LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Student Journal / Portfolio Sample Submission 2003
Robin P. Stone
December 1, 2003
Creative Writing Journal
Introduction:
I took this course because I want to improve my writing skills and become the best writer I can be. I want to further my writing career and feel the best way to do this is to take all the instruction available to me, glean the good and discard the rest in order to create my own style. I feel that since I have the opportunity to do so, to let it slip by would be a waste of my time and an opportunity that once lost, may never be regained.
My experience in creative writing is minimal. Besides the copious reading of required books and leisure books I have read, in and out of my academic career, my experience consists mainly of writing lessons required in my academic career and poetry submissions to anthologies. I have been published a few times, and won an award for my poetry. I had an article published in the school newspaper, and then became a staff writer for that newspaper for the last year I was in that school. I had a few articles published in magazines when I was a teen, and I have had a few books desktop published and sold through church bookstores. I have never, however, considered myself an author. Part of my hopes in taking this class was to see the reaction of the students and instructor to see if I could count myself in that nebulous, yet plenteous, group of people called authors. Because I have never received feedback on my work before (I had never even received a rejection letter. Either I was accepted or never heard anything back about a submission.) I did not know if I was good enough to consider myself author let alone continue writing. This course gave me the feedback I needed and because of that, I think I am a better writer.
My goals for this course were much the same as my reasons for taking the course. I wanted to improve my writing skills and become the best writer I can be. I also feel that taking this type of course will not only assist my writing outside my academic career, but inside of it too. I think writing is important even if you are not going to become a professional writer because half of communication with the world is written. Good writing skills for fiction, poetry, and drama, can come in useful in writing research papers, resumes, fliers for functions you are involved in, and many other things. This is because part of being a good writer is knowing your audience. If you can learn to know your audience, you can write effective, yet satisfying works.
Through this course, I have learned my strengths and weaknesses and gained many guidelines for changes I needed to make to my style and process overall. I got to this stage by giving my all to each project, but mostly by reading the Three Genres book by Minot. This book has been invaluable to me as a first time workshop participant.
Poetry:
The main poem of my poetry submission is titled “The Little Traveler.” This poem is dedicated to my daughter Patricia “Patches” Bray. Patches is a special child. She was born with Down Syndrome. When she was three years old, she started public school in the ECH (Early Child Hood) program and the big yellow bus would come each morning to pick her up. It was hard to put this small three-year-old on the bus, so I would sing silly things to her to keep her occupied so she would not notice my unease.
One day I sang:
What a weary little traveler
you turned out to be
You played so hard and went to school
and did your best for me.
Patches got such a kick out of it I kept singing it over and over until the bus came. Patches went off to school with a smile on her face and I felt better too. This same thing went on for several days but one day after school, Patches wanted me to sing the song again, and soon it got boring, so I added another part:
And now it's time to go to bed
upon a fluffy cloud
and sail upon the blue, blue sky
while mommy sings aloud
Patches was ecstatic! I sang that little song for her until she did drift off to sleep. The next morning I added the next verse, and soon I had the whole song. I sang it to the tune of the “Yellow Rose of Texas.” You can see the whole thing here:
I had sung this song for Patches for years. When the creative writing class came along, I wanted to see if it was just Patches’ bias or if it was truly any good. I had to do the in class presentation of it but I emailed it along with several others to a few students just to get their reaction. If they laughed at it, I would use another poem.
Reani responded
with, “I really like The Little
Traveler and Seasons. Although you wrote it for Patches, it sounds like a
lullaby for any child who wants and needs the comfort and reassurance of mommy.
The main problem I have with the poem is the punctuation (the lack of) at the
end of each stanza. Is there a certain effect or affect you are trying for or
was that just typing errors?” And Robert wrote, “On first glance the song is very cute- in a good way J“
Laurie said she liked it also.
So,
I decided that this poem was the one I would use, and see if there was a way to
improve it. I incorporated punctuation into it and since it was a song, the
first part about being a weary little traveler was sung between every verse as a
chorus. I removed the chorus and made it a poem. Robert questioned the
repetition of blue, blue in the first stanza and sweet, sweet in the second. I
tried to build on that to keep the repetition going throughout the poem and
still play on the innocent, child-like quality of the words. I got one extra
stanza to work with a repetition but could not make the others work.
