The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The setting is a festive party honoring the holiday of your choosing.  But something very unexpected happens that turns this party into a sudden murder mystery.

#guesswhatdayitis

Write a short story (about two pages) about an animal charging into the library with an announcement.  This animal is your main character.

Epistolary Story

Write a story of 1500 words that is in the format of a series of letters.  These letters can be from one person, or from a series of different characters.

Your story is due at the end of class on Tuesday, December 23.

#millionairemonday

1.) Write a "million dollar" invention idea

2.) Make a list of the top 5 items you'd purchase after making your first million

3.) Write a story that chronicles the journey of your million dollar idea and acquiring your first five items once you've struck gold.

Suspense story

Write a story of 1,000 words or more that incorporates suspense.  It is due at the end of Thursday's class.

Never Sometimes

For this assignment, you have two options.  You can either write a review of Jacob Fishman's band, Never Sometimes.

Either way, your assignment must be 250 words and should be saved as the title "Never Sometimes."

Here's the link to Jacob's band's EP: neversometimesnj.bandcamp.com

Preston's Idea

Everyone give Preston your undivided attention.  He's going to tell you what you're doing today.

Prescribed Details Story

Write a story of 300 words or more that includes ALL of the following items:

1. A jar of pickles
2. Twins
3. An attic
4. A pellet gun
5. An "old lady" neighbor
6. A black light
7. Tongs
8. A trap door
9. A burned pair of sneakers

Your story is due tomorrow at the end of class.

Enlightenment

What does it mean to be truly enlightened?  Write a response to this question in any form you'd like.  It must be a minimum of 250 words.

Sacrifice

Write a story of 500 words or more about sacrifice.  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Change

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?  Write 250 words in response to this question.  Your response can be in any form you'd like, as long as it meets the minimum word requirement.  Write it in google docs and when you are done, go to MOVE TO FOLDER in the FILE menu.  You'll  see a list of folders for all of your classes.  Place it in the CREATIVE WRITING folder.  Don't use the folder I created for yesterday's assignment because there is a permissions issue.

Top Ten Lists

Your assignment is to construct two "Letterman Top 10 Lists."  Choose two topics you can write about in a humorous way.  There are numerous examples online.  Here are two:

Top Ten Least Popular Exhibits at the Baseball Hall of Fame
--------------------------------------------------------------------
10. The Tobacco Juice Fountain and Reflecting Pool
 9. Babe Ruth's cup
 8. What's It Like to Get Hit in the Head with a Nolan Ryan Fastball
 7. The Yogi Berra Kissing Booth
 6. The giant stack of Pete Rose's losing OTB tickets
 5. Display case of garbage thrown at the San Diego Chicken
 4. Steve Garbey's bed and on-deck circle
 3. Cocktail glass filled with Billy Martin's knocked-out teeth
 2. Scratch a Real Big Leaguer
 1. The Audioanimatronic Mookie

Subway Punks' Top Ten Etiquette Tips
=========================================================================
10. When passing a sharpened screwdriver to a friend, remember - it's
    _handle_ first
 9. Don't be selfish; share your music with everyone in the car
 8. Always say, "Could I have five dollars, _please_?"
 7. Allow your elders and ladies to jump turnstile ahead of you
 6. Lookouts work as hard as anybody, a 15% gratuity is customary
 5. Don't embarass a victim by pointing out a fake Rolex
 4. When two wolf packs meet in a car, the group moving from front
    to rear has the right of way
 3. Victims who don't press charges deserve a nice thank-you note
 2. Learning a few phrases in a freign language can save you minutes of
    fruitless shoving and slapping
 1. Don't be greedy; leave some valuables for the next gang of toughs

Your lists are due at the end of the period.  Drop them in the Creative Writing Folder

New Take on an Old Story

Choose a story from any time before 1950, and modernize it.  This is the first major assignment of the new marking period.  Your story must be a minimum of 1500 words, and it must be free of errors.  It is due at the end of Friday's class.

weekend

Write a story that takes place during the course of a weekend.  Your story can be anything you'd like it to be.  It should be a minimum of 800 words, and free of errors.  It is due at the end of class on Wednesday.

