EWC 4U1/7

For a prose version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, see Charles Lamb's version in Tales From Shakespeare.

ENG 2D7

Seminar Evaluation

IDEAS & CONTENT (10)
- Demonstrates thorough understanding of content.
- Details from the text are well chosen, wide ranging, and offer strong support for stated points.
- Demonstrates thorough understanding of thematic elements with forceful analysis of characters/conflict.

ORGANIZATION (5)
- Material is evenly distributed among group members.
- Literary features are incorporated into presentation to ensure audience recognition.
- Highly interactive/stimulating.

CREATIVITY (10)
- Responds imaginatively to the work on several levels.
- Captures and maintains audience interest with a high degree of success.

LANGUAGE & CONVENTIONS (5)
- Diction is interesting, appropriate and convincing; word choice is precise and expressive.
- Offers useful and detailed background information on elements of story.
- Material is well-integrated into presentation, enhancing our appreciation of the work.

TOTAL = /30

Patricia Highsmith on developing a plot

~> originally posted on Kate's Book Blog:

A plot, after all, should never be a rigid thing in the writer’s mind when he starts to work. I carry this thought one step further and believe that a plot should not even be completed. I have to think of my own entertainment, and I like surprises myself. If I know everything that is going to happen, it is not so much fun writing it. But more important is the fact that a flexible plot line lets the characters move and make decisions like living people, gives them a chance to debate with themselves, make choices, take them back, make others, as people do in real life. Rigid plots, even if perfect, may result in a cast of automatons.

From Patricia Highsmith, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (1983).

Richard Ford on fact and fiction

~> originally posted on Kate's Book Blog:

Writers are notorious for not respecting (or even knowing) the difference between what did occur and what they wrote as having occurred. Many writers believe that the distinctions between these two classes of event are—at day’s end—rather overly tidy distinctions, and never as interesting as what gets made of each. It is also true that some things that actually do happen often prove difficult to work with, become refractory to the writer’s process of development through change. My Grandpa Ben did not kill a man in a hotel lobby in Kansas City. But “my Grandpa Ned,” who bears a striking resemblance to another man, needs to do it for my story to find its climax, only I have a hard time feeling convinced about it. Often the real events, the actual people, cling to their factuality in ways that can make them unbalance a story, even ruin it. Fiction, after all, needn’t be a news report on life. Life’s just where the trip begins, and of course where it ends. But in the middle, in the story, we depart from life as we please in order to think of what might happen, and what difference it would make.

From Richard Ford, “A Short Story” in Maurice A. Lee, ed., Writers on Writing: The Art of the Short Story (2005).

ENG 3U7

::: HOMEWORK :::

~> The first draft of your story is due on Thursday : please bring 3 extra copies for peer-editing.

~> Catch up on your reading : you are responsible for the six (6) short stories studied in class.

~> There will be an end-of-unit test on Monday. Details to follow.




::: SHORT STORY EVALUATION :::

IDEAS & CONTENT (10)
- inventive response to topic

ORGANIZATION (5)
- consistent point of view

CREATIVITY (10)
- maintains reader’s interest

LANGUAGE & CONVENTIONS (5)
- precise and expressive word choice


TOTAL = /30

EWC 4U1/7

::: REMINDER :::


Please hand in your assignments using the following format:

~> rubric (top)

~> polished assignment

~> rough work

~> reader response (bottom)

ENG 2D7

::: IN-CLASS ESSAY :::


The essays written in class last week
will be returned by the end of this week.

ENG 2D7

::: Updated Short Story Seminar Schedule :::

Part II

chapters 20-25 - Sept 27 - Victoria, Liz, Pranjal, Nadine

chapters 26-31 - Sept 27 - Nicole, Luxsuya, Shannon, Lori

chapters 32-39 - Sept 29 - Anila, Abeer, Maira, Nidhi

Part III

chapters 40-45 - Oct 3 - Stephanie, Susan, Sheilika, Marjan

chapters 46-51 - Oct 5 - Devanshu, Travis, Ibrahim, Debanjan

chapters 52-59 - Oct 10 - Sandy, Geethana, John

ENG 2D7

IN-CLASS ESSAY TOPICS

• How does fear influence Pip's thoughts & actions?
• Imagine that Great Expectations takes place in modern day Toronto. How would this change in setting affect: a) the plot; b) Pip's family life; and c) the circumstances of the convicts?
• Identify the three (3) most significant literary features in the first section of Great Expectations and explain their combined effect.

EWC 4U1/7

The Qualities of Literary Composition

According to Stephen Spender, here are the qualities of literary composition:

(a) inspiration - the moment of conception of the vague structure and form that the story will take

(b) memory - all the singular details that the writer can bring to the work from the well of her own consciousness - the sensations, the images, the characters, and the events that will serve the original concept

(c) concentration - controls such matters as tone and point of view, maintaining a consistency that will give the work much of its unity

(d) faith - in your material and your gifts as a writer

(e) song - expert use of language, not merely in the sense of correct usage, but in the sense that language is the means by which a certain music is created, a sound in the ears as well as logic for the mind. It is meter, it is rhythm, it is emphasis, it is even gesture.

(from The Art of Writing Fiction by Ray B. West, Jr.)

EWC 4U1/7

::: WORKSHOP #1 :::

• Using the technique described on the Recording the "Movie In the Reader's Mind" handout, begin to formulate an answer to the question: "What is effective writing?"

• Workshop #1 => "Reader Response critique of Araby"

• Return your "Reader's response" (one paragraph description of your reading experience + a copy of the "Reader Response to Araby" underlined) to its owner on Tues., Sept. 23, 06.

• Your "Writer's response" (questions 1-3 on the handout) is due at the beginning of class on Thurs., Sept. 21, 06.

ENG 3U7

SHORT STORY SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Weds, Sept 20 ---> "My Side of the Matter" --- "A. & P."

Fri, Sept 22 ---> "The Circuit" --- "Country"

Tues, Sept 26 ---> "Strong Horse Tea" --- "The Lottery"

::: ORIGINAL SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT :::

Thurs, Sept 28 ---> draft of short story due --- peer editing in class

Mon, Oct 2 ---> original short story due

== COMING UP ==

Mon, Oct 2 ---> begin Hamlet

ENG 2D7

::: Short Story Seminar Schedule :::

Part I

• chapters 11-15 --- Sept 19 --- Fred, Darren, Akshay, Nirosan
• chapters 16-19 --- Sept 25 --- Sisi, Katherine

Part II

• chapters 20-25 --- Sept 25 --- Victoria, Liz, Pranjal, Nadine
• chapters 26-31 --- Sept 27 --- Nicole, Luxsuya, Shannon, Lori
• chapters 32-39 --- Sept 29 --- Anila, Abeer, Maira, Nidhi

Part III

• chapters 40-45 --- Oct 3 --- Stephanie, Susan, Sheilika, Marjan
• chapters 46-51 --- Oct 5 --- Devanshu, Travis, Ibrahim, Debanjan
• chapters 52-59 --- Oct 10 --- Sandy, Geethana, Kabriya, John

*each group must achieve min. level 3+; otherwise I'll pick grps next time

Welcome!

This blog is for students in Ms. Harrigan's English classes:

::: ENG 2D7-03 ::: ENG 3U7-03 ::: EWC 4U1/7-01 :::


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