Week 9 Blog

Week 9 Blog Entry

This week our class mainly focused on learning about lit journals. We were to choose a lit journal and prepare to present about it. Each presentation will include the journal’s aesthetics, practices, staff, and our own personal opinion on the journal. We did an in class exercise where the class split up into groups. Each group had a piece to read and present about. We focused on the definition of aesthetics, which is a set of principles underlying and guiding a particular artist or movement. Another meaning includes appreciation of, or criticism, of the beautiful. Each group gave a quick summary of the story, described the underlying principles, and gave their own opinion of the piece. We also described beauty in our own words. Many groups agreed with each other about how beauty is different in all eyes. Beauty can be the emotion and images you receive while reading each piece. Writing does not have to be beautiful to be interesting. A good piece can be beautiful to some, while others may believe the piece is very sad or terrifying. Beauty can be the imagery one gets while reading, but a person’s judgment may also determine their opinion on whether the piece is beautiful. I enjoyed the in class activity. It is interesting to hear others’ own opinions and ideas on different topics and pieces.

Our class also began learning how to workshop. We got into a circle and while everyone read the same poem, we wrote down everything that came to our minds. We discussed whether the poem had any abstractions or clichés, and how the poem was set up. This activity was interesting because while some students were agreeing, others were strongly disagreeing. Everyone obviously has their own ideas and opinions and different things. I am excited for the presentations on the lit journals and also excited to continue learning how to workshop.

Week Nine Blog

This week we began discussing workshops and how to critique, and constructively criticize others authors' work for our portfolios.  We dissected to works in class, Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.  Each one was just about as far from similar to the other as can be expected.  We also were too have our literary journal presentation ready for monday to present to class.  I had a snag with my original choice(Rejected Quarterly) and had to choose another journal.  The new selection was the Adroit Journal, which has a lot of offbeat works and I can say is a very interesting journal.
Monday we worked in groups and were given different poems to analyze, our group was given Sonnet by Shakespeare.  Two of the three in our group didn't really care much for the piece, but even when the piece is cared for particularly, the work can still give element to learn from and help make students better writers. 
Working with the literary journal this weekend has helped me to see perspective from multiple authors that are lumped together by an editor that uses the messages from all of the works collectively.  It appeared that the editor was able to emphasize a lot of different things, but I will save those facets from my presentation.

week nine post

Continuing our analysis of the various components involved with writing poetry/flash fiction, our readings this week have focused on aesthetics. In class we did an exercise in “workshop.” We sat circular as a class and discussed aspects of two pieces of pre-selected work, “Halloween,” by Erin, and “Dia De Los Muertos,” by Sandra Cisneros. Overall, I found this exercise to be a helpful method of initiating feedback from our peers. With every opinion, new ideas were sparked that could have really helped me; if either of the stories that were chosen were belonging to me.

In addition to the workshop in class, we also did a group activity. We were split into groups of three and asked to read different poems, define beauty, and talk about if we found our respective poem to be beautiful. I felt as though this was a good exercise, even though our story was a bit weird. I felt as though the author of our story used images that weren’t accurate to the emotion I felt she was trying to evoke. For example, the author describes the sky as “sobbing potato juice.” Whether she was describing rain or some other weather condition, I guess it’s hard to understand how that involved potatoes. Although I didn’t particularly care for our story, I still saw beauty in it. In my opinion, beauty is something that invokes emotion into the recipient/reader, and our story did that nicely (even if it was bad emotion).

This week has solidified my understanding of aesthetics in literature. Between reading our journal and the exercises in class, I feel as though I have acquired a keen ability to notice the set of principles that guide various artists’ work. I look forward to continuing further into the semester.

Week Nine Blog Entry

The main reading that I focused on this week was reading my literary journal in preparation for my presentation on Monday. My journal is the Beloit Poetry Journal that focuses on poetry in political and social landscapes. This journal was very interesting and gave me a good idea of what a literary journal entails. We also did some reading and activities in preparation for our workshops for our own literary portfolio. Mainly, the week focused on literary journals and preparation on getting our portfolio together.

I extremely enjoyed reading my literary journal. I am seriously considering subscribing to it since I loved it that much. The main focus this week, for me, was this presentation assignment so it was very interesting to see how it is put together and what kind of writing is specific to that type of journal. It made me think about my writing in a whole and what I want it to look like to other people who would read it. It was a great pairing in preparation to learning how to workshop. Overall, this week, I have focused on my writing and trying to decide how I want my writing to be perceived and how I should go about revisioning my work.

In reading the Beloit Poetry Journal I was introduced to a type and style of poetry that I do not usually read. When I originally picked the journal I picked it based off of its name and the current issue’s cover. I did not look into what type of journal it was. So when I was reading the poems, they were about contemporary political and social issues in today’s world. These are subjects I do not usually read about on my own time but it did open my mind to new things and I found that I really enjoyed reading this journal. This made me think to start broadening my horizons and my likes and dislikes especially when it comes to reading different genres and styles.

Week 9, workshopping/lit journals

This week we were still focusing on short fiction, but with an additional emphasis on literary journals and the process of moving into workshops. This should hopefully be an interesting experience.

While going through the process of choosing a literary journal to present, I wasn't really sure which one to settle on. The first one that occurred to me was Black Clock (edited by Steve Erickson, who writes some pretty cool books anyway--The Sea Came in At Midnight, etc), except I don't have any of the recent issues and really don't have the money to pay for one anyway.... so, after that, I decided I would have to go with online journals. Some of the really easy ones would have been the American Book Review or the Review of Contemporary Fiction, but they felt too established and not quite right. After that, I played around with the idea of doing something really obscure (even by the standard of literary journals...) but then finally settled on The Collagist, edited by Matt Bell, which is put out by Dzanc books and usually features some very interesting/relevant writing. I read the current issue over the last few days and I'm thinking it was definitely the right choice--and not very difficult to present either, as the issue itself is very concentrated, with emphasis on having a smaller number of strong pieces, rather than a larger anthology.

