You ever want to watch a movie that deals with issues with the educational system, racism, and writing? This is the one. Rated PG-13 for language, but if it weren't for that I'd say it would be a very good family movie (though it is rated for a reason, so I wouldn't recommend watching it with younger children). Basic premise of the movie? A 16 year old high school student by the name of Jamal has an unlikely meeting with a one-time award-winning novelist, William Forrester. Forrester hasn't left his apartment in years, and not only gets his groceries delivered but also has taken the ringer out of his phone. He is for all intents and purposes a complete recluse. Jamal is known for his basketball skills, and gets mediocre grades, but his test scores come back so high that he gets an offer from a private school. They claim that it is all about his education and that the scholarship is strictly academic, but expect him to also play basketball and are willing to sacrifice his education along the way.
Many of the characters in this movie have made assumptions about both Jamal and William. Teachers and board members at his new school automatically think that the only reason he was brought in was to play basketball, never believing that he could be there for academic purposes too. Jamal secretly dreams of being a great writer, but had always used basketball as his way to fit in and not stand out. Once he meets William, they gradually become friends as William teaches him more about writing... and they teach each other lessons about life in general.
Of course, not all good things can last. When Jamal turns in a paper very similar to a piece that William once had published, his teachers start to wonder just how much of his work is really his own. Having promised William that he will not tell anyone about their friendship, Jamal takes the fall for plagiarism.
As an education major, it was an interesting experience comparing the various teachers in this movie. There's Jamal's teachers at his former school, who really wanted only the best for him and acknowledged that their school really was not the best place for him. Then there's the teachers at his new school, many of whom only accept Jamal because of his basketball skills at first, and gradually warm up to him as they see his work. Then there's William. He wanted nothing more than to be left alone when they first met, but as he taught Jamal about writing, the line between student and teacher blurred, and each learned important lessons from the other.
This was a very powerful movie, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to teachers and those aspiring to become teachers. But really, isn't that what we all are?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
New Idea - No Time
Why is it that inspiration always hits at the most inopportune times? I'm swamped with classes and homework, plus Christmas parties for a zillion different orgs, and a Christmas concert coming up in a week and half (and of course I barely know the music because I was so tired that I slept through two rehearsals, and so busy that I had to miss several more). Yet a plot obnoxiously decided to pop into my head earlier this week, and I can't stop jotting down ideas.
The story I had been working on before (extremely slowly, but gradually moving) was about a teenager who lost his entire family, his one friend, and was beginning to lose his sanity. I've had those characters stuck in my head for a couple of years, so I feel like I know them and want other people to get a chance to know them too. But they appeared in my head gradually over a long period of time; I decided one day that I wanted a certain type of character, and Phillip was born. Or I needed to write a dialogue for a class, and Katy came into being. My versions of those characters came about over a period of months, and I'm still not sure about some of their backstories.
On the contrary, the one that just came into my head is complete with a lot of minor characters and a plot that is actually exciting and has the potential to become a page-turner. It's about a detective and a reporter who are individually trying to investigate a case involving a serial killer, but wind up working together. I actually just came up with about half of that previous sentence on the spot; all I knew before that was that there would be one detective, one random other person also helping, and the serial killer is torturing his victims in specific ways and for specific reasons before killing them. I've never thought about trying to write a murder mystery before, but I already have fleshed out a lot of details about the killer's past, and know tons about his victims... but I just came up with the basic premise in the beginning of this week.
Next semester I'm taking a lot of easy classes, and have a lot of random hours of free time throughout the day where I won't be able to get a lot of homework done, so I'm hoping to be fairly far into this story by summer. Depending on how much time I wind up having, how much I procrastinate, and how the ideas flow, I may even be done by then. Either way, I'm actually incredibly excited about an idea for the first time in a long time, and can't wait to get started! :)
The story I had been working on before (extremely slowly, but gradually moving) was about a teenager who lost his entire family, his one friend, and was beginning to lose his sanity. I've had those characters stuck in my head for a couple of years, so I feel like I know them and want other people to get a chance to know them too. But they appeared in my head gradually over a long period of time; I decided one day that I wanted a certain type of character, and Phillip was born. Or I needed to write a dialogue for a class, and Katy came into being. My versions of those characters came about over a period of months, and I'm still not sure about some of their backstories.
