Assignment: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Develop a character that you are interested in using in your fiction by choosing at least four of the following methods to compose four separate scenes in which the character appears.
Some Methods to Develop Character
1. Actions
2. Gestures
3. Dialogue
4. Reactions to others
5. Reactions to place
6. Reactions to others
7. Reactions to situations
8. Reaction to small children or babies
9. Reaction to a sudden change in plans
10. Communication with animals
11. Reaction to animal abuse
12. Behavior when unobserved
13. Behavior when observed
14. Facial expressions
15. Body Language
16. Habits that annoy others
17. Habits that bind to others
18. Opening a door.
19. Opening a fortune cookie
20. Opening a bottle
21. Cooking
22. Eating
23. Driving a car
24. Dancing
25. Response to Music
26. Dress
27. Making a purchase
28. Capacity for compassion
29. Response to an ethical dilemma
30. Response in an emergency’
31. Misinterpretation of facts
32. Freudian slips or malapropisms
33. Capacity for hatred
34. Capacity for anger
35. Capacity for patience with children
36. Behavior towards animals
37. Habitat
38. Dreams during sleep
39. Ambitions for the future
40. Memories, flashbacks
41. Level of participation in gossip about others
42. Omniscient description, summary (a last resort, the least desirable, forbidden in this assignment)
Secret Markers of Character, according to students:
Clothes
Type of cellphone
Taste in humor; types of senses of humor
Body language; quirks
Tonal quality of speaking voice
Whether shoes match clothes or not
Understanding of people outside one’s culture
Interest in art
Lack of ego
Jewelry
Car
Type of t-shirt (guys)
Level of comfort with strangers
Attitude towards “waitstaff” in restaurants
Reaction to off color jokes
“personality types”
Use of profanity too soon; use of the “f-bomb”
Comfort level in interactions with others
Table manners, menu choices, fingernails,
Eye contact
Idiosyncrasies: “what’s your thing?”
Level of fakeness; physical symptoms of nervousness
Response to sarcasm
Knowledge of music, books, films
“humor boundaries”
Intelligence level
Seriousness level
Ability to crack jokes
Clothing, shave & haircut, speech habits
Test responses to 3 things: God, dogs, politics
How a person carries himself or herself
Conscious “presentation” of self or not
Look for contradictions
Basic manners (opening doors, etc.)
Reciprocity in conversation
Smiles
Clothing choices
Handshake
Hairstyle
Hygiene
Response to certain controversial topics
Monday, March 7, 2011
First, you must choose a crowded public place, such as a restaurant, party, exercise center, sporting event, or concert (or wherever people gather in a crowd.
You must eavesdrop on a conversation between two people you do not know (as unobtrusively as possible), and you must record enough of the conversation in your memory to use later on.
As soon as you are able, write out as much of the conversation as you can. You should at least be able to record five to ten lines with a fairly high degree of accuracy, but don’t worry about being totally accurate.
After writing out the conversation as a bit of dialogue, list as many descriptive details as you can about the two interlocutors. Try to get down their something of their personality by describing their appearance, manner of speech, actions and reactions, and—of course—words. Obviously, you will probably have to expand it and/or embellish their conversation
Your specific task is to write a story out of the two characters and their dialogue. You may, if you want, choose one of the characters and imagine yourself as that person; you would then write from a first person perspective. If not, then you can describe both people from an omniscient third person perspective. Create a story that will demonstrate in a specific context how the two characters came together and what their conversation means. Make the two characters and their conversation come alive.
You must eavesdrop on a conversation between two people you do not know (as unobtrusively as possible), and you must record enough of the conversation in your memory to use later on.
As soon as you are able, write out as much of the conversation as you can. You should at least be able to record five to ten lines with a fairly high degree of accuracy, but don’t worry about being totally accurate.
After writing out the conversation as a bit of dialogue, list as many descriptive details as you can about the two interlocutors. Try to get down their something of their personality by describing their appearance, manner of speech, actions and reactions, and—of course—words. Obviously, you will probably have to expand it and/or embellish their conversation
Your specific task is to write a story out of the two characters and their dialogue. You may, if you want, choose one of the characters and imagine yourself as that person; you would then write from a first person perspective. If not, then you can describe both people from an omniscient third person perspective. Create a story that will demonstrate in a specific context how the two characters came together and what their conversation means. Make the two characters and their conversation come alive.