As to workshopping, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens (though it seems like we might have too many people for many people to actually have their work looked at, as opposed to a smaller MFA sized classroom).

Week 9

So, this week we got into workshops and the like, which I am both excited and apprehensive for. It'll be great to get feedback on one's own work, but I fear I may have trouble with the whole, keeping your mouth shut, part. Although it makes sense, like it was said in class: You won't always be there to defend your work. So I might as well learn to keep quiet now.

One of the poems we read, although I can't recall the name, was a great example of workshop in motion. We got to pick parts away and there was even some disagreement on the use of the Spanish words in the poem (and how there seemed to be so much of them). Someone brought up that it is the person's right to include their culture in their poetry, and they are right to a point. However, how far does it go before there person is trying to target one audience over another? A lot of people are turned off when they have to look up a lot of words in order to picture certain things. It may be the writer's work, but as far as I can tell, we've been trying to help the reader understand, not ourselves. After all, the reader is who we want to read and enjoy the poem.

The presentations we are about to give leave me nervous-maybe that I will do something wrong, which I hope won't be the case. I was lucky in that my journal had online journals, saving me from having to pick again. And they have a lot, by the looks of it, so choosing one might be hard. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

week 9

This week in class we talked about aesthetics and what it actually means. Monday we split into different groups and was assigned a specific piece of writing, that we then had to present to the entire class what the underlying principles were, if we liked it and why or why not, and also what beauty meant to us, and if our writing showed an example of what beauty is. My group had Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, which was very easy to determine what underlying principles were used, like repetition, music, rhyming, etc. For the most part, every group said that there was no definition of beauty, because it differs from person to person, which I found very interesting.

During class on Wednesday, we did a fun activity where we got into a huge circle in the room, and read aloud the key points on how to workshop. We then took turns reading two different poems, "Halloween" and "Dia de los Muertos". After reading each poem, as a class, we discussed all the different things we noticed in the poem. I found it easier to workshop "Halloween" and also found that more interesting things were happening in the first poem than the second, mainly because I better understood it. "Dia de los Muertos" confused me a little, because some parts are written in Spanish. Currently, I am working on gathering all the information needed for my presentation tomorrow, and finding it a bit stressful! I have referring to an online journal, and feel as if I can't get enough information from it.

This week we certainly discussed a different culture in art when reading "Dia de los Muertos" by Sandra Cisneros. Although it was something different, to read a poem with both English and Spanish in it, it was rather difficult to understand. Like we discussed in class, I would have rather seen Sandra not use so much Spanish, that way the poem would have been more understandable for me to read. It was definitely a creative poem though! It actually inspired me to find a Spanish dictionary and figure out what certain lines meant, so that I could then relate it with the rest of the poem.

Blog 9

During class this week we learned about Aesthetics and ways to improve our writing. I learned that Aesthetics is a set of principals underlying and guiding a particular artist or movement and is a appreciation of or criticism of the beautiful. After learning this in class, we were to get into groups and look at the Aesthetics of the poem or short story we were given. We had to discuss if we liked it or not, what we think beauty is or if beauty was in our piece of work and what the basic underlying principals were as well. For homework on Monday we were to choose five stories from IR and look at the Aesthetics of it. I really enjoyed this because it gave me practice and a better understanding on how to use Aesthetics in pieces of work. Learning what Aesthetics was, defiantly helped me look more into each piece of work that was handed out to the class and for our homework. I've never heard of this word before and it seems very simple to understand.

I missed class Wednesday and seem a little confused on what is going on for our presentation we're suppose to present Monday. From the looks of it, it seems the class learned more ways on how to edit their own work and did workshops to improve their skills when writing. To be honest, I do not understand what we're suppose to do for this Lit Journal presentation. Oncourse says we are to go to a web site and pick a journal then read and write about it? I went to the website and picked of what I think is a journal, but I'm not sure. I don't understand what we are suppose to do and am quiet lost so I wont be giving a presentation Monday because I do not know what to do!

For the revising of our work and re-writing of our previous poems and stories I feel like I'll have a hard time doing so. I'm not creative what so ever, so I need to find ways on how I can make my work better. Although,I enjoy reading my classmates work then trying to change my work on what I learned from their work, but like someone said in one of the blogs, I feel like I'm copying. I will do my best in what is due for our journal portfolio and hopefully understand what is going on with this whole presentation thing tomorrow.

Week 9

This week I missed class on Monday, but I heard the class discussion was about the aesthetics of poems. For the homework, I read 5 poems from the IR and looked at the aesthetics of all of them and looked for different themes. Then in class, we practiced workshop techniques and how to critique in a positive, helpful way.

For homework I had to look up lit journal and look at the aesthetics. I haven't done any writing for the week except for essays. I think I will enjoy workshop, however I am nervous for others to be reading my work. I don't think my poems are very good, and having others read it can be intimidating. I have a few questions about aesthetics, because I missed class. My understanding is that you just look at what you think is beautiful in the poem. Or the point or theme of the poem/short short.

I am very excited about revising work and making the poems into something completely different. I think all the revising techniques and prompts we did will make the new poems into decent pieces of work. I especially liked the technique, of changing point of view and writing from a new perspective. I'm really excited for the next few weeks of revision.

