Writing Exploration Unit

Inner Editor Containment Button Before you begin your month-long noveling adventure, you'll want to do away with your Inner Editor. What is your Inner Editor? He's the nagging, no-fun beast we bring along with us on all our creative endeavors. He sits on our shoulder and points out our typos and misspellings and every awkward sentence. When he's in a particularly nasty mood, he might try to tell us that we're embarrassingly awful writers, and shouldn't even be allowed to put pen to paper. He is helpful to have around when taking tests and revising things we've already written (and any other things where we're shooting for perfection). But he'll slow you down in the worst way if you let him write your novel with you next month. Contain the beast. Move on.

What Makes a Novel a Novel? A novel is a long book that tells a story of made-up characters and events. It is written in prose and contains a conflict, or problem, that the characters try to solve. This project will make you feel like you are writing a novel, but you aren’t. It will lead to a longer than usual story though.

What This Project Isn’t  Terrifyi ng  Imposs ible  Too Hard

Challenging The #1 hindrance that is keeping you from thinking you can do this… is you. “I can’t write” “I have nothing interesting to write about” “I’m not creative”

What This Project Is  Challen ging  Comple tely Possible  Rewardi ng

Completely Possible You are your own worst enemy Don’t let the fear overcome you

Rewarding It will be all yours and yours alone.

PULL OUT A NEARBY BOOK

MODEL NOVEL : Imitation  1. What is the name of your novel?  2. Who is the author?  3. Look up your author on Google. Find three other books (and the year published) the author has written (if possible) and find where they got their “writing knowledge” (education, inspiration)  4. Find a review of a book that he or she has written, read it, and then write what their take on the book was.  5. Who are the most important characters in your novel?  6. Who do you think is the MOST important?  7. What is the central conflict of your book?  8. Whose perspective is the novel in? (POV) -1 st “I”-3 rd “Her” “Him” -2 nd “You”-Multiple Perspectives

My Main Character  Who is my main character?  Not perfect, has something to learn, changes at some point  The main character may or may not even be aware that they need to change something  Change can be inner (personal) or outer (outside forces)  Where does he/she live?  World-building (we will discuss this later)  How might they change during the course of my story?  A large part of your story must focus on this  What challenges will they face along the way  At some point, the need to change will need to be something the main character loses care about  Who is friends with my main character?  Secondary characters (we will discuss later)

My Main Character Conflict: You’ve heard of it; now embrace it All main characters have an inner conflict, even if they also have an outside force working against them Some inner conflicts are smaller than others

Literary Conflict

External vs. Internal External External Conflict takes place outside of the body Internal Internal Conflict takes place inside of the body/mind

There are three types of external conflict External Conflict

External: Man vs. Man The most straightforward type of conflict pits the protagonist directly against another character with apparently opposing aims.

External: Man vs. Nature This type of conflict pits a story's main character or characters against a natural force such as a flood, predatory animal, or disease epidemic.

External: Man vs. Society In many stories, the protagonist battles an unjust element of government or culture.

There is only one type of internal conflict Internal

Internal: Man vs. Self Some literary conflicts take the form of a character struggling to overcome fear, addiction, emotional damage or other crippling personal issue.

Decide what type of conflict is being illustrated in the following pictures Practice

1: Man vs. ?

2: Man vs. ?

3: Man vs. ?

4: Man vs. ?

5: Man vs. ?

6: Man vs. ?

7: Man vs. ?

8: Man vs. ?

Now that you have mastered pictures, let’s try some text! PRACTICE

“If she had only proceeded more slowly. If she had only taken the Southerly route, avoiding the icebergs. If only the watch had had a pair of binoculars.” (news story about the Titanic) 9: Man vs. ?

Charles decided to break all the rules the day he decided to steal that car. He was immediately arrested and sent to jail to await his trial. He should have known better than to mess with the “rules.” 10: Man vs. ?

“I don’t care who you talk to!” screamed Sarah to West. “I just wish I had never met you!” 11: Man vs ?

After lowering himself into the damp and dark cave Tom began to reprimand himself for not having replaced his flashlight batteries. Tom’s terror slowly began to take over as the light around him grew dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. 12: Man vs ?

Tom found a dry spot to sit down in the dark and began to obsess over an argument he had had earlier in the day with his mother in which he had said, “I hope I never see you again!” 13: Man vs ?

MAIN CHARACTER EXPLORATION Open up a Word document and title it “Main Character Exploration”. Use the following slide to spend the rest of the hour immersing yourself in brainstorming your new character. This can also be found on the class calendar under this week.

What is your characters name? Does the character have a nickname? What is your characters hair color? Eye color? What kind of distinguishing facial features does your character have? Does your character have a birthmark? Where is it? What about scars? How did he get them? Who are your characters friends and family? Who does she surround herself with? Who are the people your character is closest to? Who does he wish he were closest to? Where was your character born? Where has she lived since then? Where does she call home? Where does your character go when he is angry? What is her biggest fear? Who has she told this to? Who would she never tell this to? Why? Does she have a secret? What makes your character laugh out loud? When has your character been in love? Had a broken heart? Then dig deeper by asking more unconventional questions: What is in your characters refrigerator right now? On her bedroom floor? On her nightstand? In her garbage can? Look at your characters feet. Describe what you see there. Does he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother? When your character thinks of her childhood kitchen, what smell does she associate with it? Sauerkraut? Oatmeal cookies? Paint? Why is that smell so resonant for her? Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for her to throw out? What is difficult for her to part with? Why? Its Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. If he is eating breakfast, what exactly does he eat? If she is stretching out in her backyard to sun, what kind of blanket or towel does she lie on? What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting? Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where is she going? What does she wear?

Secondary Characters They have potential to create complications for your main character They may even disagree with your main character’s decisions (or your main character disagrees with them) They actually have a life separate from your main character; they are just as real and complicated

The Antagonist Who opposes my main character and why?  An antagonist, a villain, or anyone who simply messes things up for your main character  Requires just as much attention to detail as your main character

World Building “All the world’s a stage, and the men and women merely players” – William Shakespeare

Your Own Life Describe your bedroom. All the details. Anything you can think of. Every tiny thing.