Thursday, 25 October

Mr. Zartler checked on the homework of bringing a typed draft to class.

Class began with a two part prompt:
What I fear
What I don't fear

Writer's then choose one of the items from their list for personal or fictional writing. Many were shared.

Next we read a piece by Annie Lamott Sh**** First Drafts, and discussed her suggestions for successful writing.

Students presented their Writing Down the Bones project. Grades are now posted. Anyone without a grade should see Mr. Zartler immediately.

Next writers analyzed their current draft of the morbid fiction. When writers could not come up with ways to address weaknesses on their own, the class and Mr. Zartler helped them problem solve.

Morbid Fiction pieces are due on Monday.

Tuesday, 23 October

Class began with students presenting Writing Down the Bones projects. Each student then choose one of the presentations as a prompt. After sharing writing the class had a lesson in properly editing of dialogue. This assignment was turned in so should be completed by all students who missed class.

Writers then discussed what kinds of feedback they needed to help them revise and improve the morbid fiction piece that is due on Monday. Ideas included feedback on the elements of story telling; feedback on pacing and variety; the balance of scene and summary. Some writers wanted feedback on questions such as, "What stays?" "What goes?" "What feels right?" "What's missing?"

Writers had time to conference with randomly assigned partners.

Monday, 22 October

Homework:
Finish reading Edgar Allen Poe's "Masque of the Red Death."

Then looking at your current draft of your morbid fiction piece, choose a passage to revise the setting description, or to add setting description. Bring the draft and the new writing to class on Tuesday.

In class we began reading Poe's "Masque of the Red Death."

The prompt today was to write a dialogue. There was a short lesson on how to properly edit and present dialogue. The key rules for editing and presenting dialogue are:

Begin an new paragraph (don't forget to indent) each time the speaker changes.

Use quotation marks to indicate the exact words spoken.

Set off the quotation from the tag using a comma or other appropriate punctuation mark:

     "Hi," said Tom.
    "Hello," replied Julie. "Do you think it will rain today?"
     Tom looked up at the sky, then down at his bare feet. He thought about how miserable it would be to get wet in his brand new silk shirt. "I certainly hope not!"
     "Me neither." Julie smiled and walked away.