After
listening to the 'Beginnings' mini-lecture and reading the summary of
Friedman's 'Types of Plots', how do you think you can apply some of the
concepts to your story?
First of all, I think that one of the main issues with my drafts has
been point of view and this is related to the characters as there is recurrent
view jumps which can be confusing. After the tutorial, listening to the
presentation and Types of Plots, I believe the points that I could focus on the following:
- Character - I'll rewrite the draft from Rob's point of view as I wanted the story to be a sort of parallel reality autobiography.
- I can see the plot being a mix of several elements of the different classifications offered by Friedman: Under Plots of Fortune I would argue there are some elements of Action because there is a problem (not being able to be together permanently) and a resolution (they eventually get and stay together). Sentimental, although I must confess that I do not see or want to include feelings in my story along the negative description offered in Newt Love e.g. 'a frail or passive hero succeeds' as my character is neither frail not passive and do not intend to portray him as such. However, there are strong feelings throughout the story and so I think because of this it would contain some elements of this type of plot. Admiration as I have tried and would like to portray(ed) Rob as a responsible 'hero' as it is his constant pursue of happiness that, not only, but also keeps them together. I would also argue that there are no elements whatsoever which could relate my story to any Plots of Character. Finally, I believe that some elements typical of Plots of Thought may emerge by the end of the writing process. For instance, I can see as suggested by Jen in her feedback and tutorial that there may be some element of Revelation as Rob comes to understand in a deeper way love in all senses: his 'agape' and 'phileo' love for the main characters: Tor, Sirius, Horus; his 'phileo' love for Sirius; his 'eros' love for Tor, and his 'storge' love for Elsa.
- Expanding on, underlining and developing these elements in the final draft is what will be my challenge while incorporating all the feedback given.
Any ideas
for the language classroom?
I think that working on Description
of Characters would be a good start. I would probably brainstorm ideas of
what students may think are important elements or as Veronica calls them,
ingredients, for a description. They can discuss it in groups and then have a
plenary. This would be followed by checking against the list offered by
Veronica in the tutorial and some discussion as why these elements are
important. I'd show them this to help them remember:
I have just come up with an idea
which integrates the above 7 steps with MadLibs into a low tech game
I'd like to call: 7 MadLibs for
Storytelling! (Robert MartÃnez ©). I would set up an exercise where
students work in small groups of 4. They get an A4 piece of paper and then are
instructed as follows:
- When instructed by the teacher, write a short sentence about the topic given.
- Call out Character, Situation, Voice, Motivation, Action, Senses and Detail one at a time so that students have time to write their sentences. Allow 2 to 3 min to write them.
- Once a student writes a sentence, they fold the piece of paper and pass it down to the next student who in turn will write their sentence focusing on the ingredient called out by the teacher.
Any
technology that could be used, which could enhance the understanding of
beginnings and plot-structure?
A tech version of the above would be a variation of it using Story Dice
for the iPad. I would choose 7 dice in the settings and then give the iPad to
each group for them to roll them by shaking the device. Once the dice set, I would press the home and
on buttons to get a screenshot and then I'd sent it to their mobile devices via Bluetooth, Facebook messenger or Wassup.
Three samples of dices are shown below:
Each of the Story Dice stories always contains at least one character
dice e.g. spider, robot, and duck or squirrel.
With these in mind I would then give them time to write their first
drafts in class time and to finish them for homework.
Can you
comment on the beginning of a novel or short story that you have enjoyed? What
ingredients do you find in it?
I read all of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and so I'd like to
comment on the beginning of the very first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone. Chapter one starts with the title: The Boy Who Lived. I find that the
title itself is already intriguing as I'm found myself wondering about the
possible meanings of it. The beginning includes characters (Mr and Mrs Dursley, and their son Dudley), a situation (where they are and where
things will start), a voice (there
is an omniscient narrator - I think that's what you called it ;-)), and motivation (there is a secret which the
Dursleys have which immediately makes you want to know more). I don't think
there is an action as the first page
deals only with setting the scene, but there is physical description of the
characters which includes detail and the senses
as the bodies of Mr and Mrs Dursley are very visual.