On the contrary, the one that just came into my head is complete with a lot of minor characters and a plot that is actually exciting and has the potential to become a page-turner. It's about a detective and a reporter who are individually trying to investigate a case involving a serial killer, but wind up working together. I actually just came up with about half of that previous sentence on the spot; all I knew before that was that there would be one detective, one random other person also helping, and the serial killer is torturing his victims in specific ways and for specific reasons before killing them. I've never thought about trying to write a murder mystery before, but I already have fleshed out a lot of details about the killer's past, and know tons about his victims... but I just came up with the basic premise in the beginning of this week.
Next semester I'm taking a lot of easy classes, and have a lot of random hours of free time throughout the day where I won't be able to get a lot of homework done, so I'm hoping to be fairly far into this story by summer. Depending on how much time I wind up having, how much I procrastinate, and how the ideas flow, I may even be done by then. Either way, I'm actually incredibly excited about an idea for the first time in a long time, and can't wait to get started! :)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Writing Style
I've discovered throughout my attempts to write fiction that I tend to become easily bored with scenes. I can write great sensory details, but often forget to add dialogue or action if I get too caught up with describing the setting and expressions. If I start out writing dialogue I forget to include details about the scene and the action. And if I concentrate on the action, I neglect dialogue and setting.
I've found that one of the best ways for me to not become bored with a scene by the time I finish it is to simply jot down the basics of everything; the little details that I don't want to forget later. I include a basic summary of the major plot points, and everything that will remind me later of how I'm picturing it in my head now. Then later, I can come back to fill in the details, and don't have to go through the scenes in any particular order.
For example, the following is an exerpt from a piece of original fiction, written first in the outline format and then in a more detailed manner. The second, more detailed, segment is not necessarily complete, but is certainly more so than the original. Once all of the story is done, I can go back and edit the whole thing together to check for continuity and such.
Outline: The main characters gather in a classroom for their first meeting. Tina looks around and takes note of who else is there, then the door opens again. Lucas enters, looking like he's trying to not be noticed. Tina is surprised that he is here; their eyes meet and Lucas turns to leave when he realizes she is there too. She tries to stop him, grabbing his arm and calling his name. He screams that her former friend died along with the rest of his family and runs off.
Product: [Tina has already looked around to see who else is in the room; they have all been described.]
The door to the classroom swings open again and Tina spins to see who it is. A boy cautiously slinks in, head down, sticking near the wall. Tina accidentally allows a small gasp to escape her lips when she realizes who it is. This boy she knows well... a bit too well. His eyes snap up at the gasp, peering suspiciously through thick locks of black hair. Green eyes meet green, and they stare at each other for a moment before he turns abruptly back to the door with the clear intention of leaving.
"Wait!" Tina calls softly, tentatively reaching out for him. The boy dodges her grasp and quickly closes the gap between himself and the door. Just as he is opening it she catches his elbow. "Lucas..."
He whirls around, sparks igniting in previously dead orbs as they lock on hers once again. "Lucas is dead!" he spits in her direction. "He died along with his parents." Then his arm wrenches out of hers and he is gone.
--
Sometimes I get a really great idea but just don't feel like writing, so I'll jot down the idea on a scrap piece of paper and leave it somewhere where I know I will see it later. Unfortunately, most of the time by the time I get to it, I have completely forgotten the details of my original idea and am no longer able to creatively write anything based on it. That is one reason why I have started using this method. Just a couple of brief paragraphs can easily be turned into several pages; that "Outline" I used as an example wound up being about two pages long once I wrote it out.
Advice to take away: Don't always assume that you will have the same views on certain ideas in the future. They come and go quickly, and you have to grab them while they are there. It can sometimes seem hard to get into the "writing mood," or to get past numerous distractions. But if you just set aside 20-30 minutes each day to stretch your "writing muscles," you'll find that it isn't so hard after all.
