What to do for Thursday, September 1^st:

Read the sample “Freak” papers and write one of your own. Here’s the premise: A character (not you, but a made-up character) goes to a house in which a “freak” character lives. By “freak,” I mean someone who is obsessed with something, and the signs of that obsession are everywhere. Be wild and imaginative. This is just a start, but try to keep some of these things in mind:

1. Be specific. One of the tricks to writing is to get specific and precise and concrete. For example, rather than say that someone drank a beer, name the beer: Coors Light or Heineken or Old Milwaukee or Budweiser. These details reveal a lot about the character.

2. Use your senses: Yes, you’ll primarily use sight details, but try to slip in other senses—like hearing specific music that fits your freak or hearing an odd sound to the doorbell. 

3. Try to invent a story. Rather than have a flat description of a place, it’s more fun to read and to write a story while doing the description.

4. Try to include at least one simile. For those who don’t know, a simile is a comparison between two different things using the words “like” or “as.” For example: “Her fingers were thick and swollen like yams.”

5. Please type this. Try to model your format (called the MLA format) after the models.

Have fun. Sure, try to be a little conscious of the mechanical stuff, but mainly just have a good time with your bizarre tale. You get 100% A+ credit just for the doing of this fun paper.

Also, bring two things to class on Thursday:

1.      A blank cassette tape. I use these to record my comments on your writing.

2.      Your copy of Angela’s Ashes.