Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Writing Workshop II - Week Three

Writing Workshop was last night. A few people were unable to attend class so I was the prescribed scribe.

Class was focused on Point-of-View and Scene. So good and interesting. We did an exercise that I really enjoyed. We had to start writing about a flood in the basement of our Oak Park home in 1st person. Then MAM switched us to 2nd person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient, omniscient, camera view, and then epistolary. It was fun to write the same continuing story in a different voice. I recommend you try it with a stop watch or timer for 2-3 minutes as MAM can't be there with you.

Homework from last week was to write a scene with at least 2 characters in conflict in 500 words or less. We paired up and critiqued each other's work. I was typing away, so I was odd person out on the pairing which meant MAM critiqued my piece. She's quite good at ripping your piece to shreds but leaving you feeling like you might win the Pulitzer. LOL!!! We also had to read 2 chapters from her book, "Bodies in Motion" of which I finally have my copy signed. To think I've owned the book for 2 years and never thought to have her autograph it for me.

Homework for this coming week:
- Write 15 min/day minimum.
- Write at least 3 scenes from a story. We will discuss structure as it relates to those scenes.
- Read 2 stories from Mary Anne Mohanraj's book 'Bodies in Motion': "Seven Cups of Water" and "A Gentle Man". These stories are highly obviously structured.

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