I've found that one of the best ways for me to not become bored with a scene by the time I finish it is to simply jot down the basics of everything; the little details that I don't want to forget later. I include a basic summary of the major plot points, and everything that will remind me later of how I'm picturing it in my head now. Then later, I can come back to fill in the details, and don't have to go through the scenes in any particular order.
For example, the following is an exerpt from a piece of original fiction, written first in the outline format and then in a more detailed manner. The second, more detailed, segment is not necessarily complete, but is certainly more so than the original. Once all of the story is done, I can go back and edit the whole thing together to check for continuity and such.
Outline: The main characters gather in a classroom for their first meeting. Tina looks around and takes note of who else is there, then the door opens again. Lucas enters, looking like he's trying to not be noticed. Tina is surprised that he is here; their eyes meet and Lucas turns to leave when he realizes she is there too. She tries to stop him, grabbing his arm and calling his name. He screams that her former friend died along with the rest of his family and runs off.
Product: [Tina has already looked around to see who else is in the room; they have all been described.]
The door to the classroom swings open again and Tina spins to see who it is. A boy cautiously slinks in, head down, sticking near the wall. Tina accidentally allows a small gasp to escape her lips when she realizes who it is. This boy she knows well... a bit too well. His eyes snap up at the gasp, peering suspiciously through thick locks of black hair. Green eyes meet green, and they stare at each other for a moment before he turns abruptly back to the door with the clear intention of leaving.
"Wait!" Tina calls softly, tentatively reaching out for him. The boy dodges her grasp and quickly closes the gap between himself and the door. Just as he is opening it she catches his elbow. "Lucas..."
He whirls around, sparks igniting in previously dead orbs as they lock on hers once again. "Lucas is dead!" he spits in her direction. "He died along with his parents." Then his arm wrenches out of hers and he is gone.
--
Sometimes I get a really great idea but just don't feel like writing, so I'll jot down the idea on a scrap piece of paper and leave it somewhere where I know I will see it later. Unfortunately, most of the time by the time I get to it, I have completely forgotten the details of my original idea and am no longer able to creatively write anything based on it. That is one reason why I have started using this method. Just a couple of brief paragraphs can easily be turned into several pages; that "Outline" I used as an example wound up being about two pages long once I wrote it out.
Advice to take away: Don't always assume that you will have the same views on certain ideas in the future. They come and go quickly, and you have to grab them while they are there. It can sometimes seem hard to get into the "writing mood," or to get past numerous distractions. But if you just set aside 20-30 minutes each day to stretch your "writing muscles," you'll find that it isn't so hard after all.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Prompted
I was bored a few days ago during a long car ride, and had just finished my book, so I went online on my phone to find a good writing prompt. What follows is the prompt itself as well as what I managed to get written before we arrived home. Feel free to continue it or provide other prompts of your own.
Prompt:
A beggar has just won a million dollars in the lottery; explore his thoughts and the thoughts of those around him.
Response:
Jim dug steadily, used to sorting out the good from the bad. Setting aside a half-eaten slice of pizza with some unidentified green fuzz growing on the cheese - he wasn't that desperate - his probing fingers wrap instead around a white cardboard take-out container with red Chinese lettering on the side. Cautiously pulling back the tabs on top, a grin suddenly splits his face as eager fingers pluck out one of the pieces of kung-pao chicken.
After another ten minutes, during which time he unearths a few bites of hotdog and part of a lettuce wrap, Jim sits back a bit from his search. His eyes run habitually around the remainder of the inside of the dumpster, alighting on a lottery ticket stuck to the far side. The scratch card had already been used, but Jim liked to double-check any tickets he happened to find, just in case the owner had actually won anything. He'd won prizes up to twenty dollars a few times in the past.
