A Little Friendly Advice

There is a reason that at the end of almost every book you read the author always has a page dedicated to thanking his or her editor or those that provided support in making that writing better (and ultimately successful). Your classmates have been your support throughout this gigantic research paper and who better can give you some last-minute advice for how to improve it? You have, no doubt, read many of your peers' chapters throughout this process, some pretty good, some needing a bit more work. Please take a second to think about how your classmates can improve their writing throughout the revisions and final changes you will make next week before turning in that final paper. Be specific, put some thought into it, and actually write something useful-- "spell better" is not going to cut it!

Character Counts!

Do any characters in your book grow or change over the course of the novel? If so, how?
Does any character come to learn something about himself/herself or view the world differently? If so, what does he/she learn?
Or is the character “static,” unchanging from beginning to end? Explain.

@#%$! Blog

I am sure all of you have read books that have had at least a few choice cuss words in them. So, that brings up the question, "When is it acceptable to swear or use vulgar language in writing?" Would the crime novel you are reading be as effective if the criminal said, "No thank you, officer, I would not like to go to jail" instead of dropping a few f-bombs along with some other colorful insults? Does it depend on the targeted audience? Where do you draw the line? Is there a line? Explain under what circumstances you think swearing is necessary in writing.

Making the Connection

Your reading is closely connected to your writing. The more you read, the better your understanding of how to write. When students write compositions in my classes, I often have them write a TPAPT or a RAFT for each piece prior to writing. The TPAPT is an acronym for a basic roadmap to writing consisting of: Topic, Purpose, Audience, Point of View, and Tone. RAFT is the same thing, just a different acronym (Role, Audience, Format, Topic). Connect this concept to your reading by doing a TPAPT or RAFT for the book you are currently reading (if you are far enough into it), or for the last book you have completed if you are not far enough into your current book. Be sure to include your book's title and author.

Good Catch . . . or . . . Catch and Release?

With the recent passing of author J.D. Salinger, I am reminded of the mixed reaction that his book The Catcher in the Rye has had with many of my students. It seems that anyone that has read that book either REALLY loved it or REALLY didn't. It is interesting to me how some books can bring such different reactions to their readers. I know we usually talk about books that you like, but let's switch things up a bit and talk about a book you really didn't like for some reason. Make sure you include why you think you didn't like it so much. Be truthful, but fair.

Some seriously cool people...

I have to admit, I have never really been a big fan of biography/autobiography books. I guess most of the time when I read, I read for the appeal of escaping my "normal" life, so reading about someone else's life didn't seem too exciting. What I didn't realize, though, was that looking at the world through someone else's eyes is a way of escaping one's daily grind after all, and can also prove to be quite inspirational. I remember reading a biography when I was in high school that really resonated with me because of the dedication of this woman. . . Marie Curie, chemist from the late 19th century. I remember it blew my mind how this woman jumped into what was definitely a man's area at the time, and made a pretty huge splash, winning 2, count them, 2 Nobel Prizes in the process. What person have you read about that turned out to be interesting or motivating for you. Why do you think this is?