aimeili
New Member
Do I have to recycle the words of the prompt before you understand the subtlety of its inclusion??
Posts: 10
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Post by aimeili on Apr 2, 2014 14:27:08 GMT
Hi guys! I'm curious - is there anyone else here working on pieces for school? I ask because over the past few years my most consistent writing schedule has been for english class, and I've developed a fairly decent skill set for fulfilling the criteria set out by teachers, but now I'm branching out into doing my own thing I sometimes struggle to capture the same amount of drive. Aside from motivation, the shift from short stories written overnight to a full novel is pretty big as well. One of my subjects is entirely devoted to developing a single creative writing piece, and recently it's been pretty weird to keep a progress journal and write down all of the thought processes that usually just happen in my head. Fellow young writers - how do you deal with the gap between writing for grades and writing for fun?
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thatemmachick
New Member
You can't spell "Chemistry" without "I cry."
Posts: 13
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Post by thatemmachick on Apr 3, 2014 4:32:59 GMT
I haven't written for a teacher recently. This year, we're focusing on persuasive writing. (Which I've discovered I suck at. Ha. Haha. Heh.)
When writing for grades, though, I tend to move faster and focus less on the little details. When writing for fun, I get to nitpick and pour my heart into my characters and world, which is, well, fun for me.
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Post by Amber Skye Forbes on Apr 3, 2014 13:23:01 GMT
Well, when I was in high school writing for grades, I used to just gloss over everything because I knew I'd get an A anyway--until I started taking AP classes. That's when I had to start taking for-grade writing seriously. But in my AP Senior class we got to write a short story since short stories were the focus of our class at that time. I worked my butt off on it and got a 98, which I guess was really good because everyone else got Bs or something, probably for grammar or whatever.
When I wrote for fun in high school, I mostly just picked at the sequel to When Stars Die, so I never really started anything new throughout those for years. But I did begin to actually re-write the book in my senior year, and I had a short story published that year, too, that I decided to write. I'm more of a novelist anyway. I'll write a short when given the chance.
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aimeili
New Member
Do I have to recycle the words of the prompt before you understand the subtlety of its inclusion??
Posts: 10
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Post by aimeili on Apr 3, 2014 15:11:48 GMT
This year, we're focusing on persuasive writing. Persuasive writing...as in speeches? My school doesn't do stuff like that at all - sounds interesting! One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about writing for school was that I should pick one character and stick with them, so that I don't have to think about it so much at exam time. Because of that I tend to use characters from my personal novels transplanted into the regular world. Each time I just pick another snippet of their lives. It's fun character development, but sometimes the change in context gets frustrating - events don't necessarily transfer well, so I have to keep track of what's a school AU and what's going in the book. Not being American, I'm not really sure what AP means, but wow that sounds impressive! When did you start work on the first draft of your novel?
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Post by Amber Skye Forbes on Apr 3, 2014 15:45:47 GMT
This year, we're focusing on persuasive writing. Persuasive writing...as in speeches? My school doesn't do stuff like that at all - sounds interesting! One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about writing for school was that I should pick one character and stick with them, so that I don't have to think about it so much at exam time. Because of that I tend to use characters from my personal novels transplanted into the regular world. Each time I just pick another snippet of their lives. It's fun character development, but sometimes the change in context gets frustrating - events don't necessarily transfer well, so I have to keep track of what's a school AU and what's going in the book. Not being American, I'm not really sure what AP means, but wow that sounds impressive! When did you start work on the first draft of your novel? It means Advanced Placement, so they're college level courses. You can receive college credit...if you pass the AP test, which I didn't because AP courses ARE MUCH HARDER than actually college English courses. And I started that novel when I was fourteen. It was going to be the first book in The Stars Trilogy, but I realized it needed to be the sequel. It was also going to be a standlone, but there was just too much for that to happen.
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thatemmachick
New Member
You can't spell "Chemistry" without "I cry."
Posts: 13
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Post by thatemmachick on Apr 3, 2014 22:11:10 GMT
Oh my gosh. So are all of the other AP courses you take in high school. Same with dual credit. I'm so angry. Back on topic: aimeili: I began the rough draft of my novel late June of this year. I'm still not finished, but it's been a lot of fun.
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Post by catcherinthesky on Apr 4, 2014 4:20:00 GMT
Do answer your original question: I'm a senior and an AP student but I'm also an "apprentice" for a creative writing class (so I plan lessons and work hands on with my teacher).I actually told my AP teacher that I was a writer, and tried to explain that there is a gap between writing for a grade and writing for pleasure. She worked with me to find the balance in my writing. The idea is to always remain passionate, to find that hidden gem in every assignment that gets you excited.
