Classroom: Creative Writing

[Pineapple]

Creative Writing, Room 220​

220 is my English class

What is this about?

I Pineapple will teach you all about Creative Writing. From Short Stories to Poetry focusing more on the stories. I will help you build better plots with characters that are unique and settings that don't feel generic. For poetry I will teach you things to improve and get a good flow going.

How will this course help me specifically?

This course will bend and flex to your specific needs with individual assignments designed to improve your style further or get you to learn more styles so that you are not locked down to the same stories over and over.

I want to join!

You want in eh? Well then post "I'm in!" Along with that you have to post what you usually write Poetry/Short Stories. Then What genre you write your stories and poems in Tragic/Fantasy/Mystery/Romance/Comedy/Historic/etc... If you don't write poems or shorts stories then put N/A

If you want to specify a style of poetry too then you can. Ex. Haiku/Limericks/Rhyming Couplets.

[U ][ I]I'm In![ /I][ /U]
[B ]Preference:[ /B] Stories/Poetry
[B ]Story Genre:[ /B]
[B ]Poetry Genre:[ /B]

Lessons

Lesson One: Introduction ~April 21st [Eastern Time (US & Canada) GMT-5:00)

• Dos and Don'ts
• Getting Things Flowing
• Writers Zone
• Assignment 1: Introduction
  • Chose either a poem or short story (1-3 pages)
  • It must tell us about yourself
  • If you do not wish to reveal anything about yourself you can do character from a movie or game, just specify who.

Lesson Two: Defining ~April 28th [Eastern Time (US & Canada) GMT-5:00)

• Specifics on Chosen Genres of Writing
• Assignment 2: Tiny Story (1 Page)
  • You each write a short story with the given theme.
  • You can pick the genre of writing, (fantasy, mystery, etc...)
  • The story should not get wrapped up at end. It will be continued at a later lesson.

Lesson Three: To Be or not to Be... That is the question.~
May 5th [Eastern Time (US & Canada) GMT-5:00)

• Tips on Writing your genre of poetry
• Keeping a good rhythm
• Assignment 2: Poem (1 Page max)
  • You each write a poem in the genre given to you.
  • You can pick the style of poetry
  • The ending should be well defined, not giving you the question "Is it over?"

Lesson Four, Five and Six in the Second Semester

Help?!

Need some extra help? I'm glad to give any extra help if needed.

Windows Live: [email protected]
Yahoo IM: [email protected]

Students

PheonixAshes:
Preference: Stories
Genre: Epic Fantasy

IKilledKEnny:
Preference: Stories
Story Genre: Any
Poetry Genre: Any

Halahan:
Prefer: Stories
Genre: Fantasy, a little bit of Sci Fi maybe

New_U.S.
Preference: Story
Story Genre: Any
Poem Genre: Any

Uareanoob:
Preference: Poem
Story Genre: mystery, Samurai-fiction
Poetry Genre: Seasonal

Jindo:
Preference: Short Stories
Story Genre: Fantasy
Poetry Genre: Limericks

 

[Halahan]

Idk If I'm in, although I like the idea, although there would be a lot of details that would be hard to work out.

 

[Pineapple]

What types of details do you mean?

 

[pheonixashes]

I'll take it just to help boost my English grades up a bit.

 

[Pineapple]

thats great but can you post the info? I need it to customize your course.

[U ][ I]I'm In![ /I][ /U]
[B ]Preference:[ /B] Stories/Poetry
[B ]Story Genre:[ /B]
[B ]Poetry Genre:[ /B]

 

[pheonixashes]

I'm in!
Preference: Stories
Genre: Epic Fantasy

 

[IKilledKEnny]

While I think writing should be a personal thing, I love writing and I love to see you teaching it, so sure I'm in.

I usually write short stories but from time to time poetry.
I write more or less all genres.

 

[Pineapple]

nice added you.

Common people lets get some more!

 

[Halahan]

Sure, I'm in, except limit the assignments to one right now.
Prefer: Stories
Genre: Fantasy, a little bit of Sci Fi maybe

such as assignments, time frame, time zones, disrespectin, lol
and are you 'qualified do you think,' like you know enough, you think your good enough?

 

[Pineapple]

I thikn i am. I know what makes good stories.

And as for assignments its only like 1 per week. They don't have to be done put ill be giving +rep for each completed one.

 

[DM Cross]

Pineapple also has his good friend Seth Cross to ask for help, should he need any ^.^

Which I doubt he will

 

[Halahan]

I'm only thirteen, I could use any extra help. Not that I need it for school though.

Soon try to give us our first assignment formally. like tell us.

 

[Pineapple]

Tomorrow I will be posting the first lesson along with the first assignment. Which will be due in one weeks time.

 

[Pineapple]

lesson 1

Lesson 1​

Writers Zone

Everyone has it, the place that you write your poetry or stories. We all have our Writers Zone. Make sure that your zone isn’t surrounded by distractions. Often it happens, even to myself, I get distracted by something and then when I get back to writing I will have to read what I just wrote so I know where to continue from. This isn’t as bad of a problem if you are able to remain focused but you still need to make sure everything is well organized.

Do you feel you work better with music? Then make sure there is music around you but also make sure that its songs you want to listen to. If you are playing music which you constantly need to change then it’s not very useful.

Can you see those knick-knacks you thought would look good beside your computer/paper? They do look good, but they don’t help. I know from experience. I had a little bear in a Canadian sweater beside my monitor. I thought it would be harmless but I found my self fascinated with it while I’m trying to write.

There is one exemption to the knick-knack rule is when it is something inspirational. I don’t have anything such as this but maybe you have a picture of a person who you admire or look up to, maybe it is a sentimental gift that your friend gave you. If it gives you a drive to keep working and do your best then you should definitely hang onto it.

