at home) and revised “third” drafts (completed after feedback from teacher & peers) 50%
• Constructive participation in workshops and metacognitive reflection on writing process 20%

Term Two: Project portfolio

• Students will design a project to complete by the end of the course.
• In the past students have produced collections of poetry and short stories, novellas, film scripts, and memoirs. Other projects are possible.

Grades

• Proposal letter (& if necessary revision of letter), Meeting deadlines, &  Quality of work along the way 20%
• Response to related reading along the way 10%
• Constructive participation in workshops and metacognitive reflection on writing process 20%
• Completion & quality of final project 50%

EXAM GRADE: Final project, reflection, & “coffeehouse” reading.

1. Know the policies that are in the Compass.

 

2. Respect

This is a college-level class. If you act like a young adult I will treat you that way, at least as much as I am able to do so within the confines of a high school. Show respect for yourself, each other, Mr. Cook, other teachers, administrators, staff members, the room (including desks, floors, walls, etc.), and the equipment (books, etc.)

3. Staying organized

You will need something to write with everyday.

You will need an assignment notebook.

You will need a writer’s notebook in which you will write directions, metacognitive responses, writing exercise drafts, etc. I will check your notebook occasionally.

You will need a folder in which to keep readings and other handouts.

4. Late work

·          If you are between one and five school days late with a major assignment (a processed paper or project for example) your grade on that paper or project will be reduced by ten points.

·          If you are more than five school days late with a major assignment (processed paper or project) you may receive a passing grade (65) on that paper or project if you discuss the lateness with me , you turn the assignment in a week or more before the end of the term, and the work meets requirements.

·          Not doing a major assignment is not an option.

5. Tardiness and Truancy from Class

·          If you are late to class (meaning you arrive at your desk after the bell and after Mr. Cook has begun the day’s lesson) you may lose unit-work credit.

·          If you are late by more than seven minutes you will be marked sent to the attendance office. This is school policy as set forth in the Compass.

·          If you are discovered to have skipped class you will receive a unit-work zero for the day. You will not be able to make up any work missed on the day you skipped.

6. Absences and make-up work

·          Work missed due to absences is your responsibility. The absence policy for GHS is outlined in the Compass.

·          On the day you return to class, you will be expected to take tests, quizzes, participate, and turn in any assignments that are due on the day of return or had been due during your absence, so long as the due date was announced or posted before your absence.

Note:  These policies are subject to change.  All changes will be announced in class.  Students will cross out the changed language and write in the new.

Screenplay: Adapt a scene from something you have previously written

We're about a week behind schedule so I've decided to adapt the screenwriting assignment.

Click here to read about the inspiration for this assignment.

Use the format provided below to transform something you have previously written (a story, a poem) into a screenplay. An award--to be determined--will be given for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). (Due Friday, November 18.)


Excerpts from “How to Format a Screenplay” by Elaine Radford
Keep in mind that a screenplay is visual and your characters' actions move the story forward from scene to scene. Actions show the audience what it needs to know. Your characters' dialogue supports the actions. Seeing a character do something is far more powerful than having him or her talk about it.
Think of a scene as a unit of action. In each scene, define who (character or characters), what (situation), when (time of day), where (place of action), and why (purpose of the action).
Scene Headings:

·          Each time your characters move to a different setting, a new scene heading is required.

·          Scene headings are typed on one line with some words abbreviated and all words capitalized.

·          Specifically, the location of a scene is listed before the time of day when the scene takes place.

·          Example: A scene set inside a hospital emergency room at night would have the following heading:

INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT

·         Interior is always abbreviated INT. and exterior is abbreviated EXT.

·         Hyphen separates the location of the scene from the time of day. 

·          Leave a two-line space following the scene heading before writing your scene description.

·         Scene descriptions are typed across the page from left margin to right margin.

Characters and Dialogue

·         Names of characters are displayed in all capital letters the first time they are used in a description, and these names always use all capital letters in a dialogue heading.

·         Example:

CATHY sits at the end of the first row of plastic chairs. Her head is bent over, and she stares intently at the floor.

