Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Short Story Ideas

11.  A babysitter is snooping around her employer's house and finds a disturbing photograph...
12.  At a Chinese restaurant, your character opens his fortune cookie and reads the following message: "Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Repeat: say nothing."...
13.  Your character's boss invites her and her husband to dinner. Your character wants to make a good impression, but her husband has a tendency to drink too much and say exactly what's on his mind...
14.  It's your character's first day at a new school. He or she wants to get a fresh start, develop a new identity. But in his or her homeroom, your character encounters a kid he or she knows from summer camp...
15.  Your character has to tell his parents that he's getting a divorce. He knows his parents will take his wife's side, and he is right...
16.  At the airport, a stranger offers your character money to carry a mysterious package onto the plane. The stranger assures your character that it's nothing illegal and points out that it has already been through the security check. Your character has serious doubts, but needs the money, and therefore agrees...
17.  Your character suspects her husband is having an affair and decides to spy on him. What she discovers is not what she was expecting...
18.  A man elbows your character in a crowd. After he is gone, she discovers her cell phone is too. She calls her own number, and the man answers. She explains that the cell phone has personal information on it and asks the man to send it back to her. He hangs up. Instead of going to the police, your character decides to take matters into her own hands...
19.  After your character loses his job, he is home during the day. That's how he discovers that his teenage son has a small marijuana plantation behind the garage. Your character confronts his son, who, instead of acting repentant, explains to your character exactly how much money he is making from the marijuana and tries to persuade your character to join in the business...

20.  At a garage sale, your character buys an antique urn which she thinks will look nice decorating her bookcase. But when she gets home, she realizes there are someone's ashes in it....

Friday, October 20, 2017

My First Conk

Do you agree or disagree with the statement that Malcolm X's message of racial self-degradation still applies today?  Use your personal experience--and make sure to quote the essay as well.

Exercise: Run On Sentence

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/runons_quiz.htm

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Quiz: Araby

Names of places, names of people, can be important when creating your piece of fiction. Why do you think the name "Araby" is used in the short story.  What are its implications in the story?

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Creative Writing Prompts

What if Harry Potter came to your house for dinner? Write this scene as if you were a teenager, he’s new to your school and you’re introducing him to your parents. Also, after dinner, he makes a request of you. What is it?


They are creating an episode of The Game of Thrones centered around you--how would it play out?

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Black Elk

In the essay “Black Elk Speaks: The Offering of the Pipe," by shaman Black Elk, this Native American spiritual leader expresses a great deal of humility for a person of his stature. Throughout the essay Black Elk is open about his failings as a leader and makes it clear that he is just a man like others.



One way his humbleness is exposed is by the way in which he introduces his talk with John Neihardt, an oral historian who recorded their discussion.  Black Elk states, “ My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life…and if it were only the story of my I would not tell it…So many other men have  lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills.”(1). It is obvious that Black Elk does not separate himself from the common man.


Black Elk-- when reviewing his life-- admitted his failures in a very frank and humble way. In this passage Black Elk reflects,  "........................" (2).


Respect for the common man, for nature, and the small role man plays in the scheme of things is indication of the humbleness of this man. When Black Elk tells his story of the Bison God he reveals, "............................" (3.) This certainly speaks to the fact that Black Elk does not consider himself a man who controls nature, but he is a man who is in sync with nature.



In conclusion......