Ray Finster, 39-year-old accountant, married, three children, lives in Cleveland, Ohio
Mary Adams, 18-year-old Tarleton State college student, has a miniature French poodle named Barbie
Carl Himmelwright, 89-year-old retired plumber, lives in Sunshine City, Arizona
Denise Trout, 31-year-old forest ranger, has one daughter, lives in Ketchum, Idaho,
Thelma Treetop, 53-year-old Colorado State college student, has 7 grandchildren
Mary Adams, 18-year-old Tarleton State college student, has a miniature French poodle named Barbie
Carl Himmelwright, 89-year-old retired plumber, lives in Sunshine City, Arizona
Denise Trout, 31-year-old forest ranger, has one daughter, lives in Ketchum, Idaho,
Thelma Treetop, 53-year-old Colorado State college student, has 7 grandchildren
Monday, January 24, 2011
Engl 10203. Intro to CW
Williams, Fall 2011
How Do I Read a Poem?
First, you must realize that there is never just one way to read a poem. Poetry is often written to evoke personal feelings, and your personal responses—your feelings about a poem—are not necessarily incorrect just because they seem off the wall. All poetry combines sound and sense; thus you should always be aware of the lyric elements in a poem—how the poem sounds to your ear.
Also, always be aware of connotation as well as denotation; all words have echoes and references beyond their immediate meaning, and quite often poets are not only cognizant of these echoes but are also employing them to help convey their meaning. Consider, for instance, “blue sky.” This denotes a weather condition, but it also connotes the possibility of someone or something being beautiful, serene, or heavenly.
Always identify the poem’s situation. What is said is always conditioned by where and when it is being said, and by who is saying it. Identifying the speaker and his or her context places his or her utterances in perspective. I have always found it helpful to imagine making a video of the poem. Imagine that you are going to make a film of a poem—what would you place in front of the camera. See the poem imaginatively through this lens.
Always read the syntax literally. What the words say literally in normal sentences is only a starting point, but it is the best place to start. Not all poems use normal syntax and grammar, but you should start reading the poem by paraphrasing (in plain syntax, rephrasing what the poem literally says).
Always consider what the title, subject, and situation make you expect or assume. Often poets will offer a title, subject, or situation as a clue to reading their poems. Although poets will often surprise readers by reversing expectations (the nature of irony), you should be conscious of where you are expected to begin. Take what the poet gives you.
Also, always be willing to be surprised. Like fiction writers, poets will often defy conventions and traditions. What is first suggested can possibly contradict itself by the end of the poem, or at least offer significant qualification or variation. Be aware that, instead of serenity and bliss, “blue sky” might ironically indicate emotional turbulence.
Always consider what is implied by the literary and cultural traditions behind the poem. Verse forms, poetic structures, and metrical patterns all have frames of reference, traditions of the way they have usually been used and for what reasons. Poets are especially close readers of other poets. Thus, when a poet writes an elegy or a sonnet, you can be sure that he or she is fully aware of the elegy or sonnet tradition. Quite possibly he or she is not only aware of Milton or Shakespeare, but that he or she is writing in response to their poems.
Always consider the poet’s cultural and historical context. As cultural artifacts, a poem is constructed in a particular time and place—and your time and place of reading of the poem occurs in a completely different time and place. Obviously, times change. Not only the meaning of words, but whole ways of looking at the universe vary in different ages and cultural perspectives. You should always be aware of your time and place and the poet’s time and place. A word he or she used might have had different denotations and connotations than its current and more familiar uses.
Always assume that there is a reason for everything. Poetry relies on an extremely careful use of words, and you should always assume that poets have not made mistakes in constructing their poems, that poets have verbal control of their texts. Since words are carefully chosen, always consider why a word choice seems unusual, surprising, or curious. Try to discern a pattern in the poet’s choices.
Always look up anything you don’t understand—unfamiliar words, or familiar words used in unfamiliar ways, references to places, people, events, or myths, anything that the poem makes use of.
Also, always use discussion as a tool for clarification. One of the best ways to read a poem is to read it with other people (especially reading it aloud). Sharing responses and interpretations always helps to clarify a poem’s meaning (or meanings). In some ways, even the most private, personal poems are public events, and you should not feel that you have to rely solely on your own assumptions and reactions.
Williams, Fall 2011
How Do I Read a Poem?
First, you must realize that there is never just one way to read a poem. Poetry is often written to evoke personal feelings, and your personal responses—your feelings about a poem—are not necessarily incorrect just because they seem off the wall. All poetry combines sound and sense; thus you should always be aware of the lyric elements in a poem—how the poem sounds to your ear.
Also, always be aware of connotation as well as denotation; all words have echoes and references beyond their immediate meaning, and quite often poets are not only cognizant of these echoes but are also employing them to help convey their meaning. Consider, for instance, “blue sky.” This denotes a weather condition, but it also connotes the possibility of someone or something being beautiful, serene, or heavenly.
