Creative Writing 7 (CW7): May 2017

Monday, May 22, 2017

GROUP PROJECT: Adapting a fable or fairy tale for the stage

AGENDA:

In small groups, you will be adapting a fable or fairy tale for the stage.

Your project requires:

1. A script for a skit.

2. A set and costume design.

3. A song to be sung for the skit by a character(s) to set the scene. You can write the words to any famous melody.

4. A performance for the class.
What is the difference between a fable and a fairy tale?

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-fable-and-vs-fairy-tale/

1. Review with students the elements of a fable: characters, setting, events and a moral. In most fables the characters are animals. These animals usually represent specific human qualities(personification).

2. Review the concept of a moral. Tell students that fables are meant to teach a lesson or moral. The moral is usually revealed at the end of the fable. Sometimes the moral is delivered as a statement, such as "Be happy with what you have," or "It is easier to think up a plan than to carry it out."

3. Ask students to re-read The Ant and the Dove and have them orally identify the characters, setting, and moral of the story (the moral is already provided).

 The Ant and the Dove 


  AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and
being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of
drowning.  A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked
a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her.  The Ant
climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank.  Shortly
afterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid
his lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches.  The Ant,
perceiving his design, stung him in the foot.  In pain the
birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove
take wing.


 One good turn deserves another

4. Tell students that they will be reading more fables individually and that they must be able to identify key elements of the fables.

Prewriting: Tell students to make a plan before writing. For the pre-writing stage, encourage students to use graphic organizers (see below) to organize their ideas. Students should plan out the following:

Characters (for example, a cat and a dog)
Setting (for example, a vacant lot)
Events (for example, a dog encounters a cat who has a piece of meat)
Moral (for example, pick on animals your own size)

Drafting: Direct students to follow the order of the original fable or the order of events they listed and to begin writing a first draft.

Revising: Eliminate this step during this section. When students are in small groups, have the other group members revise and proofread the fable that they are choosing for the skit.

Proofreading: Students should check spelling, capitalization, punctuation and word usage. This can be done using a word-processing program.

Publishing: In this final stage of the writing process, students submit their writing. They have the option of extending on the lesson by publishing their creative work in a number of outlets(submitting to a newspaper or literary magazine, for example).

FABLES:

Fox and the Grapes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkZp4eH04c8&feature=player_embedded

Fox and the Grapes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hACpLj0_EiA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtnyD2uG8yo

Adapting a Fairy Tale:

http://writingfairytales.weebly.com/adapting-a-fairy-tale.html

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Write a monologue for a character

AGENDA:

Finish working on your scene.

If you have finished your scene, begin working on a monologue. Read the following about types of monologues. Choose one exercise to write. Name your character. Describe the situation and write what he or she will say.

Exercise: The Monologue

ONE: Dealing with the Past

It is a common practice with monologues that a character relates a past story in order to illuminate something that is currently happening the plot of the play.

The problem with these types of monologues is when a character says, "I remember." "I remember" creates an insular experience; it's something that only happened to the character and it's difficult for the audience to share in the event. The audience doesn't remember.

Another problem with past monologues is the use of the past tense. When something has happened in the past, it's over, it's done. Using the present tense is much more alive and active.

EXERCISE

Write a monologue where the first line is 'I remember when...' and uses the past tense. Have a character talk about a childhood memory that has significant impact on how they are today.

TWO: Making the Story Count

If a character tells a story in a monologue - "I went to the grocery store and THIS JUST HAPPENED," there has to be something besides the base story going on for the audience. There has to be more. The story has to show something: a character flaw, a plot point we didn't know, a lie, a romance, and so on.

EXERCISE

Write a monologue where the character tells a story about going to a parade.

THREE: The Need to Speak

In every monologue a character must 'need to speak.' Otherwise, why is the monologue there? In every monologue you write, you must determine the need for the character to speak. What drives the character? Is there anything that stands in the way of the character's need to speak? The character doesn't necessarily have to succeed with what they need. Maybe they're too afraid, or they change their mind, or there's something stopping them. Obstacles are good! But start with the need and then see what happens.

EXERCISE

Choose one of the following needs. What kind of character would have that need? Give them a name, an age, and a physical appearance. Who are they talking to? Who is the listener? What is the relationship? Decide if your character will succeed or fail with their need. Now write the monologue.

The character needs to reveal a secret to the listener.
The character needs to prove something to the listener.
The character needs to reveal they love the listener.
The character needs to reveal they hate the listener.
The character needs to stand up to the listener.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Playscripts

AGENDA:

Finish working on your playscripts.

With a partner, read them aloud to one another and see how they sound.

Print out and put a copy in your portfolio.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Scriptwriting

AGENDA:

Playwriting Exercise

Pick an opening line:

The scene should be one page long. The scene should only have two characters who are in one room, in one location. Go down the list and use the provided first line as the first line of your scene and write scene using proper format.

Well, aren’t you going to congratulate me?
What do you mean “I have to give the ring back?”
This is most definitely the result of a curse.
Dude, Lara Croft is not your girlfriend.
I can fix this, I am determined to fix this.
I have something important to tell you.
Why are you hiding in the bathroom?
Sir, you dropped your wallet.
I would do anything for a peanut butter dipped chocolate bar right now.
First day of school, first day of hell.

Using the handout, format your play scene correctly.

When you are finished try adding another line from the list to add to your scene or write a completely different scene using the correct format.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

What do the arts have in common?

There are many reasons for asking this question. Politicians, educators, news reporters and cultural affairs directors all have reason to ask it. All must make decisions about how to regard, fund and support "the arts"; all sometimes find it confusing to make decisions about movies, paintings, jazz, rock, rap and classical music performances, dance, theater, pottery, and perhaps even stand-up comedy, juggling and "the culinary arts" as if they all belonged to the same category.

Artists also have reason to ask what the arts have in common. A songwriter asks it, at least implicitly, whenever she or he tries to match music and lyrics. If music and poetry don't have anything in common, it shouldn't matter what music you set the words to; but it obviously does matter. And it matters in a number of ways. Both music and poetry have meter, and both have regular or irregular phrases. So the meter and phrasing of the music should match the meter and phrasing of the lyrics. But so should the mood of the music and the lyrics match. A bouncy tune will clash with serious lyrics; a sad or grand tune will not fit with silly lyrics, except as a joke.

These facts seem so obvious as not to need stating. Yet they raise important questions about music and poetry. After all, these are very different art forms. Poems, being language, have meaning as a matter of course. But music does not "mean" in the same way that poetry does. So how can a piece of music fit some meanings better than others? Asking this question immediately opens up a range of intriguing philosophical questions about the nature of musical meaning. There has probably been more disagreement about these questions among philosophers (and musicians and critics) than about any other single question in the philosophy of music. At the practical level they are answered every day by songwriters and composers.

Similar questions lie behind the practice of the film-makers art. Film includes not only moving images, but also sound. It is like music, even when it is silent; and it uses music. It is like theater; it is like painting; it is a form of photography. How do these different elements work together in a movie?
So what do the arts have in common?

The arts are like a large extended family. There are many family resemblances among them. Some recur frequently; others are shared by only a few members of the family, or are unique to one or two members. There is no one defining set of characteristics such that all and only "arts" have those characteristics. So an attempt to define "art" is bound to fail. Questions about what particular art forms have in common, on the other hand, are frequently of great interest, and the attempt to answer them may be both illuminating and as stimulating to the practice of those arts as to aesthetic theory.