Tuesday 29 November 2011
Friday 25 November 2011
Story Bytes - Very Short Stories - 2 Word Stories
Story Bytes - Very Short Stories - 2 Word Stories
A link to two-word stories.
- I feel that these are not as powerful or 'truly' 2 word stories as they use the title to set the scene unlike the story about the Ad for baby shoes.
A link to two-word stories.
- I feel that these are not as powerful or 'truly' 2 word stories as they use the title to set the scene unlike the story about the Ad for baby shoes.
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Some more tips & exercises!
Dear all,
Please go through www.clichesite.com . It's a fairly comprehensive collection of cliches and sayings.
For those who want to read Araby ( by James Joyce) it's available HERE
The exercise Madhavi promised to put up:
Using the Quest plot pattern, write a story outline about any of the foll:
- a 12 year old girl who wants to give her mother the perfect present
- a 30 year old male seeking the perfect wife
- a middle aged couple wanting to buy the perfect house.
Briefly outline acts 1,2 and 3 ie set up, rising action and climax.
Happy Writing people :)
Getting Started- part 3 (Style: POV, VOICE, TONE)
GETTING STARTED
In three paragraphs: Describe an outdoor accident in which a young man accidently – or not so accidently kills his friend. Describe this from the omniscient POV. Open the first paragraph with the set-up, a description of the river/ mountain on which the two are present. You could write about the treacherous current/ slope and the dangers of navigating it. In the next para, describe the actions and thoughts of the ‘killer’ – upto the accident. In the third para describe the actions and thoughts of the dying man. As he gasps a final breath , give him an insight into what will follow.
You are free to cover the field from any vantage point, external or internal, but make sure that you strive for an orderly succession of images.
Objective: To check the multiple nature of the omniscient POV
Check: Make sure that you have not shifted from one character’s thoughts to another’s midsentence. Have you described the characters sufficiently? Have you described what dying is like?
Construct an unreliable narrator. You could do this in the form of a letter or a diary entry. Have the narrator describe a disturbing event in which he/she was involved. The narrator could be the first young man in the earlier example; it could be a wife who thinks her husband is having an affair; it could be a shopkeeper who thinks his trusted employee is stealing from the cashbox. Use POV , voice and tone in conjunction to create the firm view in the reader that this is an unreliable narrator. ( For instance you could hint at a rivalry between the two friends or at the insecurities of the housewife)
Objective: To learn to use the unreliable first person POV
Check: Have you managed to portray the narrator’s betraying the real meaning of his/ her statements?
My mother said…
You’ve read the short story ‘Girl’. At one level it is a ‘list’ of strictures handed out to a growing girl by her mother. Using the story as a template, make a list of your own family expressions used by your mother. These expressions should bring alive her personal and cultural beliefs, values and attitudes on any one or all manner of subjects: food, hygiene, good habits, bad habits, religion, rituals, customs, opposite sex, saving or spending money, etiquette, behaviour, cricket, recipes etcetera…
Objective : To create a narrative using unconventional methods
Check: Have you given the reader a story with a beginning, middle and end? Have the thoughts, feelings, perceptions of the character come through sufficiently well for the reader to see her and hear her ? Have these been presented in the right order to create a narrative?
In three paragraphs: Describe an outdoor accident in which a young man accidently – or not so accidently kills his friend. Describe this from the omniscient POV. Open the first paragraph with the set-up, a description of the river/ mountain on which the two are present. You could write about the treacherous current/ slope and the dangers of navigating it. In the next para, describe the actions and thoughts of the ‘killer’ – upto the accident. In the third para describe the actions and thoughts of the dying man. As he gasps a final breath , give him an insight into what will follow.
You are free to cover the field from any vantage point, external or internal, but make sure that you strive for an orderly succession of images.
Objective: To check the multiple nature of the omniscient POV
Check: Make sure that you have not shifted from one character’s thoughts to another’s midsentence. Have you described the characters sufficiently? Have you described what dying is like?
Construct an unreliable narrator. You could do this in the form of a letter or a diary entry. Have the narrator describe a disturbing event in which he/she was involved. The narrator could be the first young man in the earlier example; it could be a wife who thinks her husband is having an affair; it could be a shopkeeper who thinks his trusted employee is stealing from the cashbox. Use POV , voice and tone in conjunction to create the firm view in the reader that this is an unreliable narrator. ( For instance you could hint at a rivalry between the two friends or at the insecurities of the housewife)
Objective: To learn to use the unreliable first person POV
Check: Have you managed to portray the narrator’s betraying the real meaning of his/ her statements?