Always identify the poem’s situation. What is said is always conditioned by where and when it is being said, and by who is saying it. Identifying the speaker and his or her context places his or her utterances in perspective. I have always found it helpful to imagine making a video of the poem. Imagine that you are going to make a film of a poem—what would you place in front of the camera. See the poem imaginatively through this lens.
Always read the syntax literally. What the words say literally in normal sentences is only a starting point, but it is the best place to start. Not all poems use normal syntax and grammar, but you should start reading the poem by paraphrasing (in plain syntax, rephrasing what the poem literally says).
Always consider what the title, subject, and situation make you expect or assume. Often poets will offer a title, subject, or situation as a clue to reading their poems. Although poets will often surprise readers by reversing expectations (the nature of irony), you should be conscious of where you are expected to begin. Take what the poet gives you.
Also, always be willing to be surprised. Like fiction writers, poets will often defy conventions and traditions. What is first suggested can possibly contradict itself by the end of the poem, or at least offer significant qualification or variation. Be aware that, instead of serenity and bliss, “blue sky” might ironically indicate emotional turbulence.
Always consider what is implied by the literary and cultural traditions behind the poem. Verse forms, poetic structures, and metrical patterns all have frames of reference, traditions of the way they have usually been used and for what reasons. Poets are especially close readers of other poets. Thus, when a poet writes an elegy or a sonnet, you can be sure that he or she is fully aware of the elegy or sonnet tradition. Quite possibly he or she is not only aware of Milton or Shakespeare, but that he or she is writing in response to their poems.
Always consider the poet’s cultural and historical context. As cultural artifacts, a poem is constructed in a particular time and place—and your time and place of reading of the poem occurs in a completely different time and place. Obviously, times change. Not only the meaning of words, but whole ways of looking at the universe vary in different ages and cultural perspectives. You should always be aware of your time and place and the poet’s time and place. A word he or she used might have had different denotations and connotations than its current and more familiar uses.
Always assume that there is a reason for everything. Poetry relies on an extremely careful use of words, and you should always assume that poets have not made mistakes in constructing their poems, that poets have verbal control of their texts. Since words are carefully chosen, always consider why a word choice seems unusual, surprising, or curious. Try to discern a pattern in the poet’s choices.
Always look up anything you don’t understand—unfamiliar words, or familiar words used in unfamiliar ways, references to places, people, events, or myths, anything that the poem makes use of.
Also, always use discussion as a tool for clarification. One of the best ways to read a poem is to read it with other people (especially reading it aloud). Sharing responses and interpretations always helps to clarify a poem’s meaning (or meanings). In some ways, even the most private, personal poems are public events, and you should not feel that you have to rely solely on your own assumptions and reactions.
Engl 10203, Intro to Creative Writing
Williams, Spring 2011
Poetry, Turning Phrases into Lines
Below are three short poems written as sentences and phrases. Break them up into lines, and see how close you can come to the original poet’s version.
In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, who, squatting upon the ground, held his heart in his hands, and ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it because it is bitter and because it is my heart.”
--Stephen Crane, untitled
Let us go then you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, the muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent to lead you to an overwhelming questions . . . .Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit. In the room women come and go talking of Michelangelo.
--T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (first section only)
The penny candy store beyond the El is where I first fell in love with unreality Jellybeans glowed in the semi-gloom of that september afternoon. A cat upon the counter moved among the licorice sticks and tootsie rolls and Oh Boy Gum. Outside the leaves were falling as they died. A wind had blown away the sun. A girl ran in. Her hair was rainy. Her breasts were breathless in the little room. Outside the leaves were falling and they cried Too soon! Too soon!
--Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “The pennycandystore beyond the El”
Williams, Spring 2011
Poetry, Turning Phrases into Lines
Below are three short poems written as sentences and phrases. Break them up into lines, and see how close you can come to the original poet’s version.
In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, who, squatting upon the ground, held his heart in his hands, and ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it because it is bitter and because it is my heart.”
--Stephen Crane, untitled
Let us go then you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, the muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent to lead you to an overwhelming questions . . . .Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit. In the room women come and go talking of Michelangelo.
--T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (first section only)
The penny candy store beyond the El is where I first fell in love with unreality Jellybeans glowed in the semi-gloom of that september afternoon. A cat upon the counter moved among the licorice sticks and tootsie rolls and Oh Boy Gum. Outside the leaves were falling as they died. A wind had blown away the sun. A girl ran in. Her hair was rainy. Her breasts were breathless in the little room. Outside the leaves were falling and they cried Too soon! Too soon!
--Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “The pennycandystore beyond the El”
Engl 20923, Intro to Creative Writing
Williams, Spring 2011
Poetry?