Reaching across the numerous garbage bags, Jim plucked the ticket from its perch, glancing at the already-scratched-off circles. Shame; no prize on this one. He went to throw it back in the dumpster, but abrubtly halted his movement as he felt the card shift against his fingers. Inspecting it again, he pulled a second card away from where it had been stuck to the back of the first. This one was brand-new, the surface still unmarred.
Jim set about scratching at the little circles with an overgrown and dirty thumbnail. About thirty seconds later, he leaned back against the dumpster, allowing himself to slide down it until he was sitting on the ground leaning against the bin. Jim stared in disbelief at the numbers he had just revealed. Had he seriously just won what he thought he had? Blinking several times and staring hard at the card in his hand, he concluded that it was no trick. "I just won a million dollars..." he breathed, still unable to believe his good fortune.
_____________________
At this point we pulled into our driveway at home, and I put my writing aside. Anyone want to continue it or have another prompt for me to try?
Prompt:
A beggar has just won a million dollars in the lottery; explore his thoughts and the thoughts of those around him.
Response:
Jim dug steadily, used to sorting out the good from the bad. Setting aside a half-eaten slice of pizza with some unidentified green fuzz growing on the cheese - he wasn't that desperate - his probing fingers wrap instead around a white cardboard take-out container with red Chinese lettering on the side. Cautiously pulling back the tabs on top, a grin suddenly splits his face as eager fingers pluck out one of the pieces of kung-pao chicken.
After another ten minutes, during which time he unearths a few bites of hotdog and part of a lettuce wrap, Jim sits back a bit from his search. His eyes run habitually around the remainder of the inside of the dumpster, alighting on a lottery ticket stuck to the far side. The scratch card had already been used, but Jim liked to double-check any tickets he happened to find, just in case the owner had actually won anything. He'd won prizes up to twenty dollars a few times in the past.
Reaching across the numerous garbage bags, Jim plucked the ticket from its perch, glancing at the already-scratched-off circles. Shame; no prize on this one. He went to throw it back in the dumpster, but abrubtly halted his movement as he felt the card shift against his fingers. Inspecting it again, he pulled a second card away from where it had been stuck to the back of the first. This one was brand-new, the surface still unmarred.
Jim set about scratching at the little circles with an overgrown and dirty thumbnail. About thirty seconds later, he leaned back against the dumpster, allowing himself to slide down it until he was sitting on the ground leaning against the bin. Jim stared in disbelief at the numbers he had just revealed. Had he seriously just won what he thought he had? Blinking several times and staring hard at the card in his hand, he concluded that it was no trick. "I just won a million dollars..." he breathed, still unable to believe his good fortune.
_____________________
At this point we pulled into our driveway at home, and I put my writing aside. Anyone want to continue it or have another prompt for me to try?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Narrative Challenge
The challenge: Write a narrative explaining why the characters listed below find themselves in a hall outside a courtroom. Spend no more than 25 minutes.
The Characters:
an attorney
a physician
a teacher
a police officer
a nurse
a professor
a judge
I spent about 20 minutes writing this, because I reached a certain point and decided it was a good spot to end. I took a few liberties with the challenge; not everyone is in the hall, though they are all visible from there. I also changed the nurse to an EMT because it fit better with the plot, limited as it is. Here is what I came up with; feel free to share your own responses to the challenge.
Time to Kill
Marshall McLann paced anxiously outside the doors to the courtroom. As the defense lawyer in the upcoming murder trial, he felt somewhat prepared, but he could never seem to get a jury to agree with his point of view, no matter what it was.
In this case, nearly all of the evidence implicating professor Scott Miller in the murder of Nancy Bordon, a fellow teacher, was circumstantial. Marshall had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that, due to his bad luck with juries, Miller was pretty much doomed from the start.
He snuck a peek into the witness room a a young Indian woman slipped in. She was one of the witnesses for the prosecution - one of the EMTs on scene when Bordon's body was discovered. The only other two witnesses in the room so far were a burly police officer who had also been one of the first responders and an elderly physician who had tried to save Bordon's life after she was rushed to the hospital.
