Exercise 1
In class you’ll randomly select three works from the Artists & Paintings page.
Choose one of these three works of art and complete these steps:
- Write a paragraph or two from the perspective of someone (or something?) depicted in the work.
- Write a paragraph or two from the point of view of the artist about the work.
- Do some research about the artist and the work and list five interesting facts that might be included in a story.
This assignment is due tonight, Monday, August 26, at midnight. Please save your exercise as a Word or Google document and place it in the Exercise 1 folder on Google Drive. Please format using Times or Times Roman, double-spaced, with page numbers, and name the file YourName.ENCW220.Ex1.
Exercise 2
Select a work from the Artists & Paintings page (a different work than the one you used for Exercise 1).
Write the opening paragraphs of a story that includes rich, evocative detail and description conveying the setting (including time and place) of the story, the central characters (one of whom should be based on the artist of the work you’ve chosen), and — perhaps subtly, perhaps explicitly — a circumstance or conflict propelling the story forward.
This assignment is due Thursday, August 29, at midnight. Please save your exercise as a Word or Google document and place it in the Exercise 2 folder on Google Drive. Please format using Times or Times Roman, double-spaced, with page numbers, and name the file YourName.ENCW301.Ex2. Make sure your name appears on the first page of the document as well.
Exercise 3
Select for your research project one of the artists from the list at the top of the Artists & Paintings page, then begin to gather information for your project.
You should create a document in which you record information and ideas that will enable you to craft a story based on some aspect of that artist’s life. That information should include (but is not necessarily limited to) biographical details: where and when the artist lived at various stages of her life, the people with whom she interacted, the works of art she made, the trajectory of her career as an artist and of her life more generally, the ideas and issues (political, personal, or artistic) she encountered or developed, and the specific incidents and relationships in her life that might have dramatic potential and thus be included in a short story.
You should also begin to contemplate the various decisions you’ll need to make in order to write the story: What will be the story’s point of view? What characters will be included? Where and when will the story be set? What will be the primary dramatic incident or conflict? What invented places, characters, or circumstances will be included? Behind all of these endeavors is the central question any writer might ask about her story: Why am I telling this story? This question, though, might be — and perhaps should be — one you can answer only once you’ve completed a full draft of the story.
Although your research document won’t be complete until later in this process, please save the document as a Word or Google file and place it in the Exercise 3 folder on Google Drive by midnight on Wednesday, September 4. Please name the file YourName.ENCW301.Ex3. Make sure your name appears on the first page of the document as well.
Exercise 4
Continue to work on gathering the information for Exercise 3, building a rich array of information, images, quotations, and sources you’ll have on hand as you develop your story. Also, complete the following writing exercise:
1.Write the first sentence of your story. (Consider carefully what that first sentence accomplishes. What, if anything, does it convey about point of view, character, setting (geographical, historical, particular), tone, and dramatic circumstance? Revise the sentence until you feel you’ve got it right.
2. Take that first sentence, and use it as the opening of two separate beginnings for your story, both no more than a page in length. Opening A should be focused primarily on description of external circumstances: the room where the characters are situated, the view through a window, an object or objects (perhaps a canvas or photograph or sculpture). Avoid, as much as possible, any dialogue. Opening B should be focused primarily on internal matters — the narrator’s (in a first-person story) or the point-of-view character’s (in a third-person story) thoughts and feelings, perhaps including memories of earlier incidents. Again, try to avoid, as much as possible, the use of dialogue.
3. Consider the different ways these two openings steer your story, how they potentially alter the story’s trajectory.
4. Include the two openings in a single document, save it as a Word or Google file, and place it in the Exercise 4 folder on Google Drive by midnight tonight, Thursday, September 5. Please name the file YourName.ENCW301.Ex4. Make sure your name appears on the first page of the document as well.
Exercise 5
For next week’s blog posts, you should select two works (one for each post) by the artist you’re researching for your story. Include an image of the work, and then provide historical information about that work (for example, when and where it was created, what its subject is, how the work was received, etc.) as well as a discussion of how the work relates to the story you’re creating.
Exercise 6
Compose, revise, and submit at least 2-3 pages (double-spaced, Times or Times New Roman font) of your story and place the document in the Exercise 6 folder on Google Drive by midnight on Sunday, September 8. Please name the file YourName.ENCW301.Ex6. Make sure your name appears on the first page of the document as well.
These first pages should enable your reader to identify key elements of your story — the characters and setting, the pacing and tone, the apparent arc of the plot — and at least begin to surmise the thematic concerns the story will address. Your goal should be to have these pages convey the care and precision of your prose and the ways in which you have used your research to craft a richly detailed, persuasive setting and nuanced, complex characters.