Modern Lit. - Monday, January 12, 2009

Today our writing exercises involved five different prompts. You only needed to choose two to respond to today, but feel free to address all of them in your writing notebooks if you wish. Choose two of the following five:

1. Begin your first sentence with the phrase, "That was a time when..."

2. Respond to the prompt: "I'm inclined to lie about this." (You can begin your first sentence with this phrase or not, or you can just write about anything that comes to mind...)

3. The Elephant in the Room. Have you (or someone you know) ever been in a situation where there was a palpable tension or awkward situation that everyone was aware of but in which no one said anything? Again, you can write in any format or style that you choose, can make things up, etc.

4. Common experience/embarassing moment (Think back to "Big Boy" that we read in class.) You may write about an embarassing or awkward social situation that is common to all of us, a personal embarrassing moment, or something that all of us share as part of the human experience. Up to you!

5. The _______ dream you've ever had (the weirdest, scariest, best, etc.)

Next, we read a short story called "Extenuating Circumstances" by Joyce Carol Oates. This story is unique in that the narrator begins every sentence in the story with the word "because." As you read this piece, I asked you keep in mind the following guided questions: 1) What does the narrator do? 2)Why does she do it? In other words, what are her "extenuating circumstances"? 3) How effective is the repetitive use of the word "because"? Why? 4) The writer uses run-on sentences a few times throughout this piece. What does the use of this style convey in terms of tone and mood? What does it reveal about the character/narrator?

I want to encourage you to take risks with your writing and maybe try playing with structure a bit. Try to stray from the conventional. You might be surprised with what you can come up with!

Please note: Disregard the assignment that was posted on the calendar for today. I will likely move it to next week. Also, we did not get around to the proofreading/grammar activity that was scheduled for today, so that will be moved to Tuesday's agenda. Please make a note on your calendars.

"Extenuating Circumstances" by Joyce Carol Oates (from her book, Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque)