I seem to be on a book & DVD promotion kick...

I could not watch this film all in one sitting.
It was too emotional for me-- the writers could easily be my students.
The film is broken into chapters, so that made it easier for me to watch in bits. But not easier to watch.
I like that the chapters are told in different ways. One chapter was animated. Another chapter was told (somewhat) humorously. The film starts out with "Here, Bullet" read by Brian Turner.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WOSB0U/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1400065623&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1B0PHG85HAWX5VCHYFCN

Sounds like just another Creative Writing workshop day...

http://www.planetpeschel.com/index?/writers_gone_wild/index/

Cool book. Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen

Coastal's library has this book-- or they will when I return the copy I borrowed. It includes copies of the stories that were made into movies.
It is only $11.53 on amazon.com and would make a holiday nice gift to yourself!

the Oscar website screenwriter interviews

I'm becoming obsessed with this site. It's a treasure trove.

Here's a link to a series of interviews about Film Noir. The interviews are with Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning screenwriters.

http://www.oscars.org/video/watch/ev_noir_interview_03_frank.html

John Patrick Shanley, author of Doubt

Here's an interview with John Patrick Shanley at the New School in New York. Fascinating!

http://fora.tv/2007/01/23/John_Patrick_Shanley

week 14... already?

Journal: consider “the virtues.”

There are many different lists of virtues from ancient times through Ben Franklin to the various world religions and more. Is there a virtue you think is not currently valued?

Give an real or fictional anecdote to illustrate your view. Try telling the story as a fable or with dialogue between characters.

Chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, humility are one list.

Here’s Ben Franklin’s list of virtues:

1. Temperance: Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.
2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling Conversation.
3. Order: Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality: Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. Waste nothing.
6. Industry: Lose no Time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
9. Moderation: Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity: Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.
13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Then, in a sentence or two, how might you include your views in your writing without getting preachy?

so you want to write a screenplay...

Check out the Oscar website. Tremendous! Take a look at the PDF of a sample screenplay.

http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/resources.html

your writing voice

Here's a quote I want to share with you from the Writer's Idea Book, p. 250:

Some writers have said they found their natural voice when they found the material they most wanted to explore. If you find that your voice rings false, that the voice on the page is not the one you hear in your head, maybe the problem lies in the material. When I was in college, I enjoyed F. Scott Fitzgerald's wonderfully lyriacan voice--its elegance and sharp sense of profundity. I tried desperately to imitate it. Not a bad model to take for a twenty-year-old apprentice. Unfortunately, I also wrote about the same subjects Fitzgerald wrote about in his work, and I didn't know beans about life on the Riviera or in 1930s Hollywood. When I began writing about the world I knew, one that connected with me on a variety of levels, things fell into place.

I find this to be so true!

Dave Barry, humor writer

http://www.davebarry.com/gg/misccol.htm


According to Wikipedia (n.d.), Barry has defined a sense of humor as "a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."

photo: Google images

Charlie may have to move

http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/11/04/1792144/tame-gator-and-girthy-girlfriend.html#storylink=omni_popular

journal for Thursday, Nov. 4

Journal: Choose one of the following.

1.       Write about a serious subject in a humorous way, dipping occasionally into seriousness as a contrast. If you’re feeling bold, push the tone to the extreme; risk offending the reader with your humorous treatment of a serious subject. (page 248 in The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron)

2.       Give a character an object that she carries everywhere with her, or perhaps, something she always wears. Try to suggest through this object something important about the character. If the character wears a locket containing a picture of her family, what does this say about her? If the character keeps a picture in his wallet of a woman who left him long ago, what does this say about him? If a character always has a pocket knife with him, what does this say about him? If a person always has a bottle of Tylenol? (p. 240)

journal for Tuesday, Nov. 2

Write about the best place you’ve ever been. “Best” can have a few meanings: most exciting, most fulfilling, most interesting. It could mean the place where you felt most in sync with the world, where you had the keenest sense of belonging, coming home to a place you never been. Or it could mean the most exciting place, or the one where you had a great time. You choose. Take time to describe it in detail, beginning with those details that first come to mind. Avoid, at first, explaining why you liked the place. Just describe it. After you have a few paragraphs of description, you can begin to explain and speculate upon why this place had such a profound impact on you.

From The Writer's Idea Book, page 75, by Jack Heffron, Writer's Digest, 2000.

American Lit and American History class

If you are interested in learning about the historical context of American literature, these may be the classes for you in the spring of 2011!

This will be a "cohort" class with sections of History 131 and English 231. To register, students need to sign up for both of the classes, and they need to have already taken Eng 112, 113, or 114. The instructors are Mr. Eatmon and Ms. Fickling.

The last time Coastal offered this option, it was popular and students really enjoyed it!