Assignments 9-16

9. Room Sweet Room: We are territorial animals, instinctively seeking a place we can call our own. The

rooms we live in and how we decorate them are as revealing as our clothing. Examine your own room and all

the things that make it uniquely yours. Describe the room, not just by listing the things in it, but by conveying
the feelings you have for the room and the items in it.

10. Personal Metaphors: Make a list of metaphorical comparisons. Think, “If I were an animal, what kind

of animal would I be?” For each item, write the general LABEL and then your specific comparison. Be realistic,
be somewhat honest, and be able to explain your choices. Don’t say you are a rose, if you’re really a daisy.

1. Animal                                11. Musical Instrument

2. Car                                      12. Geometric Shape

3. Article of Clothing             13. Piece of Furniture

4. Day of the Week                14. Song

5. Food                                   15. Season of the Year

6. Color                                  16. Television Character

7. Movie                                17. Cartoon or Comic Character

8. Fragrance                          18. Appliance or Machinery

9. Type of Building              19. Natural Phenomenon

10. Plant                               20. Word

11. Extended Metaphors: Go back to your list of personal metaphors. Choose FIVE that you can extend by

explaining the comparison in detail. Write a paragraph for each personal metaphor by giving four or five
specific points of comparison. If you are like an alley cat, discuss four characteristics of an alley cat and explain
the ways in which you have the same characteristics.

12. Symbolic Recipe: Write a symbolic recipe for yourself. This means your ingredients are not blood,

muscle, bone, and a hank of hair, but abstract qualities and personality traits (like patience, friendliness, humor).
What is really necessary to create you. Follow standard recipe format: a list of ingredients and exact
measurements, followed by a paragraph of instructions, advice about the proper sequence of the steps, and any
tips or warnings.

13. The Ultimate All-Purpose Excuse: Just in case you are tardy some day, write an elaborate, exaggerated,

fantastic excuse for yourself. Be as creative as you can. In about 150 WORDS, convince your heartless English
teacher that your excuse is a valid reason for being tardy.

14. Telling Tales: Think back to memories you associate with family storytelling. You know, the ones you

hear over and over every holiday. Maybe these tales are the legends that have given your family courage in
hardship? Maybe they are religious stories or goofy songs or true family history? Maybe they all seem to be
about what a bad kid you were? Embarrassing, hilarious, unbelievable? Retell a story you remember as part of
your family’s heritage OR makeup one you wish had been told (and may tell in your own family circles later).

15. Unfinished Sentences: Complete each of the following sentences by expanding them into short

paragraphs. As always, be specific.

1. I usually worry about…            6. I feel frustrated when…

2. I feel angry when…                  7. I feel depressed when…

3. I’m moody when…                  8. I am comfortable when…

4. I’m happiest when…               9. I feel nervous when…

5. I feel confident when…          10. I feel sentimental when…

16. Personal Symbol: Write about an object that has special symbolic meaning for you. It might be a gift

from someone you love, an award of which you are proud, a souvenir from a place you miss, a childhood toy
you still treasure, a family photograph, whatever. Describe the object, appealing to the senses as appropriate and
giving specific details. Also explain what it symbolizes for you.

More Autobiography Prompts

3. Personal Alphabet: Browse through a dictionary, looking for adjectives to describe yourself. Know the
meaning of the words you select and be able to explain how each word you’ve chosen fits you. Choose at leastONE adjective for each letter of the alphabet. Be sure you choose the adjective form of words. For example, “excite” is a verb and “excitable” is an adjective. “Exciting” is a participle so it can be used as an

adjective…BUT “excitable” and “exciting” mean very different things.

4. Likes / Dislikes List: Make TWO columns, one titled “Likes,” the other “Dislikes,” and list from TEN to FIFTEEN specific items in each column. Avoid naming specific classmates and teachers by generalizing. For

example, “that mean teacher who’s making me write an autobiography,” not my name!

5. Sensory Experiences: The five senses allow us to perceive whatever is tangible, or concrete. A sensory

experience is something we can taste, touch, smell, see, or hear. For example, ice-cold water-melon, hot dogs sizzling over a charcoal fire, mosquito bites, fireworks, and the music of the ice-cream wagon are sensory experiences I associate with a Fourth of July picnic. Describe a specific time and place which recalls rich

 

sensory experiences for you. Include at least TWO details that appeal to each of the FIVE senses.

6. Metaphorical Definitions: This kind of definition helps make abstract words easier to under-stand by

giving a specific concrete example. A famous metaphorical definition is “Happiness is a warm puppy.” For you, happiness may be something very different — a raise in your allowance, a banana split, a room of your own.

Write metaphorical definitions of TEN different abstract nouns. Your concrete example must be something

specific that you can sense — taste, touch, smell, see, or hear. Your definitions should follow the format below:

METAPHORICAL DEFINITION = ABSTRACT NOUN + IS + CONCRETE EXAMPLE

7. A Quality Personality: In J. Ruth Gendler’s The Book of Qualities, 70 abstract qualities come to life,

walking and talking, borrowing Grandmother’s shawl and telling scary stories late into the night…
personification at its best! Precise, specific images reveal each abstract quality as a vivid personality. After you read samples in class, choose one quality from the list provided. Check the dictionary and the thesaurus, exploring possible meanings and hunting down synonyms. These qualities are real people, with weird relatives, bad friends, unique clothing styles, and strange stories

to tell. Make your chosen quality a real personality, too. Complete a sensory CLUSTER for your quality — sight, smell, taste, touch, sound. Then write and carefully polish a ONE-to-THREE-paragraph personification of your

quality. Make every word count on this one!