Marshall opened his briefcase, pulling out a folder and staring at a picture of the grisly scene where Bordon was found. Her beaten and mutilated body was strewn across the crisp orange and brown leaves like so much garbage. He sighed under his breath, steeling himself for a long, uphill battle.
Finally the courtroom doors swung reluctantly open with an ominous creek, and Marshall looked up. His attention was only barely captured by the sight of the defendant being led in, handcuffed between two guards who dwarfed the man in the middle. Instead he focused on what lay directly ahead of him, as though daring him to enter the room and even try to get Miller acquitted - the judge's seat. Judge Huron, as per Marshall's luck, was known for being strict and unusually bad-tempered.
Steeling himself one final time, Marshall ignored the stares of the others in the room and marched solemnly to his place in the front. It was time.
The Characters:
an attorney
a physician
a teacher
a police officer
a nurse
a professor
a judge
I spent about 20 minutes writing this, because I reached a certain point and decided it was a good spot to end. I took a few liberties with the challenge; not everyone is in the hall, though they are all visible from there. I also changed the nurse to an EMT because it fit better with the plot, limited as it is. Here is what I came up with; feel free to share your own responses to the challenge.
Time to Kill
Marshall McLann paced anxiously outside the doors to the courtroom. As the defense lawyer in the upcoming murder trial, he felt somewhat prepared, but he could never seem to get a jury to agree with his point of view, no matter what it was.
In this case, nearly all of the evidence implicating professor Scott Miller in the murder of Nancy Bordon, a fellow teacher, was circumstantial. Marshall had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that, due to his bad luck with juries, Miller was pretty much doomed from the start.
He snuck a peek into the witness room a a young Indian woman slipped in. She was one of the witnesses for the prosecution - one of the EMTs on scene when Bordon's body was discovered. The only other two witnesses in the room so far were a burly police officer who had also been one of the first responders and an elderly physician who had tried to save Bordon's life after she was rushed to the hospital.
Marshall opened his briefcase, pulling out a folder and staring at a picture of the grisly scene where Bordon was found. Her beaten and mutilated body was strewn across the crisp orange and brown leaves like so much garbage. He sighed under his breath, steeling himself for a long, uphill battle.
Finally the courtroom doors swung reluctantly open with an ominous creek, and Marshall looked up. His attention was only barely captured by the sight of the defendant being led in, handcuffed between two guards who dwarfed the man in the middle. Instead he focused on what lay directly ahead of him, as though daring him to enter the room and even try to get Miller acquitted - the judge's seat. Judge Huron, as per Marshall's luck, was known for being strict and unusually bad-tempered.
Steeling himself one final time, Marshall ignored the stares of the others in the room and marched solemnly to his place in the front. It was time.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Quotes Challenge
Read through the following quotes offering reasons to write. Pick one and write about how it applies to why you write. Spend about 15 minutes writing a response to one of them.
"I write to understand as much as to be understood." - Elie Wiesel
"Writing keeps me from believing everything I read." - Gloria Steinem
"A writer is a reader moved to emulation." - Saul Bellow
"Writing is a means to unlocking the great mysteries of the mind: thoughts, passions, innovations..." - Michael Buckhoff
"The mere process of writing is one of the most powerful tools we have for clarifying our own thinking. I am never as clear about any matter as when I have just finished writing about it." - James Van Allen
"Writing is a struggle against silence." - Carlos Fuentes
"Learning to write well takes time and much effort, but it can be done." - Margaret Mead
"It has always been my feeling that writing must come out of living, and the writer is no more than his personality endures in the crucible of his times." - Margaret Walker
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats
"Read, read, read... Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!" - William Faulkner
"You are always going back and forth between the outline and the writing, bringing them closer together, or just throwing out the outline and making a new one." - Annie Dilliard
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" - E. M. Foster
-------------------------
I chose the Annie Dilliard quote, "You are always going back and forth between the outline and the writing, bringing them closer together, or just throwing out the outline and making a new one." Here was my response:
One time last year I had an essay to write about the similarities and common themes in three plays by Anton Chekhov. I had a couple of months to read and analyze the plays and to write the paper, but the weekend before it was due I decided that I no longer liked my outline or the way I had written my rough draft. I decided that I needed to start over almost from scratch with only a few days before the due date. This paper was supposd to be 9-12 pages long and represent a large portion of my grade.