·         The names of characters who have no dialogue are not capitalized when mentioned in scene descriptions.

·         Example:

A man moans softly as he presses a bloody gauze pad against his forehead. A woman cradles a listless infant in her arms.

·         Sounds the audience will hear are capitalized (eg, ROAR or WHISTLE).

·         Dialogue is centered on the page under the character's name, which is always in all capital letters when used as a dialogue heading.

·         Example:

                                                                 DOCTOR
                                            I'm sorry…

·         If you describe the way a character looks or speaks before the dialogue begins or as it begins, this is typed below the character's name in parentheses.

·         Example:

                                                                 DOCTOR
                                                        (apologetically)
                                            We did everything possible.
Here is an example of a complete scene in the screenplay format:

INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT

A crowded hospital emergency waiting room. Clean but cheerless. 

Sick and injured people sit in plastic chairs lined up in rows. A TV    mounted near the ceiling BLARES a sitcom. No one is watching.

A man moans softly as he presses a bloody gauze pad against his   forehead. A woman cradles a listless infant in her arms.

CATHY sits at the end of the first row of plastic chairs. Her head is bent over, and she stares intently at the floor.

She raises her head slowly, brushes her long, silky hair away from her face.

We see fear in her eyes as they focus on a clock that hangs above the front desk. She twists a tissue between her fingers and is unaware that bits of it are falling on the floor.

The door to the emergency treatment room opens, and a middle-aged    DOCTOR dressed in hospital green walks through the door toward Cathy, who bolts out of the chair and hurries toward him.

                                                                   DOCTOR
                                                        (apologetically)
                                            We did everything possible.
                                                                   CATHY
                                                         (gasps)
                                            What are you saying?
                                                                   DOCTOR
                                            I'm sorry…
                                                                   CATHY
                                                         (screaming)
                                            No!

All eyes in the waiting room are riveted on Cathy and the Doctor. Cathy lunges at the Doctor, beating her fists against his chest.

                                                                   CATHY  (CONT'D)
                                                         (shouting)
                                            You killed him! 

***
Example (a scene from Donnie Darko):

INT. HEALTH CLASS - AFTERNOON (THURSDAY, 1 P.M.)

Ms. Farmer stands next to the television where Jim Cunningham

narrates the Lifeline tutorial.

                     JIM CUNNINGHAM

            And so, let us begin Lifeline Exercise

            No. 1.

"PLEASE PRESS STOP NOW" appears on the screen.

Ms. Farmer stops the tape and moves to the blackboard. On it, she

has drawn a horizontal line book-ended by the words "Love" and

"Fear".

                     MS. FARMER

            As you can see, the Lifeline is controlled

            by two polar extremes: "Fear" and "Love".

            Fear is in the negative energy spectrum.

            Love is in the positive energy spectrum.

                     SEAN

                   (to Donnie)

            No duh.

                     MS. FARMER

            Excuse me?

                   (defensive)

            "No duh" is a product of fear.

She stares them down for a moment... shaking her head.

                     MS. FARMER (cont'd)

                   (handing out cards)

            Now, on each card is a CHARACTER DILEMMA

            which applies to the Lifeline. Please read

            each character dilemma aloud... and place

            an X on the Lifeline in the appropriate

            place.

The students read their cards.

                     KITTY FARMER (cont'd)

            We'll start in the front.

Cherita Chen stands up and walks over to the blackboard. Ms.

Farmer pulls up large white cards that have black-and-white

animated cartoons on them.

                     CHERITA

            Juanita has an important maths test

            today. She has known about the test for

            several weeks, but has not studied. In

            order to keep from failing her class,

            Juanita decides that she will cheat on

            the maths test.

Cherita places an X near the "Fear" end of the lifeline.

                     MS. FARMER

            Good. Next.

Donnie watches as several more students interpret their

respective human dilemmas.

Finally... it is his turn.

                     DONNIE

            Ling Ling finds a wallet on the ground

            filled with money. She takes the wallet

            to the address on the driver's license

            but keeps the money inside the wallet.