#tbt

Write a story from the perspective of whatever scared you as a child. This story should be 2-3 pages and is due Friday.

Costume Party

Write a short story (between 2-3 pages) from the perspective of any Halloween costume.  This is due at the end of class tomorrow.

The Worst Betrayal

Write a story to go along with this title.  It must be a minimum of 500 words.  It is due at the end of Thursday's class.  It should be proofread, and free of errors.

Epitaphs

Your assignment is to create a humorous set of epitaphs.  They are four lines long.  Lines one and two rhyme.  Lines three and four rhyme.  Here's an example:

Here lies my friend Claire
She lost a foot race with a bear
He licked her kidneys from his paws
and used her bones to clean his claws

You must write ten of these by the end of the period.

News

Choose any news story, current or past, that inspires you.  Write a poem of 100 words or more about it.  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Ekphrastic

An exphrastic is a poem that is inspired by another form of art, such as a painting, sculpture or photograph.  Your assignment today is to construct one of these.  It must be at least 100 words.  It is due at the end of the period.

Words, words, words: Breaking the Box

 

Your assignment is to take the following words, and ONLY the following words, and use the period to create a coherent poem with them. The idea of this assignment is to let your creativity be resourceful enough to overcome incredibly rigid parameters. It is due at the end of the period. You can repeat any of the words on the list.

Nymphs
Ceiling
Limousine
Flashed
Leaving
Given
Only
Dedicated
Wish
Swollen
The
If
Night
Cradling
Inspecting
Ferocious
Pardon
Your
Blinds
Then
Faces
And
Dead
Gone
Of
For
With
A
Like
In
To
That
Shadows

Interconnected stories

Your assignment for the week is to create three short stories, each one being at least 1,000 words, that are somehow connected to each other.  You can use recurring characters, a shared setting, a shared theme...etc.  Your three stories are due on Friday at the end of the period.

Love or Hatred

Your assignment for today is to examine the concepts of love and hatred.  Which of the two is stronger?  Why?  Respond to this prompt in any form you'd like.  The only requirement is that your response must be at least 250 words.  It is due at the end of the period.

Numbers Poem

Think of three numbers that are significant to you for some reason.  Then, write a poem of 150 words or more that explores the significance of those numbers.  For example, the number 3 is significant to me because I feel that everything in life can be divided into 3: beginning, middle and end.  The number 27 is significant to me because it is both the year I got married and the year that many of my favorite musicians died.  The number 34 is significant to me because it is the year of life in which I finished my first novel, something I felt I would never do.  Have fun with this.  It is due at the end of the period.

Epiphany Story

Your assignment for the next several classes is to construct a story that eventually includes an epiphany.  An epiphany is a sudden realization about something significant.  In literature, epiphany stories usually involve a character arriving at some kind of truth about life or the world.

Your story must be 1000 words in length.  It is due at the end of Tuesday's class.  It should be free of errors.

Still in the October spirit

Write a two page scary story, starting with this:

"A girl heard her mom yell her name from downstairs, so she got up and started to head down.  As she got to the stairs, her mom pulled her into her room and said, "I heard that, too."

This is due at the end of class.

Happy October!

We are starting our Twisted Tales unit today!  Since today is also #wcw we'll combine both for today's task:

Take a female protagonist from any fairytale and alter her characterization.  How would your changes affect the plot line?

This is due at the end of class today.

Owen Meany

Pretend that, like the title character from A Prayer for Owen Meany, you were aware of the date and some of the details surrounding your own death. Write a 500 word piece based on this concept. It is due tomorrow at the end of the period.

Lost

Insert this piece of dialogue into a short story.  The story needs to be three pages-it is due at the end of class tomorrow.

"I think we should go this way," Jane said, pointing.

Mark nodded. "You're right."

"The other way might be better," Steve said, determination etched on his face.

"No, I think Jane's right," Martha said.

