Writing Journal #3
Writing Exercises
Due December 4
Directions
- For each entry, you will need to start a new page. At the top of each page number the entry and date it.
- You must complete the activities in order.
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For each entry, you must spend a minimum of 20 minutes writing just as the previous assignment.
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The entry does not have to finished. After 20 minutes of writing, you
may stop. You can spend more time on it if you like, but it is not
recommended to do this for every entry.
- The assignments are listed below. Remember, you must spend 20 minutes writing, the length is not part of the assignment.
- Don't forget to get your parents to sign your writing log.
Assignments
1. Writer's must be able to let their imaginations take over occasionally and
write just for the fun of it. For this entry, you may work on any type of
writing you choose except personal journal entries. You could start a play, a
poem, a fiction story, a character sketch, an outline of a story, anything.
But make sure that you are having fun writing it. It should be entertaining to
you.
2.Writer's are in the business of exploring deeper meanings. Maybe not
directly but at least grappling with it in stories. Look back over the last
four entries and think about the deeper meaning. Choose one to revise for this
entry. Be sure your revision helps produce a more fulfilling answer when a
reader asks, "So what?" and offers a deeper meaning. Don't just answer
what the deeper meaning is; rewrite your entry to show the deeper
meaning.
3. Write badly! For this activity write the worst story you possibly can. The
idea is that after writing a truly awful story, you can become more aware of
those problems that contribute to bad writing; it is a way of making you so
aware of commonplace problems that you'll be sure to avoid them more quickly
than you might otherwise.
4. Wherever you are at this moment, get on your knees! Do things look a little different when seen through the eyes of someone three feet tall (or is it three feet short)? Do you notice things you didn't "see" before? Now get back in your seat. Continue to look for details, but try to see things that might not be so obvious at first...things you might see while lying on your back or from the top of a seven-foot ladder. For this entry write the unusual observations a new point of view can give a situation. It may lead to a story or you can just record a list of observations.
5. Keepsakes can have complicated associations: a romantic relationship that had gone wrong; a memory of a favorite relative; a life changing event. Objects that conjure up negative experiences and moods can be just as valuable to a write as those that conjure up positive experiences and moods. Make a list of keepsakes that generate complex associations for you. Beside each write a short description of some of the associations.