Wednesday Writing Prompt: The Greatest Longing
What is the greatest longing of your main character’s soul? | English: ink and charcoal on paper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Quite some time ago, I mentioned that I would be posting writing prompts for you on Wednesdays, but somehow I never managed to follow through. But, have I got a good one for you today!
One of the writing exercises I had to complete for my Advanced Novel Writing course this week included a free-write in which I had to answer the following question:
What is the GREATEST LONGING in this character’s soul? (more…)
Active vs. passive voice: Why you should care
Wheeeee! (Photo credit: Erika Hall)
Do you use active language in your writing? Do your teachers occasionally tell you that your writing is too passive? Are you confused about what this means? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
One of my students told me last semester that her mom is an English teacher, and that she doesn’t even bother trying to teach the difference between active and passive voice to her students anymore because none of them ever “get it.” What a shame.
I wonder sometimes why passive voice is such an easy trap to fall into. After all, active sentences are typically simpler than passive sentences and require fewer words. Wouldn’t you think the brain would take the path of least resistance and lead the writer to write more active sentences? Apparently not. (more…)
Can you write a Story A Day in the month of May?
writefirstwritefast (Photo credit: jwordsmith)
Each week, I ask my Written Communication students to spend about 15 minutes freewriting on a specific topic. At the beginning of the semester, I asked them to each submit several freewrite ideas for us to use throughout the semester. Once in a while, I will sit down and do the activity with them. When I do, I always end up with an interesting piece of writing I likely would not have otherwise written.
I find freewriting and the use of writing prompts to be extremely useful. So, I was just sitting here thinking that it might be fun to do a similar writing prompt on my blog once a week. And, since Wednesday and Writing both start with W, I thought, why not Wednesday Writing Prompts? (more…)
AWP 2012 | Creative Writing in the Real World
Creative writing class-fine arts center (402690951) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Is it April already? I meant to write a ton of compelling blog posts about all of the sessions I attended at the March 2012 APW Convention in Chicago, but I didn’t get past describing the first session. Although I’m a bit behind, I think a lot of the lessons I learned at the convention are essential. So today, I’ll take a peek backward and tell you about the second session I attended, titled, “Out There and In Here: Creative Writing in the Real World.”
This session was presented by Abby Bardi, Rick Kemp, Janice Meer, and Adeena Reitberger in the Astoria room of the Hilton Chicago. The AWP’s official description of the session follows: (more…)
Time to write another essay
Wanna write an essay with me? What would you write about? (No, that's not me in the picture!) | Day 34 - Essay and Notes (Photo credit: Auntie P)
My Written Communication students are writing a booklet of essays that they will be turning in at the end of this semester, and I’m planning to write a booklet of my own along with them. This week we learned about the descriptive essay in class, so they must write a descriptive essay by our next meeting. The students have been planning their essays for several weeks, but I’m just now thinking of mine. I can’t decide what to write about. I know, I should have made my outline right along with them.
The final booklet of essays will contain essays using each of the following patterns of development: (more…)
My Dream Career: A 5-paragraph essay
Could I survive on writing alone? Or would I get too bored? | Image via Wikipedia
Earlier this morning, I wrote a post on teaching the 5-paragraph essay. In that post, I promised to share the essay I wrote for my Written Communication students this week. So, here it is…
My Dream Career
If you could have any job, what would you do? This is a typical first date question, job interview question, or composition class free writing topic, one whose answer may provide a great deal of insight into the life of the respondent. If you were to ask this question of me, my answer would surely provide insight into my psyche simply because the way I would answer is far different than the average American. (more…)