End Word Poem

 

Write a poem of twenty original lines that contains end words that when extracted from the rest of the poem, stand as another poem.

He carries unbalanced parcels of sorrow

As his silent shoes move among masses like empty measures

No one hears the echoes, the throbbing cadence of memories

Now relegated to the faceless insignificance of amplified light, blown out

A loud white storm, no one else knows what it sounds like

This is the point when reason and knowledge become cruel

The empty, un-reflected truth rains down like beatings,

The poison of logic is administered

To the servants he left his soul to

Intelligence, sentience, introspection, those

agents that render the mind helpless

When the hunched beast of emotion descends on men

in times most trying

When there is no one to talk to

Finally, he falls down on the cold ground, a slave to the process

The machinations of his own mind, in the onslaught of grief

#wcw

Setting: A ghost town in the wild, old west
Protagonist: Any woman you admire

Create a story (at least 500 words) that is based off of the above criteria.  Your story is due at the end of the period.

Burnt Marshmallows

I like this prompt from Ms. Sholk.  This is your assignment for today and tomorrow.

 

Love,

Koop

 

Burnt marshmallows

You and your three closest friends decide to go camping. You arrive and set up camp nearly three miles away from where you left your car. Late that evening, as you sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows, one of your friends reveals a deep, dark secret that turns what was to be a fun weekend into one of the scariest weekends of your life. Create a story based upon this plot line. It must be at least two pages and is due tomorrow at the end of the period.

Burnt marshmallows

You and your three closest friends decide to go camping.  You arrive and set up camp nearly three miles away from where you left your car.  Late that evening, as you sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows, one of your friends reveals a deep, dark secret that turns what was to be a fun weekend into one of the scariest weekends of your life.  Create a story based upon this plot line.  It must be at least two pages and is due at the end of the period.

Diamante

Diamante

Diamante

Diamante is a seven-line, diamond-shaped poem which contrasts two opposites. It is more a visual poem than one to be read aloud. Students can illustrate their final copies to produce an art piece. It follows this format:

First Line and seventh line - Name the opposites.
Second and sixth lines - Two adjectives describing the opposite nearest it.
Third and fifth lines - Three participles (ing words) describing the nearest opposite.
Fourth line - two nouns (if possible) for each of the opposites. (This is the transition point where the poem changes from one of the opposites to the other.)

Peaks,
Snowcapped, windswept,
Reaching, waiting, challenging
mountain ranges, ocean trenches,
Obscuring, waiting, daunting
Dark, black
Depths

Your assignment is to construct three of these. They are due at the end of the period.

Pantoum

The pantoum is a poem of indefinite length made up of stanzas whose four lines are repeated in a pattern: lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are repeated as lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza, and so on as shown below. 

___________________________(Line 1)
___________________________(Line 2)
___________________________(Line 3)
___________________________(Line 4)

___________________________(Line 5) - same as line 2
___________________________(Line 6) 
___________________________(Line 7) - same as line 4
___________________________(Line 8)

___________________________(Line 9) - same as line 6
___________________________(Line 10)
___________________________(Line 11) - same as line 8
___________________________(Line 12)
And so on...

Part of the pleasure of the pantoum is the way its recurring lines gently and hypnotically twine in and out of one another, and the way they surprise us when they fit together in unexpected ways. Write a pantoum comprised of 6-8 stanzas, with meaningfully intertwined lines. Try to create an unexpected juxtaposition between the lines to achieve surprise or irony.

Example from Christopher Lane: 

A man outside my window

The cat meowed and purred
I kneel by the fire
The darkness comes soon

The cat meowed and purred
She walked between my legs
The darkness comes soon
The stars will guide my way

She walked between my legs
She ran into the house
The stars will guide my way
I walk the beaten path

She ran into the house
Hiding away from me
I walk the beaten path
Stone, sand, and shell

Hiding away from me
The man peeks out
Stone, sand and shell
I stumble to the ground

The man peeks out
He hides behind the tree
I stumble to the ground
I'm running out of steam

Night turns to day
I kneel by the fire
Tapping at the glass
A man outside my window

#tbt

Take your favorite fictional character from your childhood and create a story with him/her as the protagonist.  The story must be two pages in length and is due at the end of the period.

