A little school help...

[kenshinbebop]

So this is kind of stupid. Tomorrow I have to write for a whole period. About anything. It's basically showcasing my writing. The teacher said to write anything we want, it just can't be poetry. He listed various things like short stories, essays, etc. I don't want to walk in tomorrow with no thought process, but I just can't decide. I mean, it seems so easy, but so much freedom actually constrains my mind. :lol:

I was thinking of doing a kind of 'lost chapters' of The Catcher in the Rye. It's been my favorite book forever, and the class just read it over the summer. The only downsides to the idea is capturing Salinger's writing technique. Also, I don't know if that'd be looked well upon, using another work. It's an AP class so I wanted to wow the teacher, so I don't know. I'm confident in my writing, just can't decide what to do.

Any ideas?

[VidelCoolGirl]

So this is kind of stupid. Tomorrow I have to write for a whole period. About anything. It's basically showcasing my writing. The teacher said to write anything we want, it just can't be poetry. He listed various things like short stories, essays, etc. I don't want to walk in tomorrow with no thought process, but I just can't decide. I mean, it seems so easy, but so much freedom actually constrains my mind. :lol:

I was thinking of doing a kind of 'lost chapters' of The Catcher in the Rye. It's been my favorite book forever, and the class just read it over the summer. The only downsides to the idea is capturing Salinger's writing technique. Also, I don't know if that'd be looked well upon, using another work. It's an AP class so I wanted to wow the teacher, so I don't know. I'm confident in my writing, just can't decide what to do.

Any ideas?

You know, a lot of classes do free-writes. I like them the best, and at Evergreen, they go for a lot longer than an hour. (Try four).

I never try and think of things prior to the class, since I usually fret about it, rehash it, and then totally disown it before I even sit down. I'd personally write you not being able to write or think of something, because that always leads to something else. Little by little, you open up and get some good stuff you didn't even know could come out of that #2 pencil.

That, or look up one-sentence prompts before class. Use that to start the story, and go from there.

[sailornyanko]

Or talk about how you'd never raise your daughters to worship Paris Hilton & friends or something.

Dunno, I've never had a creative writing class. Most of my grade scores come from exams and not from assignments.

I would reccomend writing something funny that would keep your classmates awake.

[superplough]

I love free writing, I used to write some epic random stories.

Good times. The one thing I miss about school.

[Woooh]

Short stores or stream of consciousnesses are usually pretty easy and entertaining. Or write a stream of consciousness based short story like something 4chan would come up with. They're usually well written and extremely entertaining.

[Holy Knight]

Sailonyanko! You're alive! Rumors abounded at one point and a small conspiracy revolved around them. Welcome back to the boards.

As to the topic at hand, I'd say you could write different paragraphs in different styles. Be descriptive of environments in one or of characters in another. If you can write about anything, just write. No need to think about what, just go wild, latch onto an idea and develop it with relish.

EDIT : For example, you could think of an object in the classroom. Say... the piece of chalk the teacher uses. What happened to it this morning before coming into the teachers hands? Did it see something it shouldn't have? Some teacher's lounge politics? Did it perhaps fall into the pocket of a girl and get carried around school and experience school life from a chalk's point of view before the girl noticed it and returned it?

The topics are endless. Just write.

[Shiroiyuki]

OMG, Sailornyanko! :O How goes the medical (?) field? You were trying to be a doctor, right?

Anyways, if I had to do a whole hour of free writing, I would make it something totally random and cynical *because that's who I am, after all*. Pick a major issue in today's news (like the correlation between Hurricane Ike and the sky rocketing gas prices) and use *****y comedy to tell the world how much it sucks. Something.

Or just write a 'children's book' with simple phrases and one-liners, and use the hour doodling in the margins.

[VidelCoolGirl]

Anyways, if I had to do a whole hour of free writing, I would make it something totally random and cynical *because that's who I am, after all*. Pick a major issue in today's news (like the correlation between Hurricane Ike and the sky rocketing gas prices) and use *****y comedy to tell the world how much it sucks. Something.

