Let’s get back to basics: Evocative (Show-Don’t-Tell) Writing

Instead of telling the reader what’s going on, evoke the scene and allow the reader to imagine she’s there. Strive for intimacy (be personal and vulnerable), experience (write about something you know and care about), and empathy (offer the reader the chance to relate to your words). Use sensory language (the five senses) and specific details (not too many) to ground your writing in reality. Let your thoughts and feelings guide your work.

Choose one of the ten topics below. Handwrite at least four drafts (cross out, add notes, get messy). Type  and turn in your final draft. Include the topic you’ve chosen at the top, e.g., Good Friend. Refer to “Sophia’s Song” if you need to. Please limit your work to three lines, typed, Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced. Remember to turn in your work. Thanks.

1.    Beautiful baby

2.    Loving Grandparent

3.    Cute Pet

4.    Good Friend

5.    Kind Stranger

6.    Gorgeous Sunset

7.    Sweet Animal

8.    Amazing Artwork

9.    Incredible Music

10.  Cool Something (Person, Place, Animal, Thing, Event, etc…)

Some of you are making great use of time, some of you could make better use of time, and some of you need to start.

I will check everybody's progress in one week.

For the ten-week progress report, I’d like to see at least a first draft of what you’re working on. Please let me know if I can be of assistance. Some ideas to help: What do you care about? Who do you care about? What angers you? What inspires you? What do you think of Michelle Obama’s advice? What about Rilke’s? Denzel Washington's? How can you show vulnerability as discussed by Brené Brown? Life is about connecting with others. I think all great writing wrestles with the pain of loneliness.

What would you like to write? Poem? Short Story? Essay? Song? Play? Something else? Is there something you would like to write for someone? Would you like to create something for the “Art for Advocacy: Heal the Hate” contest?

Create a Google Doc, attach it to this assignment, and jot down your ideas; or handwrite your ideas, take a picture and attach it to this assignment. If you don’t know what kind of project to do, that’s perfectly fine. Start freewriting and see what happens. If you want a more specific writing prompt, let me know and I’ll offer one.

Go forth and conquer!

1. Please read the Revised 55-Word Story Assessment instructions.
2. Reread the instructions.
3. Refer to the exemplar for how to turn in your 55-Word Story Assessment.

This exercise will stretch your observation muscles.

Choose a photograph that is meaningful to you. Meditate on the photograph.

Questions to consider:
Who’s in it? When, where, and why was it taken? Was it displayed in your home? If so, why? What is its significance to you? How does it make you FEEL?

Create a Google Doc and write one page (Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins) about the photograph.

Focus on sensory detail, emotion, and observation.

Have fun!

“Plagiarize” is defined in our class syllabus under the section "Academic Honesty." I’ve already found instances of plagiarism in the “Show-Don’t-Tell Evocative Assessment” as indicated by an E (Ethics Violation) in PowerSchool. Even if you currently have a passing grade for this assessment, I will continue to sniff out plagiarism. If you committed plagiarism, explain why. Turn in your response by today’s due date and time.

Page 1: Draft 1 with edits
Next new page: Draft 2 (circle the word count on top)
Refer to 55-Word Story Assessment

If you haven't already, handwrite a 1 – 2 page draft of a story about anything you want.
Please turn it in as soon as you can.

Read all of these instructions (jot down notes for questions).

Due Date: Monday, September 21, 2020, 9:00am

Revise one of the following four options (decide which one you’ll revise before you finish reading these instructions):

1. Week 3: One-Page Quickwrite

2. Week 3: Continue to Evoke

3. Week 3: Classwork

4. Week 4: One-Page Quickwrite (Take 2)

You need to have completed the original before you revise it.

Create a Google Doc and attach it to this assessment, indicating the number you plan to revise next to your name, e.g., by Zack Medway – 3

Guidelines (Rubric):
1. Write one page typed, double spaced, one-inch margins, 12 point font, Times New Roman, with an imaginative title. *(Poetry or Dialogue: Two pages)
2. Do not eat up space with an MLA heading, oversized font, or creative spacing.
3. Write with nouns and verbs. If you decide to use adjectives and adverbs, do so sparingly and unexpectedly, e.g., I had a spicy thought.
4. Include conflict. What is the struggle?
5. The following words are off-limits: “Favorite,” “Food,” “Holiday,” and “Animal” UNLESS you can use them evocatively.
6. Do not to mention the name of the time of day, food, holiday, animal, family member, and season UNLESS you can do so evocatively.
7. Do not make it obvious what the topic is, e.g., “man’s best friend,” UNLESS…evocatively.
8. Use imagery (sensory language) in order to show don’t tell, i.e., make your writing more evocative.
9. Take a picture of your three handwritten pages (with the date when you wrote them). In one color, highlight/underline words/phrases you’re thinking of using. In another color, highlight/underline words/phrases you incorporate in your final draft. Cross out superfluous words/phrases. Include these handwritten pages in your final draft.
10. What is your piece about? What is it truly about? What are you revealing about yourself and the world? Where is your vulnerability? How is your topic a metaphor?

Consider the following:
1. Read your work aloud.
2. Play with incomplete sentences.
3. Include figurative language (simile, alliteration, etc.).
4. Include dialogue.
5. Vary your sentence structure (incomplete, simple, compound, complex, compound/complex).
6. Include descriptive verbs, e.g., “devour” vs. “eat”
7. Integrate memories and emotions.
8. Write from the point of view of your topic.
9. How can your language represent your topic?
10. After you finish writing what you think is your final draft, put your work aside and don’t think about it. The next day, with fresh eyes, read your work aloud, and see what you can tweak, delete, delete, and delete.

You have your mission, my beautiful artists. Go forth and conquer!