When I presented the poem in class, wonderful
suggestions were made and the consensus seemed to be that it was liked! I was
told it was metrically perfect but not obtrusively so and that it had a sweet
tone that was consistent but not gushy. I was elated. Dawn suggested replacing
“aloud” with “so proud” at the end of the second stanza and it worked
immediately. Someone suggested an unstressed syllable at the beginning of the
forth line of the third stanza, but I could not work that in. It changed the
tone and rhythm of the poem.
The
glitch I felt was in fourth stanza was worked out though. It was suggested I
move the “and” from the beginning of the second line up to the beginning of
the first and place a comma at the end of the first line. Then I could make the
end of the second line “sleepy, sleepy eyes” and the change was remarkable.
I was thrilled at seeing how changing a word or two would make things flow much
better.
The poem is now finished—I think. I have read it several times with days, even weeks between it and have found nothing else to change since incorporating the class changes and submitting the poetry submission. I think the strength of the poem is its meter and rhyme. I feel this is now a poem I can submit to some competitions, and feel confident that I am not totally out of my league.
Fiction:
The main piece of my fiction submission is titled “Roxy’s Worlds.” This piece started as a memory that I had of my childhood. I had been trying to write about it for years and could not do it. I started writing the piece in first person but could not do it. I froze up. After reading the Minot book, I discovered the basic concept of changing fact to make it fiction, and decided to try it with this piece. First, I changed the characters. There were actually several more people there, but changing it to just Roxy’s parents made it easier to write and it started flowing. I was still writing in first person and was still freezing up sometimes. So, I decided to try writing it in third person and see what happened. As I started writing it, it just started flowing. I was surprised at how changing a few details from fact to fiction would make a difference. I was also surprised at how changing from first person to third person would change the story and make it easier to write. It was not long before I had the basics of the story and then decided to see if I still liked it the next day. I did and the story was born.
I did not have to present the piece in class, but instead had to do the email draft exchange. I emailed the draft to several students and got some good feedback. Everyone liked the story and several people even sent suggestions for changes that I incorporated as best I could. Laurie showed me where I was using passive voice, being wordy, and taught me about showing action versus telling. Reani showed me where I was having tense trouble, helped me get my opening flowing better, and helped me with the paragraph breaks and dialogue. I made the changes and then sent the piece to the same people as well as a new group of students since so few of the first set responded.
Sara helped me flesh out the bedroom description, and Liz helped me put the narrator’s voice in perspective. She also suggested I describe Roxy more and that led to me putting bits of description such has “big brown eyes” in throughout the piece. The part of the scent of the soaps was all Liz—Thank you Liz! She also gave me the idea of making this piece a frame story with Roxy as an adult. The story started out just being a short fiction piece, but the suggestion of Liz’s has kept niggling at me and I decided to try making it a frame story for the NaNoWriMo project that I am doing. I think it is coming along well! Jennifer helped me polish up the narrator’s voice and decide on using “father/mother” or “mommy/daddy.” When I sent it out again, the responses were all good and only a few typos were found as suggested changes.
As I said above, the manuscript started out a simple short piece, but now I am working on turning it into a short memory in a much larger frame story and it is coming out very nice. I have over 3,300 words on it. I had over 7,000 but the computer ate the new version and I am back to the old version. I have decided to finish the work as a novel and even if I don’t finish NaNoWriMo with this work, I will continue working on it since it is turning out so well. I hope to submit it for publishing when I am done. I think the strength of the work is its psychological perspective of a child who is going through a traumatic experience and the surprise ending. I hope to add a bit more description into it of Roxy but will not have to force the issue since it is now going to be part of a longer work. That will take up some of the slack. I think this style of writing is turning out to be my strongpoint and am enjoying it a great deal.
The second drama piece I submitted is titled “Watching the Earthlings.” This piece grew out of a prank I used to pull when I was in 7th grade. I would walk around and speak “Thop-Thop” language in answer to everyone. I wrote a one-page paper for extra credit in literature and it was about sports and how aliens would think about them when observing them on Earth. I incorporated the “Thop-Thop” language into it and thought it would be fun to turn it into a drama for children. So, I did! The reception of this piece was overall good, but did not receive as much attention as Roxy’s Worlds did. The secret code was a last minute twist that I threw in to make it more interesting and challenging. I really received no feedback on it other than it was good or cute. I did have a couple people ask me for the secret message at the end. It was a fun piece and my daughters liked it a lot. It was an experiment that turned out well, I think.