8. Color Your World: In color, and about color, this assignment honors every crayon ever nibbled by any

kid. Although you don’t have to use crayons, use the color(s) themselves as part of your writing. You could
write a poem about the things you associate with a specific color, such as all the blues there are! Or explain the
colors you associate with different emotions. Or make lists of best colors to wear or drive in or…You have
freedom with content here, since color is the key ingredient. Maybe a myth about “How Pink Was Born”?

Writing Portfolio: An Autobiography

Your final assignment in this class will be an Autobiography. Each assignment should be approximately a single page. You will write a page a day and complete a book by the end of the marking period.

❒ A COVER-- Your cover should include your selected title, your name, and an illustration

appropriate to your book. For illustrations, consider a word pattern, graphic design, collage, original drawings, photographs, magazine pictures, quotations, etc. Use rubber cement or a glue stick to mount items, and be sure that your cover design hides price tags and brand names.

 

❒ A TITLE PAGE-- Select a word or phrase particularly meaningful for you to serve as your

title. Browse through a thesaurus, listen to music you love, think of special people and places and interests, and then submit several possible titles. “A Book about Me” or “My
Autobiography” are poor titles because they are vague and impersonal. Illustrate the title page with the title, name, hour, and date due.

❒ A TABLE OF CONTENTS-- List the assignment number and title of all assignments in your

autobiography. Title each contents page.

❒ AN INTRODUCTION-- Explain the significance of your title, making clear why it is

relevant to your life in particular. Also include a brief description of this writing project and its purposes -- in your own words.

Every assignment should be:

✔ a thoughtful response to the assigned topic

✔ revised as necessary

✔ typed

✔ in order according to this assignment booklet

✔ in black ink

✔ titled on the top line

✔ numbered by assignment (not page) in the upper right corner

COMPLETION counts! But your writing should also demonstrate appropriate word usage,

sentence structure, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

WRITING PORTFOLIO: Specific Assignments

1. Prologue (or Introduction): Explain the significance of your title, making clear why it is relevant to your life in particular. Introduce yourself gracefully to your reader and capture our attention. Include a brief description of this writing project and its purposes — in your own words.

2. What’s in a Name?: Names are an integral part of who we are. They shape our sense of who we are.

Explore your feelings about “the unity between [your]self and [your] name.” Are these the names you would have chosen for yourself? Surname, middle name, Christian name? Is there a story behind your naming? Someone famous, a family member, weird initials? Does your name have symbolic meaning? Is it ethnic or historic or literary? Did your parents consider other names? In short, how do you live with your name?

Welcome to 2016!

Stroke of Midnight

Where were you when 2015 turned into 2016? Is that where you’d wanted to be? Explain.

 Resolved
Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution that you kept? Did you make one this year? Write about it. How do you intend to keep this promise to yourself and others?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scary Story Writing

Today is the first day of our horror and suspense writing workshop. In order to complete your assignment properly, it is important to review the difference between horror and suspense.

Suspense writing keeps the reader at the edge of his/her seat, while horror is more gory.


YOUR TASK

 

Write a short story using horror and suspense.

 

• Stories should be 3-4 pages typed and double spaced. HINT: Use paragraphs and dialogue

 

DUE DATE

• This is assignment is due on Wednesday, January 13, 2016
• I will check rough drafts/progress this week!
  

Here are the elements that make a great scary story!

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1. Fear

Fear is by far the most important factor of a great horror story. The real trick to constructing a story based on fear is making sure you can scare people with fears they may not have. 

Think about it: Not everyone is afraid of spiders.

Along with establishing fears and connecting them with audiences, it's important to keep an element of surprise. 

2. Surprise

Getting someone to fear what you've created isn't the hardest part; making the fear surprising is. We looked at the example of spiders earlier, lets come back to it again. Once you can make someone fear spiders, you have to keep the surprises going. 

How many ways can a spider story go? If you try to jot them down, you might end up with a page of ideas or so. Right off the bat, I scribbled down about 49 ways. 


 

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3. Suspense

Some of the greatest stories are also the most suspenseful.

Some surprises come at the end of a long suspense. The best scenario consists of someone waiting for something to happen, and when it does it's completely unexpected. An expansion on the same scenario includes fear. We might even know what will happen to character based on their fears, but there's still the anxiety of waiting. 


A better horror story is one that builds up the suspense. We don't just want minor chords and POP-OUT scary faces, we emotional connection with the characters and we want to live out their stress rather than face obstacles akin to a garden snake popping out from behind some vegetables.

 

Of course, a nice touch to suspense is a good mystery.

4. Mystery

Unless it's in the form of whodunnit, many readers have strayed away from mystery within different genres of literature. Rather than let it go, I embrace a strong element of mystery in an eerie tale. Actually, my personal taste is to process as many unknowns in a story as possible. I enjoy understanding a story during one moment and realizing I know nothing the next.
 

5. Spolier

You may or may have not realized this, but you love spoilers.

 

The main character freaks out at the sight of a spider, so you know they're gonna face one at some point. This can be positive anticipation with surprise and suspense. 

You might realize there's a false sense of identity in a novel. Therefore, you suspect the narrator might be a little unreliable. This adds to every element, especially mystery.

But spoilers are the little nothings authors give away at the very start of the tale. Batman is Bruce Wayne. Freddy Krueger can kill you in your dreams. Fears, anxieties, dislikes, etc.