Author Archives: sdgibson
Controlling point of view
How do we move from an exterior to the inner life of a character when writing in a third-person limited point of view? This is one method. Write: at least three sentences that are exterior descriptions of the character and … Continue reading
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.
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 … Continue reading
Other commandments/conventions
“So it’s always critical to keep in mind that there are no rules in fiction, only conventions that have been built up over the years based on the way that writers have crafted their stories. (A convention is ‘an established … Continue reading
Poetry portfolio questions
What worked well as you wrote poems for class this semester? What could have been better? If you had another week to finish this assignment, how would you use that time? Describe the process of assembling the portfolio: what did … Continue reading
Prose poems and workshopping
Here are some examples of prose poems. These are some poems for workshopping and here are some more. These are the first fiction fragments we’ll workshop. These are the second. Here are a third and fourth for our consideration. Remember, you need to … Continue reading
Sonnets
See the variations in form here, from the Oxford Book of Sonnets, and this couplet sonnet, “The Insusceptibles” by Adrienne Rich. Then the long sunlight lying on the sea Fell, folded gold on gold; and slowly we Took up our … Continue reading
Couplets and focus
Consider how the lines of this poem focus/control the reader’s attention/experience. At what rate does information arrive? Why? How do the lines end? How is enjambment used? When is it used? What gives the poem closure? What work does the … Continue reading
Football haiku and editorializing
These football haiku may be dated, but here they are. Here are some examples of excessive editorializing. Remember, “The artist seeks out the luminous detail and presents it. He does not comment.” –Ezra Pound
English 3510 (“Skeptics May Object”)
Let’s follow the directions Graff and Birkenstien give on page 90, but replace the paragraph they provide with the following, from Ruland and Bradbury’s From Puritanism to Postmodernism: Because of such exclusions, much later American writing, and some would say the American imagination itself, … Continue reading
Metaphor by Metaphor 