I made a new outline, which was much more structured and on-topic than the first, and set about writing a brand-new paper. This time, rather than almost forgetting that I had an outline in the first place, I began by adding information to my new outline, then reorganized it until I was satisfied with the information. Then I just added words to my outline and reformatted it into sentences and paragraphs. If this was not bringing my writing closer to the outline, then I don't know what is!
When writing creatively, I tend to put my ideas down in a "timeline" format as they pop into my head. I joined National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo) last year, even though I knew that I would never be able to finish as November is simply too busy. Instead of writing my "novel" straight through from the beginning, I looked at the timeline which I already had in place and wrote bits and pieces.
I had outlines set up with each character's background, appearance, and family history, along with any other pertinent information. The character outlines and timeline which I already had in place helped me to stay on track, and I am still using them and writing bits and pieces at a time to this day.
I still plan on finishing this story, though I have no idea when I will finally be done with even just the rough draft. The characters are real in my head, and I feel like I need to get their voices out on paper. I'm also in the beginning processes of setting up an outline for a second story, which I will switch to whenever I have no new ideas for the first one.
"I write to understand as much as to be understood." - Elie Wiesel
"Writing keeps me from believing everything I read." - Gloria Steinem
"A writer is a reader moved to emulation." - Saul Bellow
"Writing is a means to unlocking the great mysteries of the mind: thoughts, passions, innovations..." - Michael Buckhoff
"The mere process of writing is one of the most powerful tools we have for clarifying our own thinking. I am never as clear about any matter as when I have just finished writing about it." - James Van Allen
"Writing is a struggle against silence." - Carlos Fuentes
"Learning to write well takes time and much effort, but it can be done." - Margaret Mead
"It has always been my feeling that writing must come out of living, and the writer is no more than his personality endures in the crucible of his times." - Margaret Walker
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats
"Read, read, read... Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!" - William Faulkner
"You are always going back and forth between the outline and the writing, bringing them closer together, or just throwing out the outline and making a new one." - Annie Dilliard
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" - E. M. Foster
-------------------------
I chose the Annie Dilliard quote, "You are always going back and forth between the outline and the writing, bringing them closer together, or just throwing out the outline and making a new one." Here was my response:
One time last year I had an essay to write about the similarities and common themes in three plays by Anton Chekhov. I had a couple of months to read and analyze the plays and to write the paper, but the weekend before it was due I decided that I no longer liked my outline or the way I had written my rough draft. I decided that I needed to start over almost from scratch with only a few days before the due date. This paper was supposd to be 9-12 pages long and represent a large portion of my grade.
I made a new outline, which was much more structured and on-topic than the first, and set about writing a brand-new paper. This time, rather than almost forgetting that I had an outline in the first place, I began by adding information to my new outline, then reorganized it until I was satisfied with the information. Then I just added words to my outline and reformatted it into sentences and paragraphs. If this was not bringing my writing closer to the outline, then I don't know what is!
When writing creatively, I tend to put my ideas down in a "timeline" format as they pop into my head. I joined National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo) last year, even though I knew that I would never be able to finish as November is simply too busy. Instead of writing my "novel" straight through from the beginning, I looked at the timeline which I already had in place and wrote bits and pieces.
I had outlines set up with each character's background, appearance, and family history, along with any other pertinent information. The character outlines and timeline which I already had in place helped me to stay on track, and I am still using them and writing bits and pieces at a time to this day.
I still plan on finishing this story, though I have no idea when I will finally be done with even just the rough draft. The characters are real in my head, and I feel like I need to get their voices out on paper. I'm also in the beginning processes of setting up an outline for a second story, which I will switch to whenever I have no new ideas for the first one.
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