John Milton (1608-1674) compared poetry to philosophical discourse and found it “more simple, sensuous, and passionate.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1771-1834) said that poetry’s “proper and immediate object” was “the communication of immediate pleasure.” Coleridge also distinguished the differences between prose and poetry as “prose—words in their best order; poetry--the best words in the best order.”
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) stated: “Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive and wisely effective mode of saying things.”
Robert Frost (1874-1963) claimed that poetry “begins with delight and ends in wisdom.”
Horace (65-8 BC) declared that poetry instructs while it pleases.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and said that it “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”
John Keats (1795-1821) stated: “Poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity. It should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost as a remembrance.”
The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms: Poetry, language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationships between words on a basis of sound as well as sense; this pattern is almost always a rhythm or meter, which may be supplemented by a rhyme or alliteration or both. The demands of verbal patterning usually make poetry a more condensed medium than prose or everyday speech, often involving variations in syntax, the use of special words and phrases, and a more frequent and elaborate use of figures of speech (images, metaphors, similes). All cultures have their poetry, using it in various purposes from sacred ritual to obscene insult, but it is generally employed in those utterances and writings that call for heightened intensity of emotion, dignity of expression, or subtlety of mediation. Poetry is valued for combining pleasures of sound with freshness of ideas.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) wrote: The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.
President John Kennedy (1917-1963) declared: “When power leads a man to arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) stated: “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what was seen during a moment.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) commented: “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
Louise Bogan (1897-1970) stated: It’s silly to suggest that the writing of poetry is something ethereal, a sort of soul-crashing emotional experience that wrings you. I have no fancy ideas about poetry. It doesn’t come to you on the wings of a dove. It’s something you work hard at.
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) remarked: “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation, is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.
While explaining why he gave up boxing in college, T. S. Eliot also commented: “I was too slow a mover. It was much easier to be a poet.”
Eliot on his term, objective correlative: “An objective correlative is an object, an action, a situation which is never the ‘formula’ of that particular emotion and which, when presented to the reader, produces a sense of impression that elicits the emotion.”
Translations of a Japanese haiku:
The morning glory—
another thing
that will never be my friend.
The morning glory
is a separate being
and I can never know it intimately.
The morning glory
is yet another object
with which I will never become closely acquainted.
The morning glory—
something else
that won’t call me companion.
Which is better?
Williams, Spring 2011
Poetry?
John Milton (1608-1674) compared poetry to philosophical discourse and found it “more simple, sensuous, and passionate.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1771-1834) said that poetry’s “proper and immediate object” was “the communication of immediate pleasure.” Coleridge also distinguished the differences between prose and poetry as “prose—words in their best order; poetry--the best words in the best order.”
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) stated: “Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive and wisely effective mode of saying things.”
Robert Frost (1874-1963) claimed that poetry “begins with delight and ends in wisdom.”
Horace (65-8 BC) declared that poetry instructs while it pleases.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and said that it “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”
John Keats (1795-1821) stated: “Poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity. It should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost as a remembrance.”
The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms: Poetry, language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationships between words on a basis of sound as well as sense; this pattern is almost always a rhythm or meter, which may be supplemented by a rhyme or alliteration or both. The demands of verbal patterning usually make poetry a more condensed medium than prose or everyday speech, often involving variations in syntax, the use of special words and phrases, and a more frequent and elaborate use of figures of speech (images, metaphors, similes). All cultures have their poetry, using it in various purposes from sacred ritual to obscene insult, but it is generally employed in those utterances and writings that call for heightened intensity of emotion, dignity of expression, or subtlety of mediation. Poetry is valued for combining pleasures of sound with freshness of ideas.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) wrote: The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.
President John Kennedy (1917-1963) declared: “When power leads a man to arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) stated: “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what was seen during a moment.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) commented: “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
Louise Bogan (1897-1970) stated: It’s silly to suggest that the writing of poetry is something ethereal, a sort of soul-crashing emotional experience that wrings you. I have no fancy ideas about poetry. It doesn’t come to you on the wings of a dove. It’s something you work hard at.
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) remarked: “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation, is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.
While explaining why he gave up boxing in college, T. S. Eliot also commented: “I was too slow a mover. It was much easier to be a poet.”
Eliot on his term, objective correlative: “An objective correlative is an object, an action, a situation which is never the ‘formula’ of that particular emotion and which, when presented to the reader, produces a sense of impression that elicits the emotion.”
Translations of a Japanese haiku:
The morning glory—
another thing
that will never be my friend.
The morning glory
is a separate being
and I can never know it intimately.
The morning glory
is yet another object
with which I will never become closely acquainted.
The morning glory—
something else
that won’t call me companion.
Which is better?
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