Blog Entry #9

This week on Monday we learned about aesthetics. We read in separate groups short shorts and present to the class "what is beauty?" and if we saw beauty in literature. On Wednesday we got in a circle and discussed how to help give critique to improve their poem or short short.
I found it interesting on Wednesday when we were reading and discussing possible improvements that can be done to the paper, that many people offered different solutions and found various flaws. Which then lead me to wonder when we do go over our previous written poems or short short, what if the feedback conflicts with each other? I am currently working on the preparation of my presentation of a literary journal. Recently I have been finding myself writing more academically proper rather than exercising creativity by composing short shorts or poems.
As we read "Dia de los Muertos" in class on Wednesday, reminded me that all poems are not the same. The addition of the Spanish words emphasized a select few objects. It gave me an insight as to how that day is celebrated, since I never celebrated it. It was interesting to watch the reactions of the class as we discussed this different poem. Integrating ethnic backgrounds onto a poem can confuse those not accustomed to such culture. Being written those different words dramatically changed the setting of the poem in my mind. It changed to a more Latin environment. Its cool how different culture's art paints more distinguish images in the mind.

Poetry and Its Aesthetics (Week 9)

This week, we learned about aesthetics in class and how poems can have good or bad aesthetics. The class read different poems and determined whether they were considered “beautiful”. The definition of beauty was discussed and there seemed to be a consensus of beauty meaning something based on an individual’s own personal preference. In my group, we thought that beauty in writing was writing that was distinct and that was able to stick with the reader after reading the work of art or poem.

After doing this week’s assignment and again reading poems, we did a little works-hopping on ways to improve poetry writing. A lot of ideas sparked my mind after doing this in class exercise and I am now in the process of work-shopping and editing my own work. The workshop allowed me to think about my own poetry and the ways in which I could look at it in order to improve it. Some of the struggles that I am facing in editing my work is being able to look at my work objectively. It is hard to take out certain phrases or re-phrase things that I think sound good, but could be enhanced with more concrete words and phrases.

The artistic process seems to be a process that develops not only over time, but also over many edited versions and drafts in order to produce the best work. In poetry after pre-writing, either by coming up with a subject and expanding on the ideas around it, generating lists, and free writing, a poet then can start to zero in on their work. The first draft is then written and the crafted work can either be approved upon or is perfect the way it was written. If the first draft is not successful, a second draft can be generated through work-shopping and looking at the work and the words that were used objectively and starting the process of editing by doing the same pre-writing activities to gain more insight into the poem and ultimately gain a better and most appealing artistic work. It should be noted that a finished and complete poem or short short may require multiple drafts and pre-writing strategies in order to attain your best work.

Week 9

This week in class we have read through the IR journal and reviewed our poetry and fiction terms to use them in workshop. Wednesday we had a practiced workshop where we discussed and revised poems together as a class.

I’ve been working on my English paper lately. I’ve also been starting to look over my poems and see if I can add or take away anything from them. I think there are a couple I can turn into short shorts. I need to start editing some more and take a look at some of my short shorts. Can we write new short shorts and poems for the portfolio or class journal?

My creative process sucks. Creativity as with inspiration comes in spurts and at random. Sometimes with the help of other poems and works helps bring in a story to life, but sometimes I feel like I'm stealing when I do that. I guess if it's alright with the other author it's alright or even if I make me own little spin on it that would be okay. I'm always a bit wary on using other people's words and ideas and even if I incorporate it into my own story if I can take it out or exchange it for something else I'd rather do that. My writing process is rough, it needs a lot of work, at least in my opinion it does. lol

Week eight post

Continuing on flash fiction, this week’s readings helped to solidify the terms and definitions associated with writing and reading fictional short stories. One of the focuses this week was point of view. In class, we manipulated the same story three times; altering the point-of-view. This presented quite the challenge for me. At first, writing a story was fairly simple, keeping within the first-person point-of-view. However, when we had to change to third-person and then to the first-person of the opposite character, I found it a bit more demanding. Although it took a bit longer, writing in the third-person allowed me to really describe the characterization and setting without feeling like I was listing details like in the first-person example.

These last few weeks of flash fiction have been a bit difficult and enjoyable at the same time. In the previous sections of the class, imitating the poem posed a bit less originality. I mean, writing within the structure of a premiere artist is exciting and slightly easier than originating every aspect of the piece like we are now in flash fiction. Although I find it a bit more challenging, I really enjoy the whole process.

Doing this weeks assignment that included a 250-word essay on our favorite flash fictional piece was very beneficial for me. Dissecting the story having focused on fictional terms and definition really helped to solidify my understanding of how each component exist within flash fiction and is used to generate an exciting flash fiction story that not only flows, but also grips the reader without listing an overabundant amount of descriptors: like the “weather-forecast” mentioned this week.

Week 8

This week we continued our dive into the world of flash fiction. This week unlike last week focused on not just reading the short-shorts but in looking at the smaller mechanics of the stories and getting a better understanding of exactly what makes the stories work. The exercise for today was to take our favorite short so far and identify the terms in the story and notice how they work to make the story a complete piece.

The homework for this past week, reading and writing, really begged me to take a more critical eye to whatever I may read. For exampleI've noticed a lot more surprises hidden in stories since reading the piece on how to use surprises. I've also taken notice to exactly how the writers use surprising language and themes to draw my attention into a story. It brings a whole new angle to every story I read. At the beginning of this section I was whipping through the stories without really understanding the finer points of their crafting, but now I have felt myself slow down and take little mental notes about the use of language tools in each piece.

The short-short I wrote my 250 word essay on was "Dismantling the City". That piece by far has been my favorite just because the whole story is filled with surprising images and the story itself is just a very cool idea. The assignment really let me know how well I understand the terms we've been studying and forced me to use them in a way that we hadn't yet in class.

