Week 2 Assignments

Writing Assignment: You will do two writing exercises this week

Everyone does this:
Write three one-line stories or poems using a strong image as a metaphor that encapsulates a moment or situation, just as we did in class. Try to tell the whole story with a single metaphor.

AND

Choose One:
1) Construct a story or poem of no more than 2 pages in which you introduce a pattern that creates the rising action of the piece. Then find an unexpected way to resolve the situation (as in The School).

2) Write a story in which a main character is defined by a particular fear or obsession. Let
that obsession lead to the story’s crisis.

3) Two characters meet. The first wants a book back from the second, but the second doesn’t want to give it. What are the specific desires of each character? What is the conflict for each of them? Write the scene in fiction or play form (don’t worry about manuscript format for now).

Reading for Next Week

IN READING LIKE A WRITER:
Details, pp. 193-207
Close Reading (optional) pp. 1-12

HANDOUTS
“Everything that Rises Must Converge,” Flannery O’Connor

IN THE COURSE READER:
My Name, Richard Brautigan from In Watermelon Sugar
Margaret, Richard Brautigan from In Watermelon Sugar
A Mown Lawn, Lydia Davis

Blog
1. Post an entry about any one of the readings this week. This may be a critical or creative piece of about 100-300 words. It MUST dialogue with your chosen reading in some way, either by identifying and discussing craft elements, themes, or techniques or by using those elements in a creative response.

2. Post comments on at least three other entries. Remember, this is not a place for critiquing each other’s work. Instead, identify something from the piece that strikes or interests you, ask a neutral question about the work, or suggest ways the author could deepen or expand it.