Topic: Lesson 1 Posted
Lesson 1 on the use of paragraphs has been posted. It includes two assignments.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … raph-20818
Let me know if you have any questions.
Sol
Intro to Creative Writing - Spring 2015 → Lesson 1 Posted
Pages 1
Lesson 1 on the use of paragraphs has been posted. It includes two assignments.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … raph-20818
Let me know if you have any questions.
Sol
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction. Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. "Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Comments: If I were reviewing this for the author, I would note that with the speakers already established, the dialogue flows better without name dropping Harrison in every sentence. The entire dialogue interplay between Harrison and Glimmer can be written with he/she as subject references IMO.
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction. Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. Is this is a change in location or just a transition to speaking. Should it be paragraphed? I chose to paragraph it...
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time.”
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Okay, need help. Are we using POST or just using copy and pasting to this thread? I was going through the post process and I wasn't confident that it would only be for this class, and it was costing points.
Please let me know.
My post ended up on it's own posting. I had it posted to this.
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. "Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag.”
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem.”
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?”
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed.”
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—
"She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!”
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?”
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm.
"So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
ah! This is how
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction. Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Most of the class separated these two paragraphs. I think this is probably a good idea although in the actual book they are combined. It is an important lesson. There is no hard and fast rule for paragraphs and as long as the reader can follow along, that is the most important thing. This is true in general of writing. Many ways of doing things are simply instruction and you as the writer have discretion to try out your own way. The main goal is to write in a way that transports a reader into your story.
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Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. "Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried."Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?""I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction. Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. Is this is a change in location or just a transition to speaking. Should it be paragraphed? I chose to paragraph it...It's a time change so you did the right thing paragraphing it. I would take the dialogue below though and move it to the the end of the sentence. Since the first sentence discusses Glimmer and then she speaks, it's okay to keep it as one paragraph. Once Harrison speaks you need a new paragraph because the speaker has changed.
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time.”
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
I posted some feedback to the completed assignments. Please let me know if you have any questions. One of the things to remember about paragraphs is that they are a bit of an art and every author has a bit of latitude in deciding where to begin and end a paragraph, within certain parameters.
One thing to mention, in the future, please do not post paragraphs in the forum. Post them as you would content on the site using the Post Your Writing button. This makes it much easier for me to provide feedback. I'll provide more detailed feedback on this with the next assignment.
Tomorrow we will look at point of view.
Thanks,
Sol
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction. Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept. While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts.
In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed. Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car. "Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag." Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be.
Where were you?" he tried. "Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem." Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?" "Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed." Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself.
"Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?" "I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast.
The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Assignment #1: (In my opinion, the first sentence seems to have another thing occurring before it that is not stated here. I found coherence between the first few sentences to be difficult to understand and read. I don't know if this was just poorly written or it's just me.)
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept. While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car.
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned.
"What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself.
"Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale.
"Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard."
She was talking quickly, though with relative calm.
"So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
______________________________________________________________________________
NOTE: (i have no idea whether i should start a new paragraph for the description of a person's actions, then start another new paragraph for what that same character says????) Please let me know if I did this right.
Assignment #2: I'll come back to this if I write something worth posting in the next day or two. I don't have any work to post at the present time.
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept.
While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts.
In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car.
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—
"She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard."
She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept. While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car.
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned.
"What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself.
"Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale.
"Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard."
She was talking quickly, though with relative calm.
"So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Hi amcii,
Try posting this as a piece of content to the class, that way I can mark it up more easily. Now, to your question. If the person's actions are different from the character speaking, I'd start a new paragraph. If the person speaking is the same as the character you are describing you can put the dialogue in the paragraph. But if it's a long paragraph, I'd put the dialogue in a new paragraph so it doesn't get buried.
So, the rules being followed here are if the scene or character focus shifts, put in a new paragraph and if you want to draw attention to words or dialogue then create a new paragraph. Hope that helps.
Overall though, you did a good job with your paragraph.
Assignment 1
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him.
Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept. While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts.
In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried. "Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned. "What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself. "Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale. "Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard." She was talking quickly, though with relative calm. "So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to s
Introduction to creative writing
Geraldine2015/reubergcn
1.What type of writing do you like? Short stories and poems
2.When did you start writing? I wrote my first essay in the 5th grade, around,2010, I started writing in composition note book.
3. Who is a couple of your favorite authors? Jack Frost, Charles Dicken
4. What a fun or quirky fact about you? Good sense of humor, and I still talk to myself.
Pages 1
Intro to Creative Writing - Spring 2015 → Lesson 1 Posted