Week 8(?)

This past week we’ve read more on Flash Fiction but we’ve focused more on Point of View and Characterization. We read through stories in IR as a class and discussed the POVs and Characterizations in each story same as we did in groups. I prefer as a whole class because I hate talking in front of the class. lol.

I’ve been working on my essay for class also I was working on my paper for my English class. I get random inspiration for poems and stories but majority of the time they are just either half written or not very good, so I try to edit some as much as possible. I really don't have any plans on expanding any of my writings because I really don't have the time or I'm just too lazy. Maybe once Winter Break comes around...

I wish I had a more set artistic/writer's process. I wish I could set aside time dedicated just to writing, reading, and editing. I feel like I need to be completely alone both mentally and physically before I can really write something that, to me, is really good, excellent really. And this is really hard when you still live at home with parents and younger annoying siblings and rowdy dogs. Even the library is too busy for me! My brain is tooo distracted! Hopefully, I can find somewhere quiet enough to write sometime soon. :)

Week 8

This week read a couple articles that discussed different tools that are helpful to look at when writing flash fiction. These articles were very helpful as I worked on the exercises at the ends of the readings. It was also very beneficial to have the examples of a few different short stories to get the idea of what the exercise was looking for.

These articles definitely made me think about what I like to write about. The prompts given in the article we read for the second assignment this week were very interesting to look at. It is interesting to think of all the different topics that come to mind when I think about just one line. There are so many possibilities, so many things that can be written about. As I did these writing exercises I really found myself opening up with what I was writing. The short stories for me have been a useful tool in organizing some of my thoughts and actually writing something down. After writing for these assignments, I would look back and think about a lot of what I wrote. When writing these stories, it seems that the words come so naturally and looking back on what I write can be interesting a lot of times because I have written about things that I will not usually talk about very often.

This week presented many things for me. Looking at the different short short examples really allowed me to get familiar with the feeling of short stories. They were short and sweet but really did a good job of presenting a story. Again, it was very interesting to see the inspiration from a single line prompt an entire story. This is interesting to think about as we write, what is making us write what we do? There are so many different things that can be written about, but for some reason, as we write these stories, something, maybe a specific word or even just the idea of the words, can inspire your entire story. I think this really came out in the second exercise as the prompts put different ideas in my mind. As I read through the prompts I thought of something I could write about for each one. But the one I chose for some reason stuck out, and it was very easy to let the rest of the story flow from the idea that came to mind after reading the very short prompt that lead to a story I have probably never written. Many ideas came out that I did not necessarily realize the thoughts, but for some reason was able to write a whole story from it.

Flash Fiction & Characterization

This week we read an essay called Fireworks and Burnt toast and followed up with the writing exercise at the end. The writing exercise utilized the techniques outlined in the essay. In class we discussed characterization, both direct and indirect. We also discussed point of view, first, second, and third person, and the benefits and drawbacks of each. We wrote a character outline and brief paragraph using the elements of characterization then shared them in small groups.

The first exercise of the week was to write a short story using the first line of another authors poem or short story. I was comfortable with the exercise and my idea came quickly. I continue to struggle with creating fresh and exciting images that create a lasting picture in the readers mind. I still feel that I tend more to tell the story as opposed to showing the story. However I do think that I've come up with a few solid ideas which lead to decent stories that could be great with a little editing and revision. In class we practiced characterization. I'm still having real problems with the five minute writing exercises and I never seem to accomplish the goal of the writing because I'm just too slow of a writer. For me writing is more drip coffee than instant crystals.

I'm becoming more observant of the world around me and specifically how I can describe the things I see. Sometimes I can look around and in a flash I have a vivid image that would be great to use in a story. Other things are not so easily linked and all I imagine are the basics like color, shape or texture. I think good writing requires constant work and a willing ness to fail. I do not think, for most writers, that it is a gift that you are born with. Rather it comes from an interest in language and a desire to share your ideas with a reader. You don't even need to have a fountain of ideas for stories to tell. Writing prompts can be very helpful for story ideas.

Week Eight

More flash fiction means more fun! Or something along those lines. Anyway, this week we got to focus more on the devices that make up a story, specifically point of view, and how it can change the story. That exercise we did when we had to tell the same story from several points of view was both fun and a tad tiring. Okay, maybe more frustrating, but it was still helpful. The entire exercise reminded me of why I love first person point of view so much, although that also has a little bit to do with the fact that I also miss it a lot.

One thing that I'm kind of hoping for is that soon we'll just be able to write a flash fiction piece, instead of following a prompt. The prompts are helpful of course, but I also like the idea of just letting us write and seeing what we come up with. Although, I'm also wondering of what other prompts we'll be presented with. So either way-although I am still leaning toward a bit of a free for all.

Not all of flash fiction has been easy of course. I tend to write longer stories, and so having to keep them below a thousand words (even though we've read plenty that are much longer) has been a bit of a challenge for me. An enjoyable tone, but a part of me wishes I could include certain things that I can't when I write flash fiction. However, I do like the way the flash fiction can give way to the bizarre so you can show your point in a different way, instead of relying on the longer story methods. A give and take relationship if I ever saw one. I'm hoping that this week will be great, and that things we'll continue to be fun.

Week Eight Blog Entry

This week in class was a continuation of flash fiction but instead we focused on devices found in flash fiction and how to identify them and how to apply them to our own works. We read a few things that were on Oncourse such as Fireworks and Burnt Toast and we did the exercises that belonged to them.