Or just write a 'children's book' with simple phrases and one-liners, and use the hour doodling in the margins.

Honestly, I'd end up writing a script. Those are fun to do. I'm wittier on paper than I am in real life.

[Tuna]

I second the vote for stream of consciousness...those are fun to write, and usually hilarious to read...
^_^

[VidelCoolGirl]

I second the vote for stream of consciousness...those are fun to write, and usually hilarious to read...
^_^

Its what I do the majority of the time on my LJ.

[Leader Desslock]

Suggestion #1: Do not plan what you're going to write. Just freewrite it when the time comes.

Suggestion #2: You might worry that you're gonna draw a blank and choke when the time comes, resulting in a blank sheet of paper. If you're really worried about that, then practice freewriting. Sit down a couple of times before your class with a pen and notebook, and just start writing. The hard part of freewriting is starting it off. Once you get used to doing that, it'll be easy to do in class.

Suggestion #3: If you're really stuck for an idea, then ... take yourself out of the equation. Imagine any narrative you've heard (maybe from the Hitchhiker's Guide, a documentary, a news broadcast, etc.) Imagine the voice of the narrator in your head. Now imagine that narrator talking about something at random. Start writing what the narrator says. Let the narrator make up something funny; you're just writing it down as it goes. Sure, it's a mental trick, but it usually works.

[Old Ape Face]

Suggestion #1: Do not plan what you're going to write. Just freewrite it when the time comes.

Suggestion #2: You might worry that you're gonna draw a blank and choke when the time comes, resulting in a blank sheet of paper. If you're really worried about that, then practice freewriting. Sit down a couple of times before your class with a pen and notebook, and just start writing. The hard part of freewriting is starting it off. Once you get used to doing that, it'll be easy to do in class.

Suggestion #3: If you're really stuck for an idea, then ... take yourself out of the equation. Imagine any narrative you've heard (maybe from the Hitchhiker's Guide, a documentary, a news broadcast, etc.) Imagine the voice of the narrator in your head. Now imagine that narrator talking about something at random. Start writing what the narrator says. Let the narrator make up something funny; you're just writing it down as it goes. Sure, it's a mental trick, but it usually works.

Personally I find it good to write about things you've been thinking about recently, like dream patterns if you will. If you're really day dreamy this works great for you. The problem with this though is that if you're too day Dreamy what you write will be totally irrelevant to you when you really need to write something.

Becuase of my ADD though it's very hard to change subjects in the middle of working on something I'm really interested in. When I was in grade school I use to be obsessed with historical facts and certain exotic animals (killer whales and Tigers I think). I'm not the greatest writer but when I have an idea, I just want to write it the best way I can.

[KabukiSaMuRaI]

So this is kind of stupid. Tomorrow I have to write for a whole period. About anything. It's basically showcasing my writing. The teacher said to write anything we want, it just can't be poetry. He listed various things like short stories, essays, etc. I don't want to walk in tomorrow with no thought process, but I just can't decide. I mean, it seems so easy, but so much freedom actually constrains my mind. :lol:

I was thinking of doing a kind of 'lost chapters' of The Catcher in the Rye. It's been my favorite book forever, and the class just read it over the summer. The only downsides to the idea is capturing Salinger's writing technique. Also, I don't know if that'd be looked well upon, using another work. It's an AP class so I wanted to wow the teacher, so I don't know. I'm confident in my writing, just can't decide what to do.

Any ideas?

You shouldn't feel any pressure because it is a free writing class. Technically, you're wont' be wrong. Don't overthink it ahead of time and when the time comes, draw on your experiences in order create something unique.

[Jia]

Don't you have anything you particularly like? Topic wise.

[Dorktron2000]

I'm glad to say I never had any free writes when I took AP classes. If I was forced to do one though, I would probably do a critical analysis of something that I enjoyed. One hour is really confining and I would focus on a single, very narrow topic.

[f2akid]

Talk about the pros and cons of your favorite anime.