Sestina

 

The sestina has six unrhymed stanzas of six lines each in which the words at the ends of the first stanza's lines recur in a rolling pattern at the ends of other lines. In the diagram below, the letters A-F stand for the six end-words of the sestina. The sestina concludes with a tercet (three-line stanza) that also uses all the six end-words, two to a line.

Stanza 1:
__________A
_________B
_________C

In this Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop, the six simple end-words are:
A: house
B: grandmother
C: child
D: stove
E: almanac
F: tears

__________D
__________E
__________F

Stanza 2:
_________F
_________A
_________E
_________B
_________D
_________C

Stanza 3:
________C
________F
________D
________A
________B
________E

Stanza 4:
________E
________C
________B
________F
________A
________D

Stanza 5:
_______D
_________E
________A
________C
_________F
_________B

Stanza 6:
________B
_________D
__________F
_________E
__________C
_________A

Tercet:
________A ___________B
________C __________D
________E ____________F

300 word free-write

Format and topic of your choice.  This is due at the end of the period.

"We are all that we are not."

What does this statement mean?  Does it apply to your life in some way?  Respond to this statement in poetry or prose.  Your piece must be 250 words in length.  It is due at the end of the period.

SLAM

Spoken word is a form of poetry that is focused on the aesthetics of word play and story telling. Spoken word is based upon personal experiences and viewpoints.  Your task:  Write a spoken word piece that is AT LEAST two pages long.  This is due at the end of the class on Tuesday.

Here is an example of a performed spoken word poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgz2AhHaQg

Cinquains

Cinquains are a short poetic format.  The subject matter can be anything you like.
Here's the format:
Line 1= 2 syllables
Line 2= 4 syllables
Line 3= 6 syllables
Line 4= 8 syllables
Line 5= 2 syllables.

Your assignment for today is to construct 10 of these.  They are due at the end of the period.

If you finish early...

Your poems for your lists are due at the end of the class today!! If you're done early, write a short story on this topic

Your character is caught shoplifting. The shop owner says that she won't call the police in exchange for a personal favor....

#feelings

Above are four emojis.  Construct a list detailing all things that make you feel each emoji.  After you have constructed your list, select ONE of the emojis and create 4 poems that incorporates all of your listed items.  In essence, you are writing a poem that describes each of your emotions.  The list of all four is due at the end of class.  The poem is due at the end of class tomorrow.

Why the Fire

Standing in the dark at the foot of the property, I watched. It was hard to believe. I shielded myself from view, leaning against one of the many pine trees in the woods that ran up to my backyard. I had gone through with it. I had burned down my house.
Write a 500 word story using this passage as a starting point. It is due tomorrow at the end of class. It must be free of errors.

Bare Bones of Dialogue

Use these bare bones of dialogue to create a scene between two characters.  Make sure to add all components of a story (setting, characters, plot).  The dialogue can be inserted at any point of your story.  This is due at the end of class.

Dialogue:
Speaker 1: "The sun’s almost down."

Speaker 2: "Won’t be long now."
Speaker 1: "Why do we have to wait until it’s dark?"
Speaker 2: "Ask him when he gets here."

Speaker1: "Are you ready?"
Speaker 2: "No. Are you?"

Construct a 500 word free write by the end of the period.  You can post on here or submit a handwritten post.  Hand in at the end of the period.

Sestina

Post one example by the end of the period.

pantoum

Your assignment for the day is to construct one example.  It is due at the end of the period.

Lunes

Construct five lunes in preparation for your final exam.  Thank you to everyone except Van Ness.

Haikus

write five.  due at the end of the period.

Many Hands, One Story Version 2

Collaborative story

Many Hands, One Story

Collaborative numbered stories.