I find this type of writing more challenging than writing poetry. This is really only because I have no experience with reading or writing flash fiction. It is good practice to do the writing exercises from the readings on Oncourse and to do the activities given in class. I find that my writing is improving but I can still use more help and practice. Flash fiction is very enjoyable to both read and write and I really like what we are focusing on. The only thing I really want to work on is how to make my story more interesting with the details that I give. I need work on that.

The artistic process itself is extremely challenging when trying to find and decide on a topic to write your flash fiction on. There are so many things I feel I can write about that I find it hard at times to choose just one. And then once I choose that topic, it is still difficult to know exactly how to write the story to make it sound the way I want. I have all of these tools but I still am very rusty on understanding how to use them properly. It is a challenge and I am working on it but I find this process a very difficult one.

week 8

In the beginning of this week, we talked about first person, third omniscient, and third person, and the differences between the three. To better understand them, we then did an activity in class where we choose a true story about our lives and wrote it in each of the different forms. First person is uses I, and is limited because that character only knows their point of view, and not others. Third omniscient is a larger point of view, and the character knows everything. Third person is limited, and the narrator only knows what the character knows. On Wednesday, we read three different stories aloud and discussed the characterization in each.

I found this week's activities enjoyable, and very helpful. Monday's activity where we wrote one story three different ways was very beneficial, and really helped me better understand the difference between the three different styles, although focusing a lot on characterization on Wednesday was also of use. Currently, I am working on reading a short story and writing a short essay about all the different key terms in short stories. I have only chose and read over my short story, and I think it should be rather easy to spot the main things going on in my story; however, finding each and every one of them might become a challenge.

Feeling more inspired than ever to continue learning about short stories, has become a surprise to me! I have always had zero interest in writing, especially short stories until recently. I think learning the different details to multiple short stories, and stories in general, has motivated me more and more. Based on writing in general, short stories are similar, and also very different from poems. Poems will always be a passion to me, but I have realized short stories can also be meaningful if chosen to be. Short stories seem to be more of a struggle for me than did poems, but poems were tricky too at first.

Week 8 blog

This week we spent reading more flash fiction. Some of the exercises turned out to be really interesting, especially the one where we were essentially given a first line as a prompt, and then wrote from that. I didn't expect it to turn out very well, but the piece I did, starting with "Garden of Time", felt like the first successful piece of flash fiction I've written so far: the only one to feel self contained rather than like a pile of sticks tossed together across the ground.

The process of imitating fiction so far has been interesting. Rather than just "imitating" stories, most of what we've been doing has been using the original as an aesthetic model just to "learn" how to write, which is a really cool approach. All writing, of course, at least to some extent, is imitation. Flash fiction is a pretty decent place to start.

The process of structuring flash fiction into a "narrative", with place, time, and characters, etc, has still been the most difficult part for me. Over the next few stories it's what I'm hoping to work on the most.

Week 8 Blog

Week 8 Entry

This week our class continued reading flash fiction stories. One of our assignments was to read Fireworks and Burnt Toast and then perform the writing exercise. In my opinion, a list of ideas for a story can be beneficial because it gives the writer random, yet interesting topics. If one is having trouble brainstorming ideas for a story these types of lists can really come in handy.  

At first, looking at the five prompts did not help give me any ideas. I wanted to write about something that caught my interest, I didn’t want to choose. Then a story idea finally came to me and I couldn’t stop writing. I found it strange that the title I chose (Child of a Short Spark), really had nothing to do with my actual story plot. With it being a short story and all, only a couple of the words in the title showed up in my story once or twice. Overall, I enjoyed the exercise because while writing, I realized that ideas really just come to you out of the blue…it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to certain topics.

We also did an exercise in class where we were to write a paragraph that included at least two characters, one being ourselves. We wrote the paragraph in first person, third person, and then in the point of view of the other character. It was really easy to write in first person; I knew everything I was thinking and feeling. Writing in third person was a bit more challenging…I wanted to keep writing “I”, but obviously had to avoid that. The most difficult was writing the story in the other character’s point of view. I had no idea how to even begin. Although the other character is a good friend of mine, I didn’t exactly know what she was thinking. This exercise was interesting because again, it made me think in a different way. Writing in someone else’s point of view was difficult. By doing this, one can see that everyone really does think differently. Not one person can think or feel the same emotion as another.

Blog Entry #8

This week went over some of the concepts of point of view. We read a few paragraphs of some shorts outloud in class. We discussed the narrations, the settings, the conflict with the information we had read, and the development of the characters. We did a writing exercise where we wrote a story in first person(had to have another character), then third person omniscient, and finally in first person from the other person.
Today I was working on the essay that is due on Monday. I was not sure as to which story to write about. It was hard choicing between so many that I have enjoyed. I finally picked one though after rereading a few. Something that I noticed about writing in different perspectives, is that a story can dramatically change from the point of view. I overall felt more comfortable writing in first person, simply because it feels more natural to me. I usually do not need to stop and think about the next thing I am going to write. With third person omniscient, I had to distant myself from the main character and felt a bit werid.
I noticed that with the writing exercises that we pratice in class help start a story or poem. Its a good way to put all your ideas onto paper and empty out the brain; instead of having them all inside your head and mentally making note of which ones are worth writing about. Doing this sometimes you find new ideas that would not have arrived to you naturally.

Words and their Inspiration (Week 8)

This past week, we did some beneficial writing exercises in class. We had to build a characterization chart and then create a fictional story from it. I really enjoyed this exercise because I feel like it allowed us to get to know our character before writing about them. Understanding and knowing more about a character before diving into any writing about them is clever and allows the writer to really get into the mind of who they are writing about. This exercise really helped with showing you how to base a character.