Donnie looks at the blackboard.

                     DONNIE (cont'd)

            I'm sorry, Ms. Farmer, I just don't

            get this.

                     MS. FARMER

                   (impatient)

            Just place an X in the appropriate place

            on the Lifeline.

                     DONNIE

            I just don't get this. Everything can't be

            lumped into two categories. That's too

            simple.

                     MS. FARMER

            The Lifeline is divided that way.

                     DONNIE

            Well, life isn't that simple. So what if

            Ling Ling kept the cash and returned the

            wallet? That has nothing to do with either

            fear or love.

                     MS. FARMER

                   (impatient)

            Fear and love are the deepest of human

            emotions.

                     DONNIE

            Well, yeah... OK, but you're not listening

            to me. There are other things that need

            to be taken into account here. Like the

            whole spectrum of human emotion. You're

            just lumping everything into these two

            categories... and, like, denying

            everything else.

Ms. Farmer stares at Donnie vehemently. She can't believe what

she's hearing.

                     DONNIE (cont'd)

            People aren't that simple.

                     MS. FARMER

                  (not knowing how to argue

                  with him)

            If you don't complete the assignment,

            you'll get a zero for the day.

Donnie thinks for a moment... and then raises his hand.

Nouveau Novel: A Writer's Workshop Collaboration

Post your section of the novel in the comment box below.

Notes:
Let me know if you have trouble posting comments.
You will likely have to break up your section into two or more posts.
Remember to include the summary (& to add to it) at the end of your section of the novel.

Proposal Letter

Writing for Publication Final Project Proposal Letter

The proposal letter is due: Next Week

The proposal letter must be typed and be written in the form of a letter.

Dear Mr. Cook:

First paragraph: Describe your project.

• What genre? Short stories? Micro-fiction? Poems? A poetic journal? A sonnet cycle? A novella? A TV, film, or play script? A Memoir? A series of non-fiction feature articles? A graphic novel? Something else?
• What length? How many stories? How many poems? How many pages?
• What unifying idea? Will the stories be linked by character or setting? Will the script or novella include a particular plot arc? Will the poems be linked by topic, theme, or type? (The writing can be unified by form or content or both?)

Second paragraph: Describe your plan for the remaining weeks.

How much to you plan to get done each week?

(We will be in the computer lab every other week starting next week.)

Third paragraph: Describe what you will read as you complete your project

• Choose a published work (or works) to read. (Be as specific as you can be.) (For example if you are planning to write a fictionalized memoir you might read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Or, if you are planning to write a screenplay you might read the screenplay to your favorite movie.)
• Explain how what you plan to read will help you with the project.

Sincerely,

Your Name

List Poem Directions

In the comment box below put your list poem directions.
I have put my own new list poem directions there too. (You may use my directions or anyone else's directions -- except for your own -- to write a list poem.)

I Tried to Describe You (Workshop)

Read the short-short story. Click on the comment box below. If you have a blogger account or a gmail account already. Type your comments--what you like, what you suggest, and what you have questions about--into the box, sign in, and submit. If you do not have a blogger account create one by following the directions on the comment page. You can use any email; it does not have to be a blogger email. Then when you return to the comment page, type your comments--what you like, what you suggest, and what you have questions about--into the box, sign in, and submit. (If you want to see example comments click on any of the comment boxes below.) Do this before class on Tuesday, February 24.