Choose any one of our quickwrites and turn it into an evocative piece of writing. You are welcome to change the subject of your topic, e.g., pizza to pickles. If you choose a QW you’ve already turned in as an assignment, you are expected to revise it.

Quickwrites to choose from:
Where you are
Favorite time of day
Favorite Food
Favorite Holiday
Favorite Animal
Favorite Family Member
Favorite Season

Please follow these guidelines:
• One page
• Include a title.
• Include conflict.
• The following words are off-limits: “Favorite,” “Time of day,” “Food,” “Holiday,” “Animal,” “Family Member,” “Season.”
• You are also not to mention the name of the time of day, food, holiday, animal, family member, and season.
• Don’t make it obvious what the topic is, e.g., “man’s best friend.” Let the reader do some work.
• Include imagery (sensory language) in order to show don’t tell, i.e., make your writing more evocative.

Consider the following:
• Include figurative language (simile, alliteration, etc.).
• Include dialogue.
• Vary your sentence structure.
• Play with incomplete sentences.
• Include descriptive verbs.
• Integrate memories.
• Integrate emotions.
• Write from the point of view of your topic.
• How can your language represent your topic?
• How is your topic a metaphor?

Practice the following:
• Read your work aloud.
• Delete superfluous words/phrases.

Please follow these formatting guidelines:
One page
Double spaced
One-inch margins
12 point Times New Roman

Create a Google Doc and attach it to the assignment.

You have your mission, my beautiful artists. Go forth and conquer!

Favorite Food/Holiday/Animal, Ctd.: Choose a “Favorite” you did not turn in for “One-Page Quickwrite” (Mon. 8/31/20) or “Week 3: Continue to evoke” (Tues. 9/1/20). Turn your work into an evocative piece of writing. You are welcome to change the subject of your topic, e.g., pizza to pickles.

Please follow these guidelines:
• One page
• Include a title.
• Include conflict.
• The following words are off-limits: “Favorite,” “Food,” “Holiday,” “Animal.”
• You are also not to mention the name of the time of day, food, holiday, animal, family member, and season.
• Don’t make it obvious what the topic is, e.g., “man’s best friend.” Let the reader do some work.
• Include imagery (sensory language) in order to show don’t tell, i.e., make your writing more evocative.

Consider the following:
• Include figurative language (simile, alliteration, etc.).
• Include dialogue.
• Vary your sentence structure.
• Play with incomplete sentences.
• Include descriptive verbs.
• Integrate memories.
• Integrate emotions.
• Write from the point of view of your topic.
• How can your language represent your topic?
• How is your topic a metaphor?

Practice the following:
• Read your work aloud.
• Delete superfluous words/phrases.

Please follow these formatting guidelines:
One page
Double spaced
One-inch margins
12 point Times New Roman

Create a Google Doc and attach it to the assignment. I will let you know when it’s time to turn it in.

You have your mission, my beautiful artists. Go forth and conquer!

I am very proud of the work you turned in for last class. Our mission this week is to practice making our writing more evocative, i.e., show don’t tell.

Below are some student examples of words/phrases that have more evocative potential. Note the questions in parenthesis designed to elicit more detail:

Favorite Food
top with different things (what things?)
really good (how?)
different condiments and ingredients (such as?)

Favorite Holiday
delicious foods (what imagery/five senses can you use?)
gathers around with friends and family (what friends? what family?)
good memories (such as?)

Favorite Animal
full of curiosity (how?)
so adorable (how?)
unique (how?)

Directions for this week’s class:
Choose a quickwrite (QW) from last week’s class, provided you didn’t use it for your One-Page Quickwrite assignment due today, Monday, 8/31, 9am. Write a new one-page draft, with an evocative title, due by Tuesday, 5pm.

*If you have Wi-Fi issues that prevent you from turning in assignments to Google Classroom, type your work in Microsoft Word, include the date on everything, and keep your work organized.

Please follow these formatting guidelines:
One page
Double spaced
One-inch margins
12 point Times New Roman

The following notes are intended to help you grow as an artist and make your writing more evocative:

• Question: “What if you don’t have a favorite…?” Answer: “One of our jobs as creative writers is to make a decision and commit to it.”
• During our last Zoom class, you were asked not to mention the name of the food, holiday, and animal. As we progress, the following words are off-limits: Favorite, Food, Holiday, Animal.
• Read your work aloud.
• Delete superfluous words/phrases.
• Don’t make it obvious what the food/holiday/animal is, e.g., “man’s best friend.” Let the reader do some work.
• Include figurative language (imagery, simile, alliteration, etc.).
• Include dialogue.
• Vary your sentence structure.
• Write from the point of view of the food/holiday/animal.
• How can your language represent the animal?

Continue to handwrite at least five minutes each day in your journal, review the class syllabus, and reread Week 2 Heart to Heart.

You have your mission, my beautiful artists. Go forth and conquer!

~ZM

Choose one of our quickwrites and turn it into a one page piece of writing with a title.

Here are the quickwrites to choose from:
Where you are
Favorite time of day
Favorite Food
Favorite Holiday
Favorite Animal
Favorite Family Member

Please follow these formatting guidelines:
One page
Double spaced
One-inch margins
12 point Times New Roman

Thank you, my beautiful artists.
You have your mission.
Go forth and conquer.

Rewrite “Favorite Animal” without using the words "favorite," "animal," and without mentioning the name of the animal.

Rewrite “Favorite Food” without using the words "favorite," "food," and without mentioning the name of the food.

Rewrite “Favorite Holiday” without using the words "favorite," "holiday," and without mentioning the name of the holiday.

Please show me what you have so far.
Thanks,
~ZM

What interests you?
What do you want from this class?
What do you want me to know about you?