From this week’s assignments, we learned a few tips on how to enhance your short short so that it is memorable. Images and language were discussed in Jennifer Pieroni’s essay titled “SMART SURPRISE IN FLASH FICTION”. In this essay, she talks about language being used to help evoke both surprise and intent in your writing to get the reader interested in your work and help them to retain your work. Also, Pieroni talks about using key images in settings to stimulate the reader and help carry weight in your fictional work. These two ideas really spawned me to pay attention to my setting in my writing, and not just the weather in my poem (because it may not be relevant), but more like where the story is taking place and the image I am trying to portray can help extend the purpose of your short short.

In thinking about inspiration, many if not all of the words that I read whether they are from a poem, a newspaper article, or a quote from a good book or facebook status, can help inspire me. I like the way that words come together and create this emotion right there for you on the page. It’s like you get a tone or a feel for what the author of the words is trying to communicate and it then gives you this new idea or plants a seed in your head about something that happened in the past, future, or going on with you at that moment. Their words can bring out emotions in you and help conjure up old ones, all through those mixes of words. Words are such a huge inspiration and they are only made up using 26 letters. That’s remarkable!

Week 8 Blog

    We continued with flash fiction this week, which by no means am I angry about.  I enjoy this type of creative writing.  We read Fireworks and Burnt toast and performed the exercise using one of the five prompts given to help jump start creativity, I enjoyed the lively description of "fireworks" that are used to keep the attention of the audience.  Short shorts are great for that and serve as a great functional basis for teaching students about writing without putting them to sleep, and it has therapeutic uses as well.  I missed the class on Monday, but I heard through the grapevine that we did a short story about what had happened to us lately and rewrote it using less common words.  My imitation submitted earlier in the week for the "firework" exercise almost mimics that a bit.  It was a vague description of what my family and I went through right as this semester started, my grandma passed and no doctor in northeast Ohio could figure out what was wrong with her, ended up being the first diagnosed case of the disease in that region.  It helped to get that off my chest.  Wednesday, we created a setting and a character based on bits and pieces of recollections and memories of people and used direct and indirect description of the character.  I ended up using a lot of direct but ended up using indirect with the first person narrator pretty much telling his emotions for the described. 
    Thinking about the artistic process and using prompts or using a list of descriptors, it definitely has a element of help to it and almost puts a writer at ease when going into a piece.  I don't know if I can say I prefer it that way or not.  It depends a lot on the subject at hand but in either situation I seem to be able to muscle through and give a effort I can be proud to say I wrote.  It's when the assignments have to many parameters that I tend to show the chinks in the armor.

Week 8 Blog

This week we explored more with writing in different point of views with short stories and imitating them as well. We read Fireworks and Burnt Toast this week and then had to write our own imitating it. I took a line that was about a chocolate lab and wrote about how it was reunited with it's old owner. On Monday we did a class activity where we wrote a short story about something that has happened to us recently and then re-write it three more times. Once we finished writing the originally story, we were asked to over read it and eliminate words that we commonly use, then write a second version with different sayings we wouldn't normally use. Once we did that we had to write in third person and the fourth story we had to write in point of view of the other character we used in our story. It was very interesting writing in all those forms of point of view because I never would have realized all the thought that actually goes into it when writing in another point of view. The most challenging thing about this activity was writing different from how we usually write. Keeping it appealing and interesting using details is something I need to work on.

In today's class we read some short stories from IR and looked more at the characterization of the story. We had to determine whether it was direct or indirect details describing the character and what we could make of the character from what we read in a short paragraph. I really liked this activity because it helped me understand more what specific and vague details are and whether it makes the story indirect or direct. On page 59 of IR they use some really descriptive details but it's written as indirect because it's in second person, not really saying who this boy is or what he really wants. For example it says "Your mother, horrified, covered your ears and muttered something in Vietnamese, but you pushed her hands away and asked Mr. McCurdy if the body stayed crouched or kneeling afterwards, or if the whooish of the blood made it kick back like a garden hose." This lets us decided if the boy is scared like his mother or if he's interested in seeing what's really going on by using very descriptive details. Reading these stories were different and enjoyable looking at all the details, deciding on indirect and direct point of view.

In all I need to work on keeping my stories that I imitate interesting and stick along the lines of making the stories indirect. Our assignment for this weekend is to pick our favorite short story and break it down into a essay describing what it is and what we can learn from it. I think this should be easier from what we've been asked to imitate because we get to choose our favorite one from anything. Also, when thinking about characterization I need to remember to use both strategies, leaning towards indirect, make sure I show who the character is, using subtle and odd traits. I can somewhat does this but need to remember to show complexity when writing which can help me keep it interesting.

Week One -Ignore this lol

Hello everyone! Im a little OCD so ignore this blog because it's old. I just wanted all of my blogs on here so I'm posting the First weeks that I could never figure out. LOL sorry!