Perfect Location

Think of the most beautiful and/or interesting place you’ve ever been to and then set a story there. It doesn’t have to be the exact place (i.e. Tahoe, Vegas, Yellowstone, etc.) it can be a place that only exists in your mind, or even a place you’ve only seen before in pictures. Be creative, feel free to set any scene there, and remember– the only limits are the limits you impose on your own creativity. Another way to interpret this assignment is to picture your own personal heaven.
Due at the end of the period - 300 words.

"We are all that we are not"

What does this statement mean?  Does it apply to your life in some way?  Respond to this statement in poetry or prose.  Your piece must be 250 words in length.  It is due at the end of the period.

Assignment for March 28

Personal Hell

If someone could create the worst possible place for your soul to dwell in for eternity, what would that place be?  You can be serious or humorous in your response.  Write 250 words.  It must be posted at the end of the period.

Words, Words, Words

Pick three words/things (any part of speech) that you like or that sound good when you say them. They could be colors, places, even names -- nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. Now, write a story using these three words in creative ways. (You can combine them, use them for section headings, use them as character names, etc. The possibilities are limitless.)

Due at the end of the period on Thursday. 500 words.

An Object in the Future

Pick up an object near you and look at it. Really study it. Try to find some aspect of it that future generations might change or improve on it. Now imagine that it’s your job to market this new and improved object to the public. What do you say? How do you approach the futuristic masses with this item that could go so far in making their lives better? You can write this is the form of a short story, with descriptions, characters, and dialogue, OR as a speech.
Due at the end of class - 300 words minimum.

Animals

Animals have played a huge role in literature throughout history. They appear in poems and stories, and plenty of nonfiction works have been written about animals and humans’ experiences with animals.
Humans have forged strong bonds with animals. Some of our pets are like family members. In fact, Americans spend $41 billion dollars a year on their animal companions. Billions more are donated to wildlife preservation, animal welfare advocacy, and conservation efforts.
Naturally, animals fit comfortably into the stories we tell.

Today’s creative writing prompts pay homage to our animal friends by inspiring a writing session that features animals, either in a positive or negative fashion. Be creative - the animals could be sentient/speaking characters or more passive pets. Due at the end of class on Friday - 500 words.

This prompt is due at the end of Tuesday's class for Mr. Kupiec's Period 9 students.

The Worst in a Person

What is the worst quality a person could have?  Why?  Write a story or personal reflection that examines this question.  It must be 300 words.  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Mythological Being

Choose a mythological tradition (i.e. Norse, Judeo-Christian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, etc.) and look it up on Wikipedia. Next, follow links until you track down a specific god, goddess, angel or spirit that sounds particularly interesting. Write a story that includes this entity and incorporates elements of the mythology surrounding them in a way that preserves some of the ambiance and flavor that attracted you to him/her/it in the first place.

A minimum of 500 words. Due at the end of class on Monday.

Three Questions

Your assignment is to write a 300 word response to the following prompt:

If you could ask any three questions to any three people, living or dead, what would you ask?  Who would you ask?  What answers would you hope to receive. 

Your response is due at the end of tomorrow's class.  Make sure you proofread.

irony

Write a story of 300 words that demonstrates the concept of irony.  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Early Memories

Write 250 words about one of your first childhood memories. Go into detail about where you were when this event happened, talk about every detail that you can remember.

The Worst Influence

Write 250 words about the worst influence in your life.  Explain why.  This is due at the end of the period.

Catch up/ free write day

Today, you can either use the period to edit your story or construct a free-write.  Remember, you should not be using your phone or browsing websites.

5 page story

Your assignment is to construct a five-page story.  It is due next Friday at the end of class.  The format guidelines for the story are specific.  You do not have to post your story; print it out at the end of class on Friday.

FORMAT GUIDELINES:
12 point font
Times New Roman font
Double-spaced

Your story may be about anything you'd like.  Everyone must complete this assignment, even those individuals who are currently working on larger projects.

Owen Meany

Pretend that, like the title character from A Prayer for Owen Meany, you were aware of the date and some of the details surrounding your own death.  Write a 500 word piece based on this concept.  It is due tomorrow at the end of the period.