Drama:
The drama piece for my drama submission, “Too Friendly” was the scariest piece to write, but turned out to be the easiest. I was given the idea by a friend and automatically heard the conversation in my mind and wrote it down. I did not write, “he said/she said” or even names. I simply wrote what was said and when another voice spoke up, I simply hit enter a couple of times and typed. When I was finished, I had almost three pages of dialogue and simply went back and put names to the dialogue.
When I finished with that, I went to read the Minot book to find out how to do the stage directions and theme and concept sentences. Having Dr. White’s dramas to reference was a great help. This is the first page of the original I came up with after adding a few stage directions:
The
Stalker
Concept sentence:
318-20
In
order of appearance:
Dr.
White, Brandi, Kelly, Laurie, LaQuita, Dawn
Instructor is writing on chalkboard and the class is filtering in to their seats.
Brandi: [Sitting in a chair next to Kelly] Hi
Kelly: [Ignores Brandi]
Brandi: [A little louder] I said hi
Kelly: [Continues to ignore Brandi]
Brandi: [Waves hands in front of Kelly’s face] Hello! I said hi!
Kelly: I don’t want to talk right now.
Brandi: Why not?
Kelly: I just don’t
Brandi: Is someone bothering you? I’ll take care of them if they are!
Kelly: No! Just. . .
Dr. White: Okay, class, for today we will be doing our dramas. [Turns to board going over agenda]
Brandi: [While dr. White’s back is turned, whispers to Kelly] Are you going to our next class?
Kelly: [quietly] Of course!
Brandi: [quietly] Me too! Did you do the work?
The concept sentence was not a problem. I came up with that fairly easily:
Concept sentence: One
student wants to be closer friends with another than is reciprocated, to the
point of harassing, causing dissention among other students.
The theme sentence
gave me a bit more trouble. I have a problem with utilizing too many clichés
and it seems that each theme sentence I came up with was a cliché. Finally, I
settled on a simple, but obvious truth that I hoped would work:
Theme sentence: When
one student is harassing another, the whole class is affected.
I read the work over and over aloud trying to
make sure that it would flow. I even found a wonderful program on the Internet
that would read it aloud to me, and this program turned out to be very useful
for proofing. My daughters helped me act the play out to see if it would flow. I
next emailed the play to a few friends to get their feedback and help in typos
and flow. Each time I would add more stage directions, change the dialogue, or
make any changes suggested by my friends, I would change the characters because
the role seemed to fit someone else. I finally settled on a set of characters
and got the play where I thought it was where it should be.
The drama was presented in class and I think it went as I thought it would except for a few things. First, Brandi, who was playing the person being stalked, did not show up for class and I had to substitute Jennifer in the role. Jennifer did a great job, but I realized I had specifically designed the role around Brandi and it threw me off to substitute. Second, two places did not flow when acted out as they had in my mind. Both places were where I had put neither enough stage direction nor dialogue in for Dr. White. I should have put more direction and dialogue in for him when he didn’t get an answer from the girls and went back to the agenda instead of just stating he did so, and again when class was dismissed. I simply said it was dismissed and I should have had dialogue for Dr. White actually dismissing the class. Third, the two breaks would have been designated by curtain calls or a scene break if it were actually being done, but with limited prop, I didn’t think of how to do that. In class Dr. White hit on the idea of flipping the light switch for scene breaks and that would have been much better. All these changes and others suggested in the class have been incorporated and I think the drama is much stronger for it.
I had truly not thought of doing more with the work other than required for the class. However, the more it sits there in my portfolio, the more it calls to me and I want to go further with it to see just how far I can push it. The strengths of the work are the length of the dialogue lines, the pace, and the action. Those were the responses in class that were most agreed upon.
I need to go through the Minot book drama section more closely and glean all I can from it and go back and revise the work. Then I need to add to it and see how long I can make it. I don’t think drama is my forte, but I won’t know unless I try. I doubt I will publish, at least not this one or not soon, since I am just beginning and learning. But who knows? Perhaps I may submit it to a high school and see if they want to produce it in a drama department.
Summary:
Overall, I feel that I have made great progress in my writing through this course. I now consider myself a writer and I am no longer afraid to share my work. I was truly worried that I would not be able to “take” the criticism that came with sharing my work in a workshop such as this. I have found, however, that the support I have received from the other students and the instructor far outweighs the criticism. By the end of the course, I was wishing more students would be more forthright in their critiques for I found it made me a better writer and I learned almost as much from their thoughts as I did from the book. It was wonderful to sit in the class and discuss my work as if it were someone else’s and hear the good and the bad things said about it. It confirmed my instincts as a writer and gave me the drive to make it better as well as the interest to keep writing and try new things.