In chapter one, “The Two Languages” it discussed how poetry is like a "language within a language." From reading I learned that once the tone and the language level is found, the poem can be better understood in a more clearer verbal way. The chapter made points of experimenting different ways to see it as a different language by thinking of it as music. It discussed that the sound of words are raised to an importance equal to their meaning, and that words can be put together that puts extra emphasis on what sound they make. All together thoughts and feelings are the raw materials of poetry and the connection to better understanding it is emotional and musical.
Reading this chapter was somewhat easy to understand and I didn't have many questions to ask about it. The only thing that I would have trouble with is being able to point out the emphasis on the words in the poems. For example, looking at different ways to say the word means it will have different meanings. I have to learn to read it slowly and think a little more about what is actually being said. For the assignment this week, I was very confused on what was to be done with writing a dictionary entry for the word. After it was discussed in class it was more clear on what was to be done with the word we picked from a poem. Another question that ran through my mind was how do poets think of what to say or how to even start their poem out. After reading I saw that poets need to first think of how they want to something to sound as much as they think of what they want to say. The reading said it's hard to distinguish one from another.
Some things I thought were interesting or something that I learned was that poetry language is used by "persons who have things (known to them or not known) that they need to say, and who are moved by this need by a delight in making music out of words." Making music out of words is a good inspiration tip to go by because it makes you think of a little more on what to say other than rhyming words together. I also learned that a artistic discipline is this chapter was that a poet learns the language of poetry, then works with it and is always being inspired by it. A artistic process that was mentioned in the reading also showed me that repetition and variations of sounds could make the second verse after it sound sad and memorable, whereas the first has no such music to keep it floating. All of these tips and points made in the chapter could help me be better at writing poems and stories if I think of the words more than just words.

David Bell Reading

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this!

Anyway, I got to go to David Bell's reading for his new book, "Cemetery Girl" and I have to say, I liked it! It was my first time going to something like this (unless it happened when I was younger, in which case, I don't remember) and I had a lot of fun. David was funny, and sometimes while he was reading he would stop and give us some background info of where he got some of the scene. It was funny hearing him talk about how he thought he 'got away with something' with his mom, only to realize later that she was probably just letting him off. And then when we got deeper into the reading, we were introduced to this dog, and I'm sitting here thinking, "He's not really going to let Frosty die. No way." But then, even when you think that, there's no guarantee it won't happen, you just don't want it to happen. And it figures, of course, that David stopped before we could find out what happened. (I did get a hint from someone later that...oh wait, that would be spoiling!).

And there was free food! Which I enjoy very much. I brought a friend along with me and she snagged me some chocolate while I grabbed a cola on our way out. I guzzled my cola down of course (one of my favorite drinks it is), but I drank to fast and upset my already upset at the time stomach.

I think I'd like to go to more of these types of readings, now that I've experienced one. The extra credit here helped a bit, of course (and it was a mandatory thing in one of my other classes) but I bet now, if I go on my own, it will be even better.

Week 7 Blog

Sorry for this being late I just had the worst weekend of my life.  I usually do these Sunday night so every thing pretty much fell apart.
We have continued with our flash fiction exercises,  in class we were placed in groups and each group worked with a story and analyzed it.  Then we imitated the a paragraph of the story that intrigued us.  I enjoy exercises like these, they have more substance to work with than a lot of the poetry we were reading.  We also did an ink blot and came up with ten words the ink blot made us think.  Mine looked like an ants head and a few other things so I went with the flow on that picture in my head and had a lot of fun with it.  I also came up with a pretty fun short short for the short surprise assignment, spoofing Little Red Riding Hood.  Rambo shows up and makes a mess of the wolf.
It really doesn't take terribly too much for me to get motivated or inspired when writing a short short.  With the pace that my mind wanders aimlessly through the day, I pretty much can group two or three ideas together into a solid setting and overall storyline to build upon with a splash of brainstorming.

Week Seven Post

(I spoke with you after class and explained why my post would be submitted after I got home; my internet was down and, once brought to school, my flash-drive wouldn't convert Apple text to Microsoft Word)

This week we continued our look into flash fiction and read When They Spoke, When My Father Was in Prison, You’re Going to Miss Me When I’m Gone, Drive and Mammalian Observation Project 1: Subject J, in addition to Smart Surprise in Flash Fiction. These stories helped to illustrate several aspects of fiction. In You’re Going to Miss Me When I’m Gone we are left with a clever example of how point of view, or the orientation of the narration, can allow us a new method in which we imply a greater theme. In this story, the life of a kitchen knife is described and provides insight to how the author, who takes a third-person omniscient vantage point, feels inside. Through the explanative writing about the environment in which the knife lives, the readers are left with a general understanding that the author, who owns the knife, is unhappy and patiently going through life waiting for his opportunity to kill himself. This concept is further illuminated by the images created by the author about cutting into an overripe tomato, having to slice swiftly not chop at it and how the tomato “bleeds” once this is done properly.

As we read in Smart Surprise in Flash Fiction, it is the language and the image that this language creates that makes fictional stories, like the story of the knife translating into the authors depression and thoughts of suicide, so effective and enjoyable. The other readings helped to demonstrate other methods of effective fictional writing. For instance, the first-person narration of When My Father Was in Prison instills a sense of sympathy in the reader. As we read this story from the boy’s perspective we are left with several images that make the story memorable since we can almost put ourselves in his shoe. The conflicts that he encounters spark a certain amount of subjective emotion in me as I read his conflicts.

I enjoyed this week’s analyses into flash fiction. To be honest, at first I thought this section of the class was going to be boring. I mean, when I learned how to read years ago this is how I did it; reading short stories. However, after going through the semester and reading poetry and then coming to this segment with a critical eye at the image and language of the short stories, I found it more challenging than I thought. And in addition to the challenge, I enjoyed how we could really create characters and use the poetic techniques to illustrate their conflict.

Week 8

This past week in class we've read and talked even more about Flash Fiction. We used the terms we learned last week to analyze stories. Then in groups we used these terms to analyze stories, but we had only one element to observe in the story. Then we had to imitate the story by writing one of our own in the same style.

Lately I've been writing random poems and working on half written short stories. So far they aren't anything special, just in their editing stage, chicken scratch and colored pens marked all over their pages. Hopefully I'll be able to fully re-write them and make them better very soon.