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bunni
Junior Member
Posts: 55
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Post by bunni on Apr 4, 2014 5:58:57 GMT
I haven't written for a teacher recently. This year, we're focusing on persuasive writing. (Which I've discovered I suck at. Ha. Haha. Heh.) When writing for grades, though, I tend to move faster and focus less on the little details. When writing for fun, I get to nitpick and pour my heart into my characters and world, which is, well, fun for me. What does your prof define 'persuasive writing' as, may I ask? I generally have to write for different audiences, and 'persuading' them of anything usually means I need to know a top three list of what they want/what's important to them. After that, you can construct what you're writing based on what's going to impact them most. If your audience leans toward caring about metrics, vet some stats and use them. If your audience leans mostly to concepts rather than details, talk at a high level, use overviews, and use graphics that explain the whole deal, but simply. So you may want to lead with asking the prof 'Who is the audience, here', or 'I need to know what's most important to the audience reading this'. The answer may be theoretical ('Okay, pretend you're trying to persuade a group of young people to live and die by the sword.' <-- Game of Thrones style!), but it should help you to figure out how to persuade, which is very difficult to know without knowing who you're trying to convince. Example of why audience changes persuasion: Persuade a dog lover that cats are amazing.
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| Persuade an animal rescue worker that cats are amazing.
| Persuade the Boy Scouts that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| vs. | Persuade trial lawyer that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| Convince students to adopt a summer vacation of only 40 days, and spring and winter breaks of 10 days.
| vs. | Convince the education minister of an up-and-coming country to institute the same.
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Think about a couple of these, and why people's backgrounds, vested interests, and situations (what's important to them) changes what arguments would be most persuasive to them. Anyway, I realize this isn't what you asked, but... I hope it helps a bit anyway! Cheers, Bunni!
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dabs
New Member
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Post by dabs on Apr 5, 2014 20:24:37 GMT
Writing for teachers is the main reason I didn't pursue creative writing in college. I didn't want my aesthetic to be defined by someone else.
If you want to find your own aesthetic/voice/whatever, or if you need to find the drive, then I guess the only answer is to find your passion. Nothing gets a piece finished like loving said piece, and you won't find what you really sound like unless you're pursuing a story you love. Without that it becomes a job, in the worst sense, and you sound more imitative than genuine. Trust me on this, I just had a long spell where I tried too hard to match the kinds of works that are getting accepted in a lot of literary magazines right now--dull and introspective, as if the story is happening in a void. That's not me, though, and when I tapped into what I actually cared about my writing improved a lot and I got pieces finished a lot faster.
And, by the way, taking creative writing classes doesn't mean someone else WILL define your aesthetic and habits for you. I just know a lot of people who fell into that and I didn't want to be a part of it. If you stand by your principles no one can damage what you've got.
To put this all simply--there is no method. There is no practical answer for this. When you're writing for pleasure, you have to understand yourself, and that means finding your own answers.
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thatemmachick
New Member
You can't spell "Chemistry" without "I cry."
Posts: 13
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Post by thatemmachick on Apr 6, 2014 3:02:38 GMT
Example of why audience changes persuasion: Persuade a dog lover that cats are amazing.
| vs.
| Persuade an animal rescue worker that cats are amazing.
| Persuade the Boy Scouts that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| vs. | Persuade trial lawyer that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| Convince students to adopt a summer vacation of only 40 days, and spring and winter breaks of 10 days.
| vs. | Convince the education minister of an up-and-coming country to institute the same.
|
Think about a couple of these, and why people's backgrounds, vested interests, and situations (what's important to them) changes what arguments would be most persuasive to them. Anyway, I realize this isn't what you asked, but... I hope it helps a bit anyway! Cheers, Bunni! That does help, actually. Thanks.
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bunni
Junior Member
Posts: 55
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Post by bunni on Apr 6, 2014 7:57:31 GMT
Example of why audience changes persuasion: Persuade a dog lover that cats are amazing.
| vs.
| Persuade an animal rescue worker that cats are amazing.
| Persuade the Boy Scouts that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| vs. | Persuade trial lawyer that supporting gay leaders is a good thing.
| Convince students to adopt a summer vacation of only 40 days, and spring and winter breaks of 10 days.
| vs. | Convince the education minister of an up-and-coming country to institute the same.
|
Think about a couple of these, and why people's backgrounds, vested interests, and situations (what's important to them) changes what arguments would be most persuasive to them. Anyway, I realize this isn't what you asked, but... I hope it helps a bit anyway! Cheers, Bunni! That does help, actually. Thanks. Cool! Now you can persuade that teacher to give you that A! XD
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thatemmachick
New Member
You can't spell "Chemistry" without "I cry."
Posts: 13
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Post by thatemmachick on Apr 7, 2014 1:55:09 GMT
That does help, actually. Thanks. Cool! Now you can persuade that teacher to give you that A! XD Let's hope so. I'm presenting a persuasive speech tomorrow. Jeepers.
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bunni
Junior Member
Posts: 55
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Post by bunni on Apr 7, 2014 3:31:22 GMT
Cool! Now you can persuade that teacher to give you that A! XD Let's hope so. I'm presenting a persuasive speech tomorrow. Jeepers. I'll cross my fingers for you! Confidence! XD Hang in there!
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