This PDF contains the first set of poems we’ll workshop this semester. They’re in the order I received them.
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English 4420 and characterization
Address these questions:
- How do your characters act in the face of opposition/desires that contrast with their own? Do they plan, try to persuade, take physical action, for example?
- Describe three events that your central character remembers and that influence his or her current actions.
- Who has power (physical, emotional, etc.) over whom and why? What’s the source of the power? How is it being used? Which actions express that power? Which actions lead to shifts in that power?
- What actions by which characters show relationships at risk rather than overt/obvious conflict?
- List scenes you currently feel you’ll need to write. Which actions should you summarize?
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Continuing toward characterization
I found this exercise useful when trying to create characters. From Alice LaPlante’s Method and Madness, here is the PDF.
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Collected stories from English 2250
This PDF contains the stories students in English 2250 in Fall 2011 wished to share with each other. They are in the order they were given to me. Enjoy.
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Open House for London Study Abroad
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Liberal Arts 116
10 AM-2 PM
Ø Get refreshments and lots of information!
Ø Find out how to use Financial Aid (Pell Grants, SEOG, Perkins and Stafford Loans )
Ø Discover funding opportunities from UVU, the Gilman Program, and others
Ø Find out how to fulfill GE requirements abroad.
Ø Meet the professors and learn about their courses.
Ø Hear from former program students about their experiences.
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2250 fragments
Remember, you need to bring an electronic version of your notes on these fragments. I suggest using the fiction criteria on the course syllabus in the writing of your notes.
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Brown’s Wieland, exploration, and doubt
From Richard Gray’s A History of American Literature: “Brown is exploring the two prevailing systems of thought in early America: respectively, the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the mysticism of Christianity. He is also casting both into doubt” (97-98).
What evidence might Gray use to support the idea that Brown casts doubt on both Enlightenment thinking and Christian mysticism? Cite specific examples from Wieland.
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Controlling point of view
How do we move from an exterior to the inner life of a character? One method:
- exterior description of character and setting (at least three sentences)
- explicit thoughts about the setting (one sentence): “He thought,” “she thought”
- implicit thoughts/interior monologue (at least three sentences)
- character’s past or
- inner life
- explicit thoughts about the setting (one sentence)
- exterior description of character and setting (at least three sentences)
What breaks readers out of a character’s inner life? Abrupt movement back up this scale of closeness.
Try it.
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Cinderella, conflict, and connection
Look at this view of Cinderella, from Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction. Consider also these contrasting views of conflict and connection when plotting/characterizing, which are also from Burroway’s book.
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Encountering objections
Which of the objections (generated by either you or a peer) to your thesis or supporting points are most likely to be presented by your audience? Of these, which do you want to refute or concede?
How can you directly refute?
If you are conceding, what is the greater “support” to your thesis you can explicitly mention?
Brainstorm a brief plan for replying to each objection you are likely to encounter.
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