Five things meme

You post a topic, list, category, whatever, in my comments section. (examples: "5 Sexiest Things About Ron Weasley" or "Top 5 things to drink"). Then, in a separate post, I'll post the answers to all your Top 5 ideas, according to me. Then you post this offer in your own journal.
(gacked from inlovewithnight)

Baa baa, I'm such a sheep.

(no subject)

I love teaching, if only because my course compels me to search the net at regular intervals. While looking for a catchy definition of "subtext" I came across a really good Glossary of literary terms and techniques. Here are two exerpts:

foregrounding a flashback A technique used in extended flashback in a past tense narrative, whereby the "hads" are quietly dropped several clauses past the onset of the flashback, not used for its duration, and re-employed a clause or two from story's return to its major timeline. Certain kinds of verbs, typically those with vague or imprecise relationships to time (such as linking verbs), function better than others for these "temporal pivots." When you foreground a flashback, you literally bring it forward to the temporal level of the story's major timeline; this allows for less cumbersome verbal structures (no "hads") and draws the reader more deeply into the moment. For more on verbs and their relationship to time, go to English 301, Lesson #6: The Habit of the Tale.

rule of three #2 (cronin) A rule, derived from rule of three #1, that anything important, interesting and useful in your story must appear or happen a minimum of three times. Of course, you don't want your story to be built of obvious triangles of three; the repetitions need to be veiled. Let's say your story involves having a baby. One of the metaphors you use along the way is an Easter egg--suggestive of birth, springtime, the pleasure of opening something up to see what's inside. Fine. Do you need to write a story about an Easter egg hunt? Of course not. (Though it's not the worst idea). Consider: a fortune cookie; a jewelry box; a room with a locked door. Any of these things could be deployed in the story to create a narrative echo and do the same kind of work. How about a moment when somebody goes gets down on his hands and knees to look under the sofa for a lost key? This could echo an earlier moment, a childhood memory, of hunting in the grass for eggs. Typically, the rule of three #2 is a good second draft tool; you look at the story you've made, and the psychological material you've made it with, and you can identify patterns of imagery that your unconscious mind has installed. Conscious awareness then allows you to adjust, amplify, and retool these patterns. For more, see narrative echo and go to Lesson #7: The Cosmology of the Tale.

(Justin Cronin teaches Creative Writing at Rice University)


Why, oh, why didn't I find his site when I started to prepare my course?
*goes back to reading*

ETA: His course guidelines are brilliant:

Do's and dont's: Do befriend the other students in the class; don't view them as competitors. Do take chances with your writing; don't assume you know this stuff already. Do say what's on your mind in class; don't be tactless. Do write for pleasure; don't have so much fun that nobody else will. Do pay attention to assigned lengths; don't obsess on the word count. Do write ahead; don't write at the last minute, because you never know when the muse will show up. Do write work that feels honest; don't write work that's just psychotherapy. Do think of yourself as an artist; don't drink too much, or fill your pockets with rocks and jump in the river, or wear your beret to bed.

LOL

My lucky day

Good stuff that happened to me today (yay!):

• The folder of stories arrived for next weekend's sci-fi workshop. Two people submitted outlines for Fantasy-novels, one submitted an outline for a serial killer thriller. That means I can hand in the outline for my fantasy novel for discussion instead of having to dither over sci-fi plots. (I have more time to hand mine in because I am a replacement)


• A new fantasy rolegaming book arrived today for free - the publishing house still sends me new publications because they published several of my sourcebooks. Yay!


• Toyah helped make lunch. She was very good today.


• A friend dropped off two bags full of second hand clothes for Tina. The clothes are not for free but they are cheap, and they are nice. Tina is happy.


• One of my students sent glowing feedback for my course (my course is her favorite this term; she asks me to offer many more courses. The good thing is, she never wrote before but now writes in both English and German. Hurrah!)


• I found a really good site on creative writing (see previous post)


• I watched the new Supernatural epi and loved it


• Today's English lesson went smoothly.


• There was no handout to prepare for tomorrow's teaching class, because we will spend the entire session critiquing. No hectic last minute prep work. No sir! Will now curl up on the sofa and leisurely mark one more story while sipping my ice tea...


• The kids gave me hundreds of kisses. I think the holidays were good for them. Tina no longer objects to everything I say.


• I read a short LotR fanfic that I enjoyed. Without feeling guilty.


• I tinkered with my fantasy novel. Added to the word count but didn't do my 1000 - without feeling guilty.

Bad stuff:

Poked Perdition Catch my Soul with a stick. I'm trying to muster the courage to just pummel through the bit that I don't like in the hopes that I gain some impetus. I am stuck in a scene where Spike and Xander rattle through conflicting emotions faster than a pinball. I should probably throw the scene away and start afresh, but that's something I find extremely hard. I'm not sure why the characters behave the way they do and I just can't let go and let them get to wherever they're going under their own steam. *bangs head on desk*

Oh well, maybe tomorrow. If I don't break through the barrier tomorrow, I'll put it on ice again. *glares at muse*