The Final Showdown

Some Year 10 students are studying the Tim Burton film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ at the moment. I have added a slideshow from Dean called ‘Edward Scissorhands-The Final Showdown’. It is on Slideshare and unfortunately Dean’s great animation effects got lost in translation but you still get the idea.

A novel in six words

Author Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and is said to have called it his best work. Here are a few other examples:

Found true love, married someone else. — Bjorn Stromberg

Fifteen years since last professional haircut. — Dave Eggers

One tooth, one cavity, life’s cruel. — John Bettencourt

If anyone would like to try and write their own six word novel, I would love to read it.

KatiNET

The resources on KatiNet are being added to all the time so don’t forget to check. Student lists are being updated at the moment and everybody should be able to access moodle next week.

Scientist Valentines

Today is Valentine’s Day, a holiday where it’s customary to give a card to your beloved. But even before the Catholic Church decided to honour one of its Saints with a holiday on February 14, this month was celebrated as a festival in ancient Greece and Rome. Here is an interesting variation on the romantic greeting card-it’s Scientist Valentines!
To see more go to Ironic Sans.

Analysing a short story

This year many of you will write and perhaps study short stories. The purpose of this post is to discuss the features of the short story and to think about how to analyse one.

The elements of a short story:
The short story has the elements of:

• plot
• theme
• character
• setting
• point of view
• style

Each element contributes to the overall effect of the story. As you read and write a short story you should keep the following questions in mind:

• What is the writer’s purpose? To entertain? To be thought provoking? To state an opinion? To play on the reader’s emotions?
• What is the writer’s tone? Is the writer being ironic? Sarcastic? Humorous? Serious? Tongue in cheek?
• How does the story begin? Does the writer establish setting or emphasise the background of the situation? Is the character given more emphasis than the setting? How much detail is supplied?
  Look at your own short story… how much detail is supplied by the writer? How much is supplied by the reader? A good short story allows the reader to flesh out the details so that the writer can get on with exploring the situation he or she is concerned with.
• How does the story develop? Is it told through a series of blocks moving rapidly through time and space, like flash backs and flash forwards? Is it being told chronologically?
• How does the story end? With a twist or surprise? With a build up to an inevitable climax or are you left hanging, being forced to supply your own ending based on your reading of the little blocks of action the writer supplied?
• Who tells the story? Is the story being told through the eyes of a character involved in the action? Is the author standing outside of the action and observing? Is the author observing but within the action?
  Check the use of the pronoun… if it is I, me, my, our, we then the author is a character within the story. The story is being told in the first person.
  If the pronouns are: he, she, it, hers, his, they, them, the author is outside of the action and observing as if he/she was God. This is known as the Eye of God technique.
  Another way of telling a story is as a series of thoughts, each thought block building up an impression or action. The thoughts can be told in a logical order or as they seemingly occur to the character… at random. This is known as the stream of consciousness technique.
• What is the language and style like? The impression the writer wants in the story will be affected by the language he/she tells the story in or has the characters use. Frank Sargeson uses the colloquial, chatty style that creates an impression of 1930-50s NZ ‘mateyiness’. The language is important to develop the character and action. The realism of the dialogue will influence our reading of the story and our attitudes to the characters involved.
• What images are used? In order to rapidly develop a story the writer relies on the reader recognising particular symbols and references and understanding what he/she intends them to mean, e.g. in Maurice Gee’s story Schooldays the lead character’s red hair becomes a symbol for rebellion, challenge and freedom.
• What are the characters like? The characters don’t have to be fully developed. They need not have a name. They can be identified simply as “the boy”, “the girl”. “the mother.” In other stories it is essential that the characters have fully developed personalities and motivations.
• How important is the setting in conveying the ideas and mood of the story?

If you want more ideas, check out Rules for Short Stories at answer.com.

Schindler’s Ark

“In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker and a bon viveur, but to them he was a saviour.

“This is the story of Oskar Schindler who risked his life to protect beleaguered Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland, who continually defied the SS, and who was transformed by the war into a man with a mission, a compassionate angel of mercy.”

These quotes are from the dustjacket of Thomas Keneally’s Booker Prize winning novel ‘Schindler’s Ark’. The book was published in 1982 and later made into the film ‘Schindler’s List’.

‘Schindler’s Ark’ attempts to recreate the story of Oskar Schindler, a German factory owner who risked everything to save his Jewish workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. Thomas Keneally’s novel is based on the recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler’s Jews), Oscar Schindler himself, and other witnesses and it is told in a series of stories. It details the life of the opportunist and womaniser Schindler; Schindler’s wife, Emilie; the cruel SS commandant Amon Goeth; Schindler’s saintly factory manager, Itzhak Stern and many of other Jews who were subjected to the horrors of the Nazi regime. However, the book is mainly the story of Schindler’s unlikely heroism and his attempt to do good in the midst of incredible evil.

Spongebob goes to the movies

The voice cast of Spongebob Squarepants (Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass) dub some of the greatest films ever made. The films are ‘Casablanca’, ‘Singing in the Rain’ and ‘The Godfather’.

Writing accuracy

toothpastefordinner.com

In the next few weeks your English teacher will discuss the importance of using writing conventions accurately. What does that mean?

Writing conventions are the rules used when writing such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, word choice, order of words, and paragraphing.

Accurately means work has been closely and carefully proofread to a near perfect standard with limited errors, so that only a few minor mistakes would have to be changed if it were to be published.

Sensory Detail

From Colorado State University Writing Guides.

It is important to remember that human beings learn about the world
through using the five senses. They are our primary source of knowledge about the world. Therefore, writing which incorporates vivid, sensory detail is more likely to engage and effect the reader.

The following writing sample uses sensory detail to create concrete images. Because the most effective way to incorporate sensory detail is to use all five senses in harmony, this sample provides an effective example of how sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste work together to strengthen writing. Each of the views highlights exactly how each sense is involved in improving the paragraph’s imagery.

Paragraph Without Sensory Detail

Grandmother Workman reached over and grabbed her grandson’s arm. He was nervous because the staircase was so steep, but she leaned against him and they began to climb.

Comment

These are the beginning sentences of a paragraph which describes a boy helping an elderly woman up a flight of stairs. The scene seems simple enough, but it leaves the reader with many unanswered questions. Without the inclusion of sensory detail, the writing seems vague and non-specific. How might the author use descriptive detail to make the scene more vivid?

Example Text: Add Sight

Gandmother Workman lurched over and grabbed the pale skin of Randal’s thin forearm with her leathery hand. The folds and creases beneath her skin coiled themselves out like electrical wiring, like the bloated, roughly-textured relief map of the world that his mother just posted above his bedside table. Randal looked ahead toward the winding spiral staircase, fidgeted with a small hole in his baseball jersey, and bit his lip. His mouth filled with the sweet, coppery taste of blood as she leaned in closely toward him, breathing her hot breath on the damp hair at the base of his neck. She smelled of wet cigarettes and bacon. As they slowly climbed the long, steep staircase, the only sound was his grandmothers’ laboured breathing and the mournful creak of the wooden stairs.

Comment

Visual details are often successfully incorporated into writing. Details which appeal to our sense of sight ensure that the reader is able to give faces to characters, or add concrete details to a setting. For example, through adding visual detail, a room can become more than just a blank, vague receptacle. It becomes a small, oblong room with peeling maroon wallpaper and cracked ceiling tiles. A visual description allows readers to place themselves within a text.

In the sample text, visual details help accomplish this through encouraging the reader to create a mental image of the characters, setting, and action.

To see how the other senses can be added click here.

The Potter Puppet Pals

The mysterious ticking noise!