I discovered writing for children. As a mother, I suppose it comes naturally, but I had never thought of doing it seriously. However, I found that most of my work is geared for a younger audience and that was fascinating. I had always wanted to be a serious author who wrote on serious subjects. Through the class and the guest speakers, as well as my own work, I found that serious authors can be authors of children’s works too. I think that I may relate to work geared for children more since I am a mother of a mentally challenged child. I have had to gear my thinking on a level that will meet hers for 18 years. I am sure that has colored my perceptions. I used to worry about that, and then I found what a wonderful source of material that would provide and have decided, why question it? Go with the flow!
I responded to the poetry section of the course the most since I have always considered poetry a language from the heart and psyche that was untouchable. I still do, but now I know I can coax the language of the heart and psyche into being a more efficient language. I have learned not only that, but also how to write more effective fiction and how to change my life experiences and things I see and experience first hand or second, and turn them into something that others can experience through my words.
Where will I take this knowledge beyond the course? Anywhere I can! I definitely will continue with the NaNoWriMo, which I learned about in class, but I will also enter my poetry into any contest I can find. I have even committed myself to submit my works into such works as Marrow and Bayousphere. I am working my way up to submitting to anything I come across that may take my work, and that means I will have to write, write, write.
I have learned that working together in a workshop is wonderful and that it can be a terrific experience if the instructor conducts the class in a constructive manner instead of a free for all. I have heard of horror stories about workshops and am here to say that if the right attitude is brought to class, it can be the best experience of a writing career. From watching the instructor teach the class, I have learned that the teacher must be constructive, supportive, and willing to change plans in mid-stream. I think the relaxed atmosphere with definite deadlines would work in any classroom setting from grade school up to college or even professional settings.
I especially liked presenting our work in class. I think more of that would be great. I would have liked to see more of that than the discussion. I learned more and if the students didn’t read, they were cheating themselves, and presenting was invaluable. I would also like to have others read the works to see how others perceive when they read. I would also like to have each student be given a copy of the work that was being presented, and have them mark it up and make comments on the paper to be given back to the author at the end of the class. This would assist not only the other students with their criticism, but also the author. Many students don’t know how to verbalize what they mark on their draft and sometimes there is not enough time to get everyone in. And sometimes, people are just to shy or uncertain to speak up. If they could mark the copy and return it, the author may get some wonderful feedback.
Appendix A:
This is an appendix of the email draft exchange on my fiction piece. Many of the comments could not be included because much of the corrections and comments occurred actually in the text of the copy I sent them, but there was much helpful information as well as much encouragement in these emails.
·
Hey Robino, I LOVED this story! :) If I had a choice between WtW
and this for the fiction submission, I'd pick this one. I don't know if I was
brutal or not, but I treated it like it was my own...and commented that way. :)
. . . Let me know if this helps. Robin, this is a kick-ass story! I love it. J
I know I marked all the heck over it, but that’s technical junk. I absolutely
love the story itself. You have to develop the character more. Also, more
dialogue, show don’t tell. Use universal kid body language to tell the reader
about Roxy’s emotions…hands pressed over ears, rigid limbs, etc. You’re a
mom, pull this stuff up! J
I love the part about her kicking her mom and the wall. I saw
that! I guess as an omniscient writer you are allowed to give the reader
Roxy’s feelings, but have you considered writing this in first person? I’m
not saying one is better than the other, but I’ve always felt a writer can
evoke more emotion in a reader with 1st person. Also, look in any
fiction book you have at home and see how they make the line breaks for
dialogue. It helps a reader keep the speaker straight. You might be able to get
away from some of the he said/she said that is necessary in this format. Really
Robin, great story! J
I would love to see you really develop this and push passed some limits.
–Laurie
· Robin, The changes are strictly suggestions. You can use some of them if you want. Most of what I found were small typo’s. NP is for new paragraph. If you feel that the story flows a little better with these use them, if there is a reason you left the paragraphs so long by all means leave them the way they are. Overall, a good story. Thanks for letting me read it. –Reani
· (I’m a little confused about whose bedroom, do the boys share a bedroom with Roxie or is this her parent’s room?) –Sara
o Sara, Thank you for the feedback. I see what you mean about the bedroom and whose it is. I will work on that . . .. –Robin
·
Robin, I read your story
and was certainly able to follow it. I kept my attention. Maybe because I
am a mom. Some parts of the story which came through as pure narration, I
thought could become action even if you did not want to add dialogue. Could she
maybe hear her father downstairs in the first paragraph rather than waking up to
find he was home? I guess I want to hear some household noise from her
perspective. Maybe instead of the words "typical four year old” the
reader could get to that through viewing the way she behaved with her father.