I Tried to Describe You

I tried to describe you to someone the other day, but I failed horribly. I just couldn’t think of the right words to describe you. I couldn’t describe you in way that made sense to anyone but me. But seeing as I couldn’t ignore the question, I said “oh he’s kinda tall, dark brown hair, green eyes, and a really great smile.” And I cringed as I said it, because it was just so vague. I could have been describing anyone in the world. I know tons of people with that description so I wasn’t really describing you. What I should have said was that you look like Christmas morning when you’re a little kid. You know…waking up at the crack of dawn, running into the living room (or whatever room, your tree so happened to be) and laying your eyes on all those presents that Santa magically brought to your house in the middle of the night. And with out a second to spare, you dash around the house waking up the entire family, shouting “HE CAME. SANTA CAME! WAKE UP ITS CHRISTMAS!!” And of coarse everyone else slowly gets out of bed, and no one else is excited as you. The excitement is over whelming and all you can think about is ripping open every single one of your presents. Waiting this long, a whole year, was torturous enough; another second might just kill you. Not one tiny millisecond could be wasted anymore. You get mad because your parents tell you to wait until everyone is around the tree. Don’t they understand that the anticipation is unbearable? Don’t they know that if you wait any longer, your heart might just explode from your chest? Or that you’ve got so much adrenaline and excitement just pulsing through your veins that you could run to the moon and back? Don’t they know that you got almost no sleep at all because you couldn’t wait for morning? Do they realize that this is your favorite day of the year, the BEST thing in the world to you? How could they tell you to wait? But when they finally let you open your gifts, all of that excitement just bursts from the tip of your fingers as you rip open the gifts at lightening speed. Each gift you open is better than the last. But finally you open that one gift. That one gift that you had been waiting for what felt like a lifetime. An eternity. You scream at the top of your lungs because if you don’t, all the happiness and excitement and joy might just eat away at your insides. You freak out and run around, but still no one else understands how ecstatic you are. They might know that you’re really happy with that gift, but really they aren’t feeling it, so they couldn’t possibly understand. They couldn’t understand how nothing else in the world matters at that point. Everything and everyone else is completely insignificant. Nothing is as important as that moment, and that gift, and you. The world at that moment revolves completely and entirely around you and that gift. That’s how you look to me.

Short Short Fiction Assignment

GENRE STUDY: (Very) Short Fiction

(also called “microfiction,” “sudden Fiction,” and “Short-short Stories)

Published Examples & Exercises

“Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood (This is an exercise involving plot.)

Write a short-short story in which you tell the same story several times but vary some element of that story (the beginnings, the endings, the main character, the setting, a key object, the narrator, etc.)

“Ghost Children of Tacoma” by Richard Brautigan (This is an exercise involving point of view)

Write a short-short story in which write about something in the narrator’s imagination (a fantasy, imaginative play, make-believe) as if it were true. Describe the imaginary events with precise (but invented) details. (In Brautigan’s story the narrator uses very precise numbers to describe how many planes, tanks, ships, etc. he has destroyed during his childhood war games.) You could narrate the story from the point of view of someone looking back at the childhood games (though this person still narrates with a childishly naïve belief in the fantasy) or from the child’s point of view.

“Waiting” by Peggy McNally and “The Book of the Grotesque” by Sherwood Anderson (This is an exercise involving character.)

Write a short-short story that focuses on revealing the inner life of a character.

• You could follow “Waiting” by using a third person narrator and a single sentence to write about a day-in-the-life of a person (or a description of the person’s activities and thoughts) that reveals some hidden truth about the character.
• You could follow “The Book of the Grotesque” by exaggerating the characteristics, activities, and thoughts of a character so as to clearly reveal some truth about the character (and other people too). Be careful to write a grotesque (an exaggerated character that reveals a truth) as opposed to a stereotype (a simplified character in which common assumptions replace observation and truth).
• Or you could combine the two: create a “grotesque” in one sentence.

“I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone” by Richard Brautigan (This is an exercise involving associative description.)

Write a short-short story in which you describe a person, place, or thing through a comparison with something that (on the surface) is quite different from that person, place, or thing; although, under the surface the comparison conveys a truth.

“Murder in the Dark” by Margaret Atwood

Write a short-short story in which you tell a story about playing a game. Then reflect on the meaning of the game. What does it reveal about competition or about telling stories or about being a friend…or about anything else?

Type up, revise, and proofread one story to turn in by the end of class on Friday. Type up excerpts from the other exercises to show that you have understood and have completed the assignments. Turn these in by the end of class on Friday.
If you have time do the extra credit.

Extra Credit:

“Letter to a Funeral Parlor” by Lydia Davis

Write a story in the form of letter. The letter should focus on your objection to someone’s use of a word or phrase.