Day 9

Mon. Nov. 22

• Share details from Uncle Pat

• Share aphorisms

• Share details from “Mazie” and “The Man Who Eats”

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Homework

➤ Read “Mazie” or “The Man Who Eats”

Read whichever of these you didn’t read last time. (For this class, that’s Mazie for everybody. Read as much of it carefully as you realistically are able; I recommend at least reading paragraphs 1-6 and 8-9.

In “Mazie” look for one of each of these things as well. Come to next class ready to share an example of each of these for either “Mazie” or “The Man Who Eats.”

• Physical description of a character’s appearance

• A list of concrete objects

• An anecdote about a character (something they once did)

• A description of a character’s habits (something they always or often do or did)

• An aphorism / statement of that character’s worldview and values

• Something another character says about that character

• A description of the character acting in a scene (physical action)

• Quotation or dialogue that captures a character’s voice

➤ Read your classmates’ aphorisms

Read over your classmates’ new aphorisms on Box (Folder 9, “Three new aphorisms”) and pick one that you like best or find most intriguing. Come to next class ready to share this aphorism and “unpack” it the way I did — explain what you understand it to mean, why it attracts you, and who might believe this thing.

Also take either that aphorism or a different one of your classmates’ aphorisms and rewrite it to make the language “tighter” and better-sounding. Try to make it sound good — good aphorisms should “ring” clearly like a bell. Put the original aphorism and your new version in a document and upload it to the folder “10-More aphorisms.”

➤ write aphorisms for your character

For the person you think you’ll write about for your character essay, write at least three original aphorisms (again, not proverbs—these should aphorisms that haven’t been said before, except perhaps by that person) that capture this person’s worldview or value system.

Make at least one of these aphorisms contain the word for an object that your character is very familiar with or uses a lot or is important to them for some reason.

Also make at least one of these aphorisms contain the name of a place that is very important to your character or in which your character spends a lot time / is very familiar with.

Upload these aphorisms in the same document to the folder “10-More aphorisms.”

➤ Start working on your character essay

Your essay is due a week from today. It’s probably a good idea to get to work on it!