My mother said…
You’ve read the short story ‘Girl’. At one level it is a ‘list’ of strictures handed out to a growing girl by her mother. Using the story as a template, make a list of your own family expressions used by your mother. These expressions should bring alive her personal and cultural beliefs, values and attitudes on any one or all manner of subjects: food, hygiene, good habits, bad habits, religion, rituals, customs, opposite sex, saving or spending money, etiquette, behaviour, cricket, recipes etcetera…
Objective : To create a narrative using unconventional methods
Check: Have you given the reader a story with a beginning, middle and end? Have the thoughts, feelings, perceptions of the character come through sufficiently well for the reader to see her and hear her ? Have these been presented in the right order to create a narrative?
Voice and humour
Many people claim that writing humour cannot be taught or learned; it is a natural trait. That is because one of the basic characteristics of humour is that it evokes a spontaneous response: you either get it or you don’t. The key is: humour is never forced. A writer does not try to be funny… He merely writes about absurdities. Humour springs out of absurdity. Absurd situations, beliefs, customs, ideas.
Language is nothing more than the medium through which ideas are shared. But there are times when the medium is garbled and the original idea is replaced by an absurd version.
Lost in translation- some examples!
We will sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container
In India, we have innovated with English: Hinglish, Tamglish and so on. By playing around with diction, syntax, verb endings etc, a writer can give a new twist to voice, thus making it one of the easier ways of writing humour.
Humour is very culture-specific. It is also the most difficult to write. In Indian writing in English it is virtually unexploited. Humour comes from various sources:
Voice plays a very important role in humour. It can be deadpan, tongue-in-cheek, satirical, exaggerated etc.
Many people claim that writing humour cannot be taught or learned; it is a natural trait. That is because one of the basic characteristics of humour is that it evokes a spontaneous response: you either get it or you don’t. The key is: humour is never forced. A writer does not try to be funny… He merely writes about absurdities. Humour springs out of absurdity. Absurd situations, beliefs, customs, ideas.
Language is nothing more than the medium through which ideas are shared. But there are times when the medium is garbled and the original idea is replaced by an absurd version.
Lost in translation- some examples!
We will sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container
- Petrol station, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Sign in hotel room in Japan
- Restaurant in Nairobi
- Sign in a lift, Liepzig, Germany
- Sign in a zoo, Budapest, Hungary
In India, we have innovated with English: Hinglish, Tamglish and so on. By playing around with diction, syntax, verb endings etc, a writer can give a new twist to voice, thus making it one of the easier ways of writing humour.
Some examples..
Beloved younger brother,
Greetings to Respectful parents. I am hoping all is well with health and wealth. I am fine at my end. Hoping your end is fine too. With God’s grace and parent’s Blessings I am arriving safely in America and finding good apartment near University. Kindly assure mother that I am strictly consuming vegetarian food only in restaurants though I am not sure cooks are Brahmans. I am also constantly remembering Dr Verma’s advice and strictly avoiding American women and other unhealthy habits. I hope Parent’s Prayers are residing with me.
Younger Brother , I am having so many things to tell you I am not knowing where to start. Most surprising thing about America is it is full of Americans. Everywhere Americans, Americans, Americans big and white it is little frightening. The flight from New Delhi to New York is arriving safely thanks to God’s Grace and Parents Prayers and mine too. I am not able to go to bathroom whole time because I am sitting in corner seat as per revered Grandmother’s wish. Father is rightly scolding that airplane is flying too high good view. Still please tell her I have done needful…
Gopal
Beloved younger brother,
Greetings to Respectful parents. I am hoping all is well with health and wealth. I am fine at my end. Hoping your end is fine too. With God’s grace and parent’s Blessings I am arriving safely in America and finding good apartment near University. Kindly assure mother that I am strictly consuming vegetarian food only in restaurants though I am not sure cooks are Brahmans. I am also constantly remembering Dr Verma’s advice and strictly avoiding American women and other unhealthy habits. I hope Parent’s Prayers are residing with me.
Younger Brother , I am having so many things to tell you I am not knowing where to start. Most surprising thing about America is it is full of Americans. Everywhere Americans, Americans, Americans big and white it is little frightening. The flight from New Delhi to New York is arriving safely thanks to God’s Grace and Parents Prayers and mine too. I am not able to go to bathroom whole time because I am sitting in corner seat as per revered Grandmother’s wish. Father is rightly scolding that airplane is flying too high good view. Still please tell her I have done needful…
Gopal
Humour is very culture-specific. It is also the most difficult to write. In Indian writing in English it is virtually unexploited. Humour comes from various sources:
- Social comedy and the absurdities of culture.
- It comes from passing fads.
- It comes from parody: poking fun at conventions.
- It comes from situations.
Voice plays a very important role in humour. It can be deadpan, tongue-in-cheek, satirical, exaggerated etc.
So go on , tame the wild horse that is 'humour' and have fun with it. :)
G'luck
CHECKLIST FOR VOICE
CHECKLIST FOR VOICE
- Have you picked the voice that is in harmony with your POV, the personality of the narrator, and the narrator’s emotional distance to the story?
- Do your word, sentence and paragraph choices support your voice?
- Is the voice consistent throughout the story?
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