Telephone? Forget about it. You don’t need that ringing constantly while you try to write. In some cases the phone doesn’t ring as much as others. I know for me it doesn’t ring much but when my sister was in high school the phone would be ringing every 30 minutes! Besides if it’s for you someone will come tell you right?

Pets are so cute. I have a little kitten and an older cat. Well, they live in my room, which is where my computer is. I know this is not just me because all my friends complain about this with there cats. They are drawn to the keyboard. When I’m typing they love to walk on it, or they will jump on my monitor, attack my hands, and even attack my mouse! If I’m writing on paper they eat my pencil or lay on my paper, anything for attention. Keep pets a safe distance from where you write.

Follow these and you can hopefully keep yourself with a nice area you enjoy to sit down and write to get away from the world and enter a world which you create. Of course these are guidelines, you don’t need to follow them exactly, or can ignore some, as long as the area you are working in is to your satisfaction. I focused mainly on things I notice and what people tell me about them selves.

Dos and Don’ts

Do: Allow your creativity to flow. If you have an idea that you need to add something into your writing then do so. A piece of writing everyone loves that the author doesn’t is a failed piece. Remember that sentimental quote your grandfather said? You can put it into the writing which will make it better to yourself. Even if other people don’t understand what its there for you will.

Don’t: Force yourself to write. If you are not in the mood to write then don’t force it. I have done it and I ended up with crap. Now, when there is a deadline to meet I understand you have to force yourself but don’t just sit down and force it all onto yourself. Did it slowly and over time gives you the chance to gather your thoughts and come up with ideas.

Do: Read, lots and lots of reading. It will help you learn more words and it will help with spelling and grammar. It shows you what is already on the table not to mention that it shows you what is common in novels.

Don’t: Copy a idea from another poet/author. Don’t even copy scenes you saw in a movie. If I am reading your book and then the main character finds a book with all types of spells inside of it that shouldn’t be only to find out that it belonged to one of the last people they expected I will be yelling Harry potter. Equally if you write a poem about a man who’s wife died and then he heard a noise at his door only to be confronted with a bird ill be yelling The Raven! I read to get a new story unless it’s a continuation.

Do: Write your book like it is meant to be read. I know lots of people who have written a book then I said to them. “Well, there to too much action.” Then they just say “Ya, well it would make an amazing movie!” If that’s what you want write a screen play. Movies might not need a good plot *cough*300*cough* but books do, that is what brings us to them.

Don’t: Become a description Nazi. If you start doing details such as the colour of the bark on that tree or the character weighing 210 pounds and 5 feet and 11 inches, it leaves nothing to the imagination. The same applies for poems. Poems are great if it gets you thinking if you make your poems pages long describing every little thing then there isn’t much for the reader to do. Poems should also use more of a vague dialog, and metaphors. Instead of
“He sat waiting for the door to ring, but there was nothing not a thing.”
You can do something like…
“Perched upon his door steps sight, all through day and all through night,”
The thing to remember is the type of poetry you write determines the type of writing used, more on that in Lesson 3.

Getting Your Flow Going

Your flow is the moment where things come strait to you. This is the moment where the right words are popping onto your brain or the ideas are bursting through the doors. The main factor to your flow if your enthusiasm. If you got the mode set that you want to write and write but you just can’t, then your brain is going to start getting ideas for the plot or for the characters. Best thinking in the Shower? Naw, only if you want to write.

If you got a momentum going where you are actually into your writing, you are envisioning the events or the mood then you get the best choice of words popping up in your mind. This goes hand in had with reading. That will add words to your vocabulary whether it is consciously or subconsciously. There are words that I know how to use them that I don’t remember how I learned it.

Still this isn’t to say you cannot get a helping hand from friends who love to write and have ideas or from your trusty thesaurus or rhyming thesaurus. Even if your friends are suggesting giant robotic flying bananas from Pluto (which is not a planet), you may be thinking that they are being an idiot but it still gets you thinking bringing you into the flow.

Assignment 1: Introduction

Goal

Using your current knowledge and skills of writing you must create either a poem or story about an even in your life.

If you wish to not reveal anything about yourself then you can write an event from the life of a character in a movie or video game.

Guide

~Either a Poem or Story
~Length must be not bigger then 3 pages in Word with size 12 Times new roman font.
~Things don’t need to be identical to the event.
~Write the actual even at the top of page 1
~Upload or Email your finished product to me within the given week. (Due April 28th)

Assessment

Follows the assigned task well || || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10
Notes:

Scenario goes well with the event || || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10
Notes:

Creativity || || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10
Notes:

Flow || || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10

Overall ___/40 || || ___%
Notes:

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Any questions?

 

[New_U.S.]

(a little late but)
I'm in
Preference: Story
Story Genre: Any
Poem Genre: Any

do we pm you our work or do we just post it here when we are done?

 

[Pineapple]

you can Email it to me, emails in in post 1. Or you can attach to a post here. I prefer Emails and Classes are always open.

 

[Krys A Night]

I am already in a class like this for my writing, that's a bit more competitive. If ya need any help Pineapple, let me know.

 

[Halahan]

well, tell me when we're supposed to do the first assignment.

 

[IKilledKEnny]

This is why I got, sorry I don't have your E-mail.

It's not too good, but ok, took me a while to get inspiration.

+REP for good class.

 

[Pineapple]

well, tell me when we're supposed to do the first assignment.

You can do it when ever, as long as its finished within one week.

This is why I got, sorry I don't have your E-mail.

It's not too good, but ok, took me a while to get inspiration.

+REP for good class.

Ok i'll upload it now, read it and mark it for ya.