Defining Moment

Write a piece of 200 words that is about the defining moment in your life thus far.  It can be in any format you'd like.  It is due at the end of the period.

Never Named

That's your title.  Take it in any direction you want.  It is due at the end of the period.  200 word minimum.

300 word free-write

This can be anything you want.  it is due at the end of the period.

Revenge

Write a story of 500 words that pertains to the following quote:

 

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

 

Your story is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Diamante

Diamante

Diamante is a seven-line, diamond-shaped poem which contrasts two opposites. It is more a visual poem than one to be read aloud. Students can illustrate their final copies to produce an art piece. It follows this format:

First Line and seventh line - Name the opposites.
Second and sixth lines - Two adjectives describing the opposite nearest it.
Third and fifth lines - Three participles (ing words) describing the nearest opposite.
Fourth line - two nouns (if possible) for each of the opposites. (This is the transition point where the poem changes from one of the opposites to the other.)

 

Peaks,
Snowcapped, windswept,
Reaching, waiting, challenging
mountain ranges, ocean trenches,
Obscuring, waiting, daunting
Dark, black
Depths

Your assignment is to construct three of these.  They are due at the end of the period.

The Worst Graduation Speech

Write a speech of 150 words, pretending as though you are the worst possible candidate to give your class's graduation speech.  It is due at the end of the period.

Writing for a title

Your assignment is to write a 300 word story that would be adequately titled, "The Villain With a  Thousand Faces."  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Bad Habits

What is one of your bad habits? Invent a character who has the bad habit, but a much worse case of it than you have. Write a story where this habit gets your character into trouble.

500 words. Due at the end of class on Tuesday.

Urban Legend

An urban legend is an apocryphal (of doubtful authenticity), secondhand story, told as true and just plausible enough to be believed, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person. It’s likely to be framed as a cautionary tale.

Factual or not, an urban legend is meant to be believed. In place of evidence, the teller of an urban legend relies on skillful storytelling and/or reference to relatively trustworthy sources — e.g., "it really happened to my hairdresser's brother's best friend" — to convince hearers (or readers) of its truth.

Your assignment is to create an urban legend of 300 words or more. It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.

Sestina, Pantoum, Ottava Rima

Your assignment is to review the formats of the Sestina, Pantoum, and Ottava Rima.  You will have to know the formats from memory for the midterm.  Construct  one example for each. 

Midterm Review Day Three

Your assignment is to construct 10 cinquains.  They are due at the end of the period.

Midterm Review Day Two

Write 10 lunes by the end of the period. They must be new and original to receive credit.

Midterm Review Day One

Write  ten haikus.  They are due at the end of the period.  If they are not new, and your own work, you will receive a zero.

Love

Historically, love has been one of the most difficult concepts to define.  Almost everyone seems to have a different perception of what it means.  Write a 300 word piece that explores, in detail, your perception of the concept of love.  It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.  It should be free of errors, especially since I am giving you two class periods to do it.

Word of the Day

Construct a short story of at least 500 words (due Friday) revolving in some manner around the word of the day found on this website. Or any other "word of the day" type website as long as you provide a link. You may also use the words and phrases in the "Related Searches" box towards the bottom of the entry as alternate inspiration. Remember, you can use the word(s) as setting, as theme, as character or any other element related to literature.

Epiphany

Your assignment is to write a story of 800 words that centers on an epiphany.  An epiphany is a sudden realization, usually about something of importance.

Your story is due at the end of Wednesday's class.

A Resolution Made to be Broken

Write a piece of one hundred words that dramatically describes the breaking of somone's important resolution.  Try to give enough inmsight into the situation to force the reader to question whether or not the breaking of the resolution was justified.  It is due, without exception, at the end of the period.

New Year, New You

Think back to last year and list your top three favorite memories. Explain why these were so impactful. Also, in the tradition of the "New Year's Resolution" custom, think about several things you want to change or accomplish in the new year. Explain why and the method you aim to use.

Due at the end of the period. 300 words.