Project 1 prewrite

After a lot of brainstorming I changed my story idea from what I said in class because I needed to get away from internal conflict more. I hope this works out!

Basic idea:

Main character picks up a hitch-hiker while driving to her new job in Ohio. The hitch-hiker tries to persuade the main character to leave everything and drive her across the country.

Character 1: The Driver

Name - Judy

Description - Quiet, non-confrontational, short, tanned, short dirty blonde hair in bob, dull grey eyes, Dressed in blue jeans, white shirt, black converse (really generic and boring). Back of car filled with matching Vera Bradley luggage

Back Story - Driving from Connecticut to Ohio for a desk job. Is not excited about it at all but its her first job. Always does what she is told. Just graduated from college, first time out on her own. 

Motivation - Get to her destination while being nice and driving the hitchhiker to her destination as well. She wants to start up at her job, fall in love, etc typical stuff. However, also wants to see the world. 

Character 2: The Hitchhiker

Name - Perri, short for Peregrine (like a falcon)

Description - Very bubbly, very intelligent, short, tanned, long dirty blonde hair let loose, bright blue eyes, dressed in khaki cargo shorts, dark blue tank top, hiking boots, light scarf. Heavy backpack covered in buttons. 

Back Story - Left family, everything behind and began wandering the country. Gets money by doing odd jobs. Had very restricting parents who never let her do what she wanted. 

Motivation - Wants to get someone to wander with her, trying to influence others to “live life to the fullest”, etc. 

Exposition: Judy is driving to her new job in Ohio. She sees a girl her age on the side of the road hitchhiking and decides to pick her up.

Rising Action: The hitchhiker explains she is wandering around the country, etc. 

Climax: The hitchhiker asks Judy to drive away from Ohio and go where ever she really wants to go. 

Falling Action: Judy must decide which option she wants to go with

Denouncement: Judy makes her decision 

Reading Post Week Tres

I guess I'll start off this week by saying I LOVE Edgar Allen Poe and have read most of his stuff. I tend to like the darker literature. Since I have already read "The Tell Tale Heart", I decided to focus my post on the other story.

I like cultural stories because it gives a look into another part of the world, even if I can't relate to it. This story also reminded me of last weeks story, where a main character is fantasizing about something throughout the story. This story was slightly universal, in that it's a mom telling her daughter the dangers of getting pregnant, and at the same time culturally specific, saying that if she did get pregnant out of wedlock she would be shamed and exiled and probably commit suicide. The ending was really sad with the ghost wandering around, and I found it interesting that the girl pitied her aunt while the rest of her family pretended she didn't exist. I guess we all sort of have that relative, the black sheep in the family that is ignored. Overall, I thought this was a universal story disguised as a cultural story.

What If you were a villain?

Forgot to post this last week!

For my villain, I took one of my personality traits that I personally think is good but others see as bad and possibly antagonistic, which is my competitiveness. I decided to elevate it to the point of ridiculousness, like if I ever let it go out of control. The scene I imagined was the protagonist is in some sort of fighting competition, and has to face my villain in the final round. This felt like a huge cliche, but maybe I can fix it up. Enjoy!

She was the one to beat, it was always just really her. When it came to winning, she put everything she had and then some into it. If she found out someone was better then her in anything, she would practice until you couldn’t even touch her. If you weren’t on her side, you were her competition.

The people she hated most in the world were those who had beaten her, of which I had heard there were very few. Once you beat her, you were dead. LIke plan your funeral and have your will ready dead. She wouldn’t forget it, and would wait patiencely to take her revenge. She would make you fall further then she ever did.

The worst part was when she did beat you, she didn’t just throw it into your face like so many other would do. She would catch you eye and give the smallest of smirks, as if she knew all along that this would be the outcome. She never talks about her strings of victories, everyone just knew about them. This is who I would face next. THis is who I had to beat. 

Reading Response Week Duo

I really liked "To Build a Fire" as I am partial to the "man versus nature" story lines. I thought it was interesting that the title sounded like an instruction set, and the story itself was kind of like a what to do in the wild (or what not to do since he died). I was really frustrated with the main character and his lack of instinct and intelligence, which could be influenced by the fact that I am a hiker too. He underestimates the cold, he doesn't listen to advice, he doesn't care that no one else has been on this trail lately. That was then contrasted by the dog, who knows to bite at the ice on his toes and to avoid the spring, and also knows what to do when the man dies. It is almost like Jack London is saying that man is not equipped to handle nature because we lack animal instinct. I think this was a more factual thing then a judgmental thing. Since Jack London doesn't use any names for the man or the dog, this is more of a universal story and we will all die if we try to take on nature. Little depressing, but I can't help but agree.

Reading Response Week Uno

First off, I will easily say I was really bored by ‘Library of Babel’. It was a painful read and I just did not get it. It didn’t really feel like an actual story as much as a very long description. I very readily admit I am not a fan of philosophical or allegorical short stories. I decided to google what Library of Babel was about and got about thirty different interpretations. Yikes. I found myself thinking “is this even a story?” 

I found the “Hills Like White Elephants” story much more interesting. First off, I really like when characters act exactly as you see regular humans do. Real girls are more likely to say, “yeah, I am fine” when they are not rather then give long, heartfelt speeches. I also like how, though he did not say it out right, I was able to guess that the girl was pregnant and the man was trying to persuade her to have an abortion. I was thinking the whole hills as white elephants was some sort of metaphor for pregnancy of something, but I wasn’t really sure. 

The thing I found interesting about the characters was that the girl seemed to be more in a fantasy state of mind, while the man was more of a realist.The girl is constantly is talking about the hills and looking at the bead curtains, while he is talking about “the beer’s nice and cool” or “it’s really an awfully simple operation.” The girl seemed so optimistic about things, like maybe she wanted to be pregnant, while the man was more along the lines are, here are the facts.

On top of that, I thought it was interesting how he was able to make the girl seem to avoid towards the man, “she looked at the bead curtain”, “the girl looked at the ground”, and really did showing rather then telling, much more interesting then “she couldn’t look at him.” This also reflected onto the man, because I think it developed him as a more shady character. 

Sorry if my reader response is a little rusty, I haven't done one of these since middle school! Doing this did make me want to work on responding to stories better though, particularly ones that take me forever to get though, like 'Library of Babel'

Intro

Hi everyone!

My name is Katie and I am a junior majoring in Food Science and minoring in English. I have varied interests: I am in Morale for THON, I play saxophone in the university band, I work on a committee for Movin' On, I play guitar, I am an avid cooker and baker, love sports, and lie around my apartment reading on my Kindle. This blog is for English 212, and I hope I can improve my creative writing during this time. Since I am a science major, I also would like to take a break from writing lab reports and memorizing equations to do something more creative!

Sorry I am not good at personal introductions! I never know what to say about myself.