That might make for a rich or even touching scene and could create more of a
picture of Roxy or a more emotional connection for the reader. Who is your
audience? Is this going to be a short story or longer chaptered work? What does
Roxy look like? When you use the words her mommy and daddy, I begin to think
your audience is young. But I do not get this from the rest of the work. When
the narrator says her mommy and daddy do not want to talk to her, you could use
"mother" and "father" for the adult reader. At the point
when the little soaps are brought in, could the smells of the little soaps be
present even though they are hidden. Might create an imagery. To set us apart
from her head for a vision of her screaming you could play around with the
phrasing "Roxy ran screaming from on to the other." Maybe a more
visual description of her. That is a depiction of a desparate situation. I
guess I would like to see her action more clearly. Could even refer to her as
"the child" to distance the reader or use words that characterize her
such as "with her small body" to create a view of the scene and
contrast the size of her to her parents. Could this be a frame story with Roxy
beginning as an adult? I liked the ending. It as well invited interest in the
story and takes us to a deeper level of the mind of Roxy. The story is well
organized and flows nicely. Please just use what you can here as far as my
responses go. I tried to tell you as much as I could because I know the more I
hear the more it helps my writing. Even if comments aren't directly helpful, I
get an idea of how the work is seen by another. Having read only this amount of
the story and not really seeing your own vision my comments may be way off. I am
curious about your reader though. I am thinking of an adult who would be
interested in the story because of its relation to abuse or maybe just for the
enlightenment of a child's perspective within a dysfunctional family. Feel free
to let me know where you feel I am missing the mark on my comments. You did a
good job. –Liz
o Liz, Thank you so much for your feedback! It is wonderful. You are right on the mark. I could see most of what you said flowing as I read it. I will try to do your suggestions justice. The story is a short story that is not a part of a longer work at all. It stands alone. The audience started out adult and moved younger as I wrote. But I think I need to gear it back up to at adult. I will definitely work on the "mommy" and "daddy" usage. It is just too much. I can include bits of description of Roxy throughout the story. I can also include the smell of the soaps. I will have to work on more action for her though. I had not thought of the story as a frame story, but I will have to try it now. You were right on the mark about the reader. I just lost it and let Roxy rule it. I have to bring it back to an adult reader. Or perhaps I will do the frame part before I change much of that and see how it works out. Thank you again for you help. If you are interested, I will send you the revised copy for more review when I get it done. –Robin
·
Okay, I am
sending you your fiction submission. I really liked it. The ending was very
surprising - awesome. Great job Robin . . .. I like the story. I love the
ending! There are just a few things I thought might need to be looked at: 1)
Child’s point of view – watch the word choice.
Children usually say smaller words. Very few problems with this. 2) Why
did the mother & father just keep on talking?
This perplexed me. Was the father always neglectful of Roxy? 3) She could wonder
why her father didn’t “save” her – she obviously loves him and thinks a
lot of him, so I thought we could “feel” her more if you threw in some
confusion concerning her father’s role in the problem. See ya Monday!
