Monday/ Tuesday 3/4 October

Writer's began with a prompt of their choice from the 14 Very Strong Motivators list.

We discussed the exercise that was due today; how it worked, and who it worked for andy why.

We read the piece "Sh***y First Drafts" by Anne Lamott; writers took time to review the piece. We discussed as a class her advice on drafting and revising.

Writers then choose  passage of their work to share in a random group. Responders asked "What if?" questions of the writers in order to offer them other/ new/ different possibilities for their work.

Thursday / Friday 29/30 September

We began with a brief discussion of place.
Writers made a list of places from their past. Choosing one place that they had strong emotions about writers then brainstormed brief descriptors of the place.

The first writing prompt was that list of descriptors of a place.

Mr. Zartler did a lesson on setting.

Writers then worked on revising one of their pieces with a focus using setting to establish mood.

Mr. Zartler then handed out the following list of character motivations:

Writers were asked to create a character who is motivated by one of the concepts listed above and to have them enter the story writers are working on. (Of course if the writer doesn't like how this affects their story then don't have to use this.)

ROUGH DRAFTS OF SHORT STORY DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY/ THURSDAY.

Tuesday / Wednesday 27/28 September

The opening writing prompt was: "A Date" Dates can be good  or bad. First or last. Blind or not blind.

Writers received a handout on Point of View. We discussed the differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person points of view. We discussed objective; omniscient, and limited omniscient points of view.

Writers chose a passage and revised it to a different point of view.

Writers were assigned to color code a piece of their writing in order to analyze their use of the elements of narrative.

Writers were reminded about two up coming deadlines.
October 11th / 12th First Short story due.
October 28th/ 31st Short Story: "Morbid Fiction" due.

Writers had time to work on creating characters, back writing, and revising in order to work towards completion of their first story of the year.

Friday / Monday 23 / 26 September.

Writers wrote.

After the free write students read a story called "That Girl." After discussing initial reactions to the story, students used the Elements of Narrative handout as a guide to color code and analyze the elements that the author used to create the short story. Class discussed the use of the elements.

Next writers used the same color coding system to analyze the scene that they had written. Writers were asked to analyze what they might need to do more of or less of as they continue to work on.

Beginning on Tuesday and Wednesday writers will have a graded homework assignment for their daily writing practice.

Wednesday / Thursday 21-22 September

Students received an essential handout called "The Elements of Fiction" which will be referred to as the Elements of Storytelling and Elements of Narrative.

The class read, discussed, and analyzed the short story "Bullet in the Brain".

Students in period 5 and 6 turned in their scenes.
Students in period 4 worked together to create characters and were assigned a complete scene for Friday.

All students were asked to create a writing plan for the next week.

Monday/Tuesday 19-20 September

Today in class we discussed "Back Writing"
Homework is to create a "Character Passport" handed out in class.

We read "Broccoli" by Anne Lamott, an essay about writing.

We discussed how people do both good and bad things, and as such characters in our stories might do or say bad things. These things are appropriately part of a story if they are appropriate to a character. However, as in the warnings I gave prior to reading "Bananafish" it is always fair and appropriate to give folks some warning when sharing strong material.

4th period finished with a character generating activity based on randomly drawn objects. 5th and 6th periods recieved a homework assignment. Create a new character. Then write a scene (e.g. 1-3 pages) with the two characters. This assignment is due on Thursday.

September 2011 -- Welcome

Hello students and parents of the 2011-2012 Creative Writing year!

You can email Mr. Zartler @ jzartler@pps.net

Assignments will generally be posted here the day they are assigned; occasionally this won't work out, but I'll do my best.

So far this year we've discussed Natalie Goldberg's (and my) advice for writing practice. She offered up some  rules; the following are the most vital:
 1) Keep your hand moving
 2) Lose Control
 3) Don't Think
and
 4) Be specific
 5) Don't worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation (during free writes only!)
 6) You are free to write the worst junk in the world
 7) Go for the jugular!

We experimented with various writing tools; everyone by now should have a dedicated writing journal.

We read and analyzed: "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"