I really don't know what to write about in this section. I feel like I've written about the same topics twice now. lol. I've noticed, though, that when I listen to music while I write it really seems to inspire the story or poem. I never really thought about it before, it just came to me recently. Sometimes when a certain song comes on I get completely distracted or a whole story appears in those 3 minutes. It's strange what music, art, and nature can do to writing and inspiration in general.

Week 7

This week we read several flash fiction stories and several articles about how to write flash fiction. We did an exercise writing a story about two people who have mutually exclusive goals from one of those articles that was fun. I think it is funny that there is so much to learn about writing flash fiction when it is so short. It's challenging though to grab a reader's attention and tell a short story all in such a short span. I really feel like it's making me think so much more about every sentence I write. Writing shorts is also making me rethink every phrase I use and pack as much content as I can into the short time I have to set the scene, introduce the characters, give a conflict, and maybe resolve that conflict if I have space left.

I like the assignment for Monday because, while I don't really like the story I wrote, I did feel a little more comfortable writing a short. I think I let go of asking while I write, "Well what about this part? I should make that part longer." Instead I just wrote about a scene I had in my head and let go of worrying about how long I wanted it to be or everything else I wanted to write about but didn't have time. I tried to be as concise as possible with what I did and it ended up being a lot shorter than I thought.

Flash Fiction............

This week we continued our journey with Flash Fiction. We read two essays with acompanying stories from oncourse and we read a number of selections from our Indiana Review books including Moore, Romba, Griner, Guerra and Doyle. In class we made ink blots from which we wrote 10 descriptive images that came to mind then a short story using 5 of the images. As homework we were to write a 500ish word story using surprising and fresh images.

I can appreciate the fascination with flash fiction as it is a way to tell a really powerful story in a short vivid burst of language. The concept might not seem like much at first, but I really admire the ability to write good flash fiction. It definitely requires a mastry of language and the ability to see and describe things as something different. You have to give people that lightbulb moment of understanding and delight. I enjoyed several of the selections from this weeks readings very much. Romba and the cockroaches was strange and entertaining. My favorite flash fiction story was Mine by Szilvia Molnar. It was just powerful and concise. It said what it needed to say and nothing more. I'm intimidated by writing this flash fiction of great language and vivid important images. It seems like the best way to begin is to write out a story and then to edit it down with better images and descriptions and to take out all of the nonessential stuff.

In class we did an exercise where we wrote a story as a group which really got me thinking; I wonder why more people don't write things as a group? It was a process that really seemed to play to each of our strong points. I'm great at ideas but slow with the actual writing. I struggle with wanting the story to be perfect as it comes out. But one of my partners was amazing with the writing part and the language just flew out of her! Meanwhile our other partner was great with details and gave really useful ideas on how to bring forth images that supported our storyline. As a group we were able to pick up where the other person left off and write something good in just a few minutes. It seems that there is nothing new under the sun and this is something that's been tried before. I'm sure that ego's and conflicting desires might get in the way if we tried to write a longer story in this manner but I still like the idea.

Blog Entry #7

This week we continued learning more about short shorts. We got into groups and read a short short that was assigned to us and identified the characteristics of it. We rewrote a paragraph of the short short following the author's style and presented it to the class. Shortly after every group presented, we briefly learned about scene vs. summary.
As I read Monday's reading assignment, which consisted of reading some short shorts, I could not help but to be taken away by some of those short shorts. The more lengthy one captivated my mind and maintained it. I noticed myself at first not really interested and did not really feel like reading those just because it seemed that it might take a bit to read it all. I decided to give it a shot to see what was the short story about. After a few paragraphs I felt wanting to continue and see what happens next. When I finally arrived at the end, I felt a little disappointed because it ended. I have really enjoyed reading short shorts. Right now I am working on the assignment that is due tomorrow, Monday, by five. I am having a bit of difficult starting it. It usually takes me a while to think of something to write about though.
I find it interesting that people from different background and culture add their own mix of elements in traditional forms of art. Although two different people can be describing the same scene; the wording, tone, emotion, and various styles being incorporated are not the same.

Flash Fiction ( Week 7)

We continued to read short shorts this week and again I continued to be intrigued. Since shorts shorts are fictional, the topics that flash fiction covers is endless! From the readings we did this week, the one that stood out the most to me was “Mammalian Observation Project: Subject J” written by Brian Doyle. I think it stood out the most because it did not have the typical look of a story; instead, it was written like an observation would have been written in an anthropology report with times and then corresponding notes on what was taking place. I really enjoyed how the author was very specific and straight to the point yet somehow the poem still kept your attention at the same time. I most especially enjoyed the last stanza in which Doyle writes,

“Father, moved, and not a little gleeful about escaping, decides to leave work early and buy the best bottle of wine in the universe for mother, but then reflects and that probably that’s how this all started…”(132).

The words Doyle chooses to use makes the poem humorous and laughable. He is not saying exactly what the father is reflecting on, but the reader can infer and laugh about how alcohol allows people to throw out their inhibitions and that's how babies at times can be made. This was a very enjoyable poem due to its non-conventionality in form.

From this week’s readings, the only question that has been sparked is do short shorts have limits? I mean it seems like you can write about anything (i.e. cockroaches talking). It seems like there is no limit or boundary that a poet has to stay in when writing. Is this true? I mean fictional means imaginary, but is this too simple. A poet writing a flash fiction story could write about anything, but is there a line between going overboard with your illusory concepts and the reality of a point that people will recognize and actually understand?

Writing short short fiction appears to be the most creative type of poem a poet can create. Being that flash fiction is not truth, the creativity that a person can play with seems most imaginative and original. If a person has no boundaries within short shorts, the possibilities are inexhaustible.