1. You don't choose the subject, the subject chooses you.
This occurred to me several times during this class. This happened a lot during the journal entries. For several entries such as "Observation Deck" and "Random Object". For both of these journal entries, Mr. Wright gave us a random object or card which dictated the subject of the journal entry. In this way, I was unable to control which object I was writing about, and had to go along with it to create a story.
2. Show, don't tell.
I think that this commandment means that one should not merely tell a story, they should make the reader envision the story by using different literary devices and adding lots of detail. It should make the reader feel like they are actually a part of the story rather than just listening to it. I think that the sound poem I wrote, embodies this commandment. For the sound poem, we were only allowed to write sounds, which one would hear while completing some sort of task. I chose mowing the lawn and my sound poem attempted to make the reader feel as if they were mowing the lawn.
3. Great writers don't cheat, they steal.
I "stole" an idea for our 3DSP story this year. When we went on the fieldtrip to the naval base, I was walking around with Madison when we learned of the hidden room on the second floor of the mansion. We both immediately thought that it would be a great place for something to be hidden. In this way I somewhat "stole" her idea and made it my own by deciding that the family that lived there would be hiding escapees from the Infirmary. It ended up working out really well as both of our stories incorporated the hidden room and the hiding of fugitives. In this way, I was able to somewhat link our stories together, to make the 3DSP more believable.
4. Do not have your characters suddenly die or wake up to end your story.
I did follow this commandment as I did not make anyof my characters die or wake up to end the story. This often leads to a somewhat generic story. In one journal entry, I could have killed the main character as she was involved in a serious car accident, but did not as it would not resolve the plot line.
5. Don't be afraid to do the unexpected.
While doing the "Playing House" journal entry, I decided to go with the unexpected and write a story about domestic violence. The beginning also did not indicate that the story would go in that direction; therefore, when the main character did not want to move into the house with her boyfriend, it was unexpected.
6. Keep writing until you can stop.
This has happened to me many times while writing journal entries. For the "Playing House" and "Reunited" journal entry I wasn't able to complete my story or end/pause it in an interesting way with the time allotted. While everyone was sharing I went back and added more, while also adding more to the stories at home, as in some of these journal entries I was interested on continuing the stories at a later date, and didn't want to forget my ideas.
7. Good theft is honoring, studying, and giving credit to the work. It transforms it into something new.
We did this when we did the copy-change poems. We used the original structure and some of the words from the old poem to create a new poem which we always credited to the original poet.
8.Typeface is rhythm and contrast.
Typeface either makes or breaks a piece of work which became evident during the creation of my six word memoir. I had a very difficult time finding a typeface that fit with the image and theme of my memoir. I also needed to choose a color which would stand out more on the white of the paper. In this way it needed a lot of contrast and it was the equivalent of a rhythm in music for my project.
9. Stories are organic, they need to flow.
When writing a story, one needs to be able to use transitions, so that the story doesn't appear incredibly choppy and stuck together quickly. I attended to do this with my stories, particularly the 3DSP and my journal entries. When I'd jump around with times and years I would make it very evident and try to transition it without it sounding forced or sloppy.
10. Address your audience, not yourself.
When doing the 3DSP Marker, I initially wrote the marker very badly. I wrote it assuming the reader knew my story vaguely, which in reality they most likely would have never seen it. I was addressing myself more than a prospective audience. Once I began to tweak my marker and get advice from Mr. Wright and my fellow classmates, I realized I had not revealed enough for the marker to make sense or for it to be somewhat interesting. Once I explained things better, and make it understandable for someone who had never read my story, it greatly improved. I'm still not pleased with it, but likely I will never be. The audience is who you should want to explain things to, not yourself.
1. You don't choose the subject, the subject chooses you.
This occurred to me several times during this class. This happened a lot during the journal entries. For several entries such as "Observation Deck" and "Random Object". For both of these journal entries, Mr. Wright gave us a random object or card which dictated the subject of the journal entry. In this way, I was unable to control which object I was writing about, and had to go along with it to create a story.
2. Show, don't tell.
I think that this commandment means that one should not merely tell a story, they should make the reader envision the story by using different literary devices and adding lots of detail. It should make the reader feel like they are actually a part of the story rather than just listening to it. I think that the sound poem I wrote, embodies this commandment. For the sound poem, we were only allowed to write sounds, which one would hear while completing some sort of task. I chose mowing the lawn and my sound poem attempted to make the reader feel as if they were mowing the lawn.
3. Great writers don't cheat, they steal.
I "stole" an idea for our 3DSP story this year. When we went on the fieldtrip to the naval base, I was walking around with Madison when we learned of the hidden room on the second floor of the mansion. We both immediately thought that it would be a great place for something to be hidden. In this way I somewhat "stole" her idea and made it my own by deciding that the family that lived there would be hiding escapees from the Infirmary. It ended up working out really well as both of our stories incorporated the hidden room and the hiding of fugitives. In this way, I was able to somewhat link our stories together, to make the 3DSP more believable.
4. Do not have your characters suddenly die or wake up to end your story.
I did follow this commandment as I did not make anyof my characters die or wake up to end the story. This often leads to a somewhat generic story. In one journal entry, I could have killed the main character as she was involved in a serious car accident, but did not as it would not resolve the plot line.
5. Don't be afraid to do the unexpected.
While doing the "Playing House" journal entry, I decided to go with the unexpected and write a story about domestic violence. The beginning also did not indicate that the story would go in that direction; therefore, when the main character did not want to move into the house with her boyfriend, it was unexpected.
6. Keep writing until you can stop.
This has happened to me many times while writing journal entries. For the "Playing House" and "Reunited" journal entry I wasn't able to complete my story or end/pause it in an interesting way with the time allotted. While everyone was sharing I went back and added more, while also adding more to the stories at home, as in some of these journal entries I was interested on continuing the stories at a later date, and didn't want to forget my ideas.
7. Good theft is honoring, studying, and giving credit to the work. It transforms it into something new.
We did this when we did the copy-change poems. We used the original structure and some of the words from the old poem to create a new poem which we always credited to the original poet.
8.Typeface is rhythm and contrast.
Typeface either makes or breaks a piece of work which became evident during the creation of my six word memoir. I had a very difficult time finding a typeface that fit with the image and theme of my memoir. I also needed to choose a color which would stand out more on the white of the paper. In this way it needed a lot of contrast and it was the equivalent of a rhythm in music for my project.
9. Stories are organic, they need to flow.
When writing a story, one needs to be able to use transitions, so that the story doesn't appear incredibly choppy and stuck together quickly. I attended to do this with my stories, particularly the 3DSP and my journal entries. When I'd jump around with times and years I would make it very evident and try to transition it without it sounding forced or sloppy.
10. Address your audience, not yourself.
When doing the 3DSP Marker, I initially wrote the marker very badly. I wrote it assuming the reader knew my story vaguely, which in reality they most likely would have never seen it. I was addressing myself more than a prospective audience. Once I began to tweak my marker and get advice from Mr. Wright and my fellow classmates, I realized I had not revealed enough for the marker to make sense or for it to be somewhat interesting. Once I explained things better, and make it understandable for someone who had never read my story, it greatly improved. I'm still not pleased with it, but likely I will never be. The audience is who you should want to explain things to, not yourself.