Week 3 Assignments

Writing Assignment: You will do two writing exercises this week

Everyone does this:
Write your “chapter” of the collaborative story. Take the one line story you copied from the board in class this week. This will be the “seed” for a story of one paragraph (no more than 300 words). Craft a story around your line, making sure you have conflict, rising action, a crisis, and a resolution. Your “seed” line must appear somewhere in the story. Make and bring enough copies for everyone. Do not put your name on your story, but label it with the group name (Exposition, Crisis, etc.)

AND

Choose one:
1) Finish the repetition poem you started in class today (or write a new one). Really try to push the poem in as many directions as possible, relying on the repeated phrase to ground the poem. Try out the skills we’ve talked about in class, especially the different kinds of patterns.
CORRECTION: We didn't get to this in class today, however you can create a poem using any of the forms of patterning we talked about in class, including assonance, consonants, alliteration, rhyme, repetition, etc.

2) Write a poem, story, or monologue that follows the logic of language as in "A Mown Lawn," by Lydia Davis. Allow assonance, consonance, alliteration, and rhyme to lead the development of the piece and create the forward momentum. Surprise the reader and yourself with linguistic playfulness.

Reading for Next Week

IN READING LIKE A WRITER:
Words, pp. 13-33

IN THE COURSE READER:
Rhyming Action, Charles Baxter
Objects, Gertrude Stein, from Tender Buttons
My Papa’s Waltz, Theodore Roethke
The Dance, William Carlos Williams

Blog
1. Post an entry about any one of the readings this week. This may be a critical or creative piece of about 200-300 words. It MUST respond to 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.