Creative Writing

1. Creative Writing Choose two of the five beginnings below and answer the following for each: 1. How does this sentence work as a beginning? 2. What questions does it raise? • “Nothing happens by accident. I learned this the hard way, long before I knew that the hard way was the only path to true, certain knowledge.” • “The vibrating clangour from the four great piston engines set teeth on edge and made an intolerable assault on cringing eardrums.” • “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” • “The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior at three o’clock.” • “My high school friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.”

2. Writing Strong Beginnings What not to do: http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/organization/leads.html • As a side note, it’s probably best to not get writing advice from someone who spells corner with a “k.”

3. Writing Strong Beginnings • You don’t have to write the beginning first! • It doesn’t matter if the beginning of the rough draft sucks. • Drop your reader into the thick of things. • Give them a reason to keep reading.

4. A note regarding your literacy narratives... • These are narratives, not essays. Write them accordingly.

5. Moving Along • If you’ve not completed your first drafts, do that first. • If you have completed your first draft, go back over your draft and revise your beginning. • If you’ve done all of these things, spend the rest of the period revising your first draft. • Your drafts are due at the end of the period.