–Jennifer
· Hello Robin! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Your story is very interesting and original! I don't think I have ever read a story where the perspective was of someone so young! It has a nice slow build right to the end. However, I'm not sure if I understood the ending. Did she see herself in a mirror? Also, a lot of the story is much of the same- Roxy being scared. Maybe you could bring up other incidences in the past where she was unsure about her mother's "powers.” I really like the picture you created with her mother passing her hand over the stove to get it to light- I used to do the same thing with an old stove of mine and I never thought how magical that would look to a child! I thought that part was a great little interlude and you might want to include another short memory like that to build on the way a child thinks. Again, sorry this was so late in getting to you. –Dawn
After Revisions:
· Robin, I like the story, but I think the beginning need s a little rearranging for flow and clarity. You might want to check on how to do transitions after quotes; whether or not to start a new paragraph. I think there needs to more description of Roxy's room, especially so that the end will tie into the story better and bring the reader back into situation. I get the feeling that there were some bad vibes between Roxy and her mother and brothers, so I would like to see those relationships expounded on a little more. Other than that a few typos, but nothing major. I liked the story. Good job, --Reani
· No first person!!! J I don’t know if I suggested that…but hang me if I did. Also, I like the mother/father use better because of the first line. No kid would use “a rare good mood”…this implies an adult who would use mother/father. The only thing I would really like to see change (or be made consistent) is the narrator’s voice. It seems to waffle between childish and mature. The observations are obviously that of an adult, but the language is often childlike. I still love this story! J Thanks for reworking and sending it back to me. –Laurie
· I like the first person approach. It seems to add to the problem of Roxy disappearing because the reader gets it from Roxy's point of view rather than an unknown narrator. I also think that using "father” and "mother" shows that we are reading a memory of the adult Roxy. –Reani
·
Robin, Hi, I just got your
e-mail. I had been reading the 3 versions of your story before I got it. I did
not attach anything because my responses are brief. I don't know if I can help
you with the final decision of 1st or 3rd person. I like both, but I find the
1st person very interesting. It totally connected me to Roxy, and because of the
personal nature of the story and her inner experience and view of other
characters, I preferred it. Now, I didn't do a strong comparison of what the
disadvantages are to switching to 1st person. I did find a few little places
that were possible oversights. At the place where the mother's fingers are being
described, along with the gas stove, did you mean to say "my" mother
instead of "her" mother. And shortly after that did you mean to say
"I was afraid "her" or "my" hiney. In the #4 draft, I
found the letter f that should have been if, when she is running between
their legs - "if" she were taller. And I wondered if when she thought
she would be happy to not see her brothers again if that should really read:
she would be happy not to be seen by her brothers again. Who, if they
could find her, would tease her etc? I thought this fit better with the
invisible position she is in because her brothers would still be visible. I
wrote this at hyper speed, if it is not clear e-mail me back. My house is pretty
busy at night, but I'll check in later. –Liz
Appendix B:
This section shows the bulk of the email draft exchanges detailing my work as an editor of classmates’ writings. Space being limited, many of the comments could not be included, but this will give an idea of the work I did in assisting others, and from which I was able to learn as well.
· Reani:
Reani first sent a
poem. I responded to that one and then she sent another email.
The first one had a second stanza added and one Haiku. I sent feedback on
both poems. Later she sent two more poems, and I
responded to them also. Reani
sent me her fiction piece and I edited that as well. Reani is an excellent
writer and I learned how to do a frame story, which turns out to be one of my
strongsuits from her. I was totally at the end before I even realized I
had read 5 pages. Reani revised the work and then sent it back again and I
edited it a second time, and she sent me her Drama to edit, which I did. It was
so realistic and I enjoyed reading it. There was not that much I could suggest
it was so good.
·
Dominique:
Dominique sent me his poem “Reluctant First
Kiss,” and I responded to it. It
brought a smile to my face. It is a poem we can all relate to. I enjoyed reading
it and he used ellipses well. Later he asked that I forward his work to
others—which I did immediately. Dominique also sent me his fiction piece, and I
sent some suggestions to him on the work. I got goose bumps from reading his
work! Dominique has a solid story with a great message.
·
Christine:
I got her poem from Robert. I made remarks and
suggestions in blue in the Word doc and returned them for her and gave her my
email. There was no more correspondence with Christine.
·
Jennifer:
I received Jennifer’s drama from Laurie. I responded in the document I was sent. The subject of the story is touching and creative—especially the ending. Jennifer incorporated some of the changes and then re-sent the story. It was great to see the story evolve from draft to final copy. Jennifer did a good job.
·
Robert:
Robert sent me part of his fiction piece. Robert’s
story was a clever, pleasant read and packed
with a lot of meaning. Later, Robert sent another section of his story asking
for opinion and I responded. Robert also asked me to forward his work to others,
which I did immediately.
·
Laurie:
Laurie sent me her story and I loved it! I wanted to read more and think she should make it into a novel. I responded several times to her on the story and hoe she continues to add to it and lets me read it!
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Sara:
Sara sent her work and I responded. It took me a few minutes to realize what it was: Very clever. She did not send me a follow-up.
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Liz:
Liz sent me her work and a list of specific questions she wanted answered as well as a segment of what is not included in the story for clarity’s sake. The story was interesting—especially the garden scene she told of and I would like to read the whole thing.