Where You Should Be By Thanksgiving

Both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 should be completed by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  You should have proof-read and corrected both chapters using editor's (proofreader's) marks.  Each of you will continue to have regular writing conferences with me, and I will review your work as you complete these tasks.  Please note: an arrow in the margin next to a line of your written text indicates that you should look again at your corrections.  Perhaps you've missed something.  Look again, and see what other corrections you might need to make. 

Nice work, ladies and gentlemen!  I appreciate your tenacity.  The stories are coming along really well. :-)

Using "Editor's Marks", also called "Proofreader's Marks"

Change it to a lower case letter: A slash through a letter shows that you want to change it to a lower case letter.

Change it to a capital letter: a double or triple line underneath the letter means, "make it a capital letter."

Take something out: a diagonal line with a loop at the end means, "take it out alltogether."

Add something: put a word above a "caret" or inverted V to show that you are inserting it.

Make a correction: a simple straight line through a word is sufficient.  Please do not create a scribble.  Put the correct word above the word that you have crossed out.

To correct a correction: Let's say you cross out a word, and then you realize that you were right the first time -- that is, your cross out was wrong.  All you need to do is write the word "stet" above the crossed out word.  That means, "Leave it as originally written."

New paragraph: A cuved backwards C with two lines through it (like a double "cents" sign) means"new paragraph." 

Writing Conferences Notes

Questions We Have Discussed in our Writing Conferences:

When do you use an apostrophe?
When do you use quotation marks, besides when someone is speaking?
When to you put a period instead of a comma?
Where, in a sentence, do you need to use commas?
What is the rule for using capital letters?
What is the difference between its and it's?
What is the difference between then and than?
What is the difference between there and their?
What is the difference between your and you're?
What is the difference between a first person narrative and the third person narrative?

These questions, and a few others, will be given to you in a quiz.  Please make sure that you know the answers.  Many of these questions are answered in my handouts, which are in the right-hand column of this blog.  You should be able to explain the answers to these questions,  and give examples in writing.

Chapters

The first 3-5 hand written pages of your story is Chapter One.  Your completed Chapter One was due last Thursday.  If you entered the class late, you are working to catch up, and we have made specific plans, noted in your folder on your Writing Conference Documentation Form.

Once you have completed Chapter One, you must have a writing conference with me.  Then do the following:
1. Read the comments from our writing conference
2. Correct your grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes using editor's marks
3. Show me your corrections
4. Re-write, as necessary.

In order to correct your mistakes, please use the editor's marks I described in class.  If you were not in attendance, you may find a reasonable facsimile of what I said about editor's marks here.  Please use editor's marks to correct your own work.  See me for more information, if you are still not sure how to use them correctly.

Once these four steps are completed, you may begin to write Chapter Two.

Show, Don't Tell

We looked at two sentences from two very different novels.  It is possible to be drawn into a story from the very first sentence.  C.S. Lewis, in his Narnia novel "The Silver Chair," began the book with this sentence:

It was a dull autumn day, and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.

What do we immediately know about the story from that first sentence?  The class determined that we know that it is autumn, the sun is not shining, the main character is named Jill, and this story is going to have something to do with a school - probably an elementary, middle or high school.  Also, something bad has happened to Jill.  That is a lot to know about a story, just from the first sentence.

As a writer, how will you draw the reader into your story?  Think of it as your opening shot, like in a movie.  Where are we?  What is happening?  Let us experience the action of the story and then draw us in, like you are reeling in a fish on a fishing line.  Give us the details of time, place and character by showing us through the story.  You don't have to list those things.  The story will tell them to us.  We also looked at the opening sentence from Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."  It does the same thing: draws the reader into the story from the first sentence: "We were six miles outside of Barstow when the drugs began to take hold."  We know we are in a car, we are somewhere near some place called "Barstow," and the occupants of the car are inebriated.  That first sentence is enough to get us to wonder: who are these people, and what is going on here?  Already we know this is a strange story, and the characters are far from the traditional characters we might expect.  They are already doing something dangerous.  Maybe they are dangerous characters?  Thompson, the author, makes us want to find out!

For your story, make sure that you have in your folder:
a) the Characters Sheet
b) the Cities and Towns worksheet for the place in which your story begins.

Begin to write your story.  Remember: your story takes place in the past, so verbs should be in the past tense.  Most verbs in the past tense end in -ed, but not all of them.  It is easy to slip in and out from past to present tense.  For the assignment, you must stay in the past tense throughout the story.

You should have at least three hand-written pages by Thursday of this week.  During class I will be working with students individually to help facilitate the writing process.