English 201, 202 Journal entries (to be put in idea file)
Do not do these ahead of time.  They are to be used as part of a lesson in class.  I only put them online in case someone is absent.  Starting with journal #8, please be sure you are doing the correct journal for YOUR class.

Click HERE for Poetry Journals.

Journal #1:  Write the first sentence of a story about birth.  Now write the first sentence about a death.  Try other pairs, such as falling in love and filing for divorce.  Try pairs that are not in opposition, such as spring and summer.  Then invent your own pairs.  

Journal #2:  Begin a story with this line:  Where were you last night?  Write without stopping for at least ten minutes.  Then go back and circle or highlight anything worth keeping.  

Journal #3:  Name the following characters, keeping in mind that you can plant, within a name, a clue to their role in your fiction.
    1.  A petty, white-collar thief who robs his boss over several years.
    2.  An envious, bitter woman who makes her sister miserable by systematically trying to undercut her pleasure and self-confidence.
    3.  A sweet young man too shy to speak to an attractive woman he sees every day at work.
    4.  The owner of a fast-food restaurant who comes on to his young female employees.
    5.  A grandmother who just won the lottery.

Journal #4:  It's in the details.  Make a list of details you could use if I were a character in your story.  Use both physical and personality details.  You can even make up stuff if you would like.  

Journal #5:  Choose an incident from your life.  For that incident, freewrite for about five minutes for each of the following requirements:
    1.  Write the story in the first person.
    2.  Write the story in the third person with and outside narrator.
    3.  Write the story as if it happened to someone ten to twenty years older or ten years younger.  Change anything you need to, just keep the basic idea the same.
    4.  Stage the story in another country or in a radically different setting (such as a different time period).  Again, change what needs to be changed, but keep the basic idea the same.
    5.  Keep the story the same, but change the emotions that it produces. (ex.  if it started as a scary story, change it to a funny story)

Journal #6:  Make a list of some of the ways you can suggest approximate age.  Wrinkles and gray hair are the most obvious.  Many are more subtle.  List about a dozen.  Then do the same for youth.

Journal #7:  Make up a character (it could be a character from one of your previous stories or the story you are currently working on who needs fleshing out).  Fill in the blanks for each of the following traits:
    1.  name:
    2.  nickname:
    3.  sex:
    4.  age:
    5.  looks:
    6.  education:
    7.  vocation/occupation:
    8.  status and money:
    9.  marital status:
    10.  family, ethnicity:
    11.  diction, accent, etc.:
    12.  relationships:
    13.  places (home office, car, etc.):
    14.  posessions:
    15.  recreation, hobbies:
    16.  obsessions:
    17.  beliefs:
    18.  politics:
    19.  ambitions:
    20.  religion:
    21.  superstitions:
    22.  fears:
    23.  attitudes:
    24.  character flaws:
    25.  character strengths:
    26.  pets:
    27.  taste in books, music, movies, etc.:
    29.  food preferences:
    30.  taste in clothes:
    31.  handwriting:
    33.  astrological sign:
    34.  talents:
    35.  physical/personality quirks:

English 202	English 201
Journal #8: Unreliable Narrator:  Using the first person, write a self-deceiving portrait in which the narrator is not the person he (or she) thinks he is--either more or less admirable.  You must give your readers clues that your narrator is skewing the truth. Journal #9:  Create a setting for each of the following characters that illustrates his personality.  It can be a home, office, car, whatever, as long as you have given specific details and the place fits the character. 1.  an unsuccessful painter 2.  a former movie star who still thinks she's famous 3.  a high school senior about to flunk out 4.  a blind person 5.  a member of a lunatic-fringe political group 6.  a fugitive from the law 7.  a small child with very few friends Journal #10:  Write two separate versions of the same event:  Prom.  First write it in the first person, the story told by one of the characters.  Then use the third person (omniscient or limited omniscient) where the narrator is outside the story. Journal #11:  With a partner, make up a situation involving two people in conflict--for example, two friends who have planned to shoplift something and one is getting cold feet.  Act out the parts, writing down the dialogue that you use.  Then go back and use that dialogue to write a short scene.  Edit and polish your dialogue to something that people would actually want to read.  Add quotation marks, attributions, and description. Journal #12:  Examine the dialogue in a story (or novel) by a writer you admire.  Then determine how much dialogue is summarized rather than presented in quotation marks.  Write a short paragraph about how your author presents his or her characters' words.	Journal #8:  Create a setting for each of the following characters that illustrates his personality.  It can be a home, office, car, whatever, as long as you have given specific details and the place fits the character. 1.  an unsuccessful painter 2.  a former movie star who still thinks she's famous 3.  a high school senior about to flunk out 4.  a blind person 5.  a member of a lunatic-fringe political group 6.  a fugitive from the law 7.  a small child with very few friends Journal #9:  Write two separate versions of the same event:  Prom.  First write it in the first person, the story told by one of the characters.  Then use the third person (omniscient or limited omniscient) where the narrator is outside the story. Journal #10:  With a partner, make up a situation involving two people in conflict--for example, two friends who have planned to shoplift something and one is getting cold feet.  Act out the parts, writing down the dialogue that you use.  Then go back and use that dialogue to write a short scene.  Edit and polish your dialogue to something that people would actually want to read.  Add quotation marks, attributions, and description.

Poetry Journals:

All poetry journals come from 30 Days of Poetry, and there are detailed instructions there.  Follow the link, and click on the name of the journal entry.  We won't use them all, but you may want to look at the others if you need more ideas for your final drafts.  

Poetry Journal 1:  Synonyms
Poetry Journal 2:  Opposites
Poetry Journal 3:  I don't understand . . .
Poetry Journal 4:  I am . . .
Poetry Journal 5:  Emotions and Actions
Poetry Journal 6:  Writing about weather
Poetry Journal 7:  Month metaphors
Poetry Journal 8:  Sense poems
Poetry Journal 9:  Bull Durham Credo
Poetry Journal 10:  Write about yourself and others