Starting Lesson 2 -- Voice & Point of View


Here's what you should learn this lesson:
  • Voice can be seen in two ways: the voice of characters, and the voice of the author.  Both concepts carry their own sense of importance.
  • Point of view is really the vocal footprint of the speaker in your writing.  It answers this question: from where does this voice come?  Point of view is seen in three ways: First person, utilizing the "I" speaker, Second person bring in an imagined "you", and finally Third person, a remote speaker that repors from the perspective of certain players.
This topic definitely helps me with my blog.  Everyone needs their on voice and I'm working on finding mine.

Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
  • Demonstrate honest, genuine, precise writing about your life.
  • Determine first, second and third person points of view.
  • Depict past and present tense.
  • Discuss the notion of "voice" as it relates to characters and the author.
First and third person are pretty easy for me to do.  Once I try writing in the second person I seem to forget how to write.  The tenses are easy too, when I pay attention.  If I just start writing then I tend to switch from past to present.  I'm trying to get better at catching it.


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1. Creative Writing Assignment ~ Topic: Point of View (50 points - 750 words).  Start with this single fact: A dog has been hit by a car.  Now write about the incident from three different perspectives: first, second, and third person.  What's important in each exercise is to stick with the assigned point of view.  Each exapmple will be about one page of writing in standard format.

a. 250 words in first person - Start with: "I saw..."
b. 250 words in second person - Start with: "You won't believe..."
c. 250 words in third person - Start with: "The dog..."

Once my assignment is graded I will post my stories along with my grade I get.  Until then, you must wait!

Kaitlin

Precious

Well, I today I watched the movie Precious; which is based off a novel called Push by Sapphire.  I have not read Push, but I am thinking about it.


I'm not sure if any of you have seen this, but this poor girl is treated awful by everyone around her. Her mother, father, people at school, people on the street.  It really seems as if she has nowhere to turn and I feel awful for her; my heart went out to her.  Do you ever feel that way while watching a movie?  I know I do.  (I felt the same way for Michael Oher (Big Mike) in The Blind Side; which I also watched today.  Great movie, watch it!)

I absolutely could not understand the way Precious's mother treated her!  The things she yelled were just awful!  She threw things at her; glass jars, swung a pan at her head, a flower pot at her back and even tried dropping a television on her and her newborn babys head!

I should have gotten an abortion.  You're worthless.  I knew right when the doctor handed you to me that you were worthless.  You're fat.  You're so fucking stupid. 

Her mother even said something along the lines of: You fucked my man and had kids with him, how dare you!  The man that Precious so called fucked was her own father.  Her flesh and blood.  The man raped her.  And he had been since she was three years old.  Her mother knew all along and did nothing to stop it.  I don't understand how something goes on like that and you do nothing!

Her mother didn't care about her going to school to get an education.  All she wanted her for was her welfare check.  Precious's mother used her own mother and granddaughter as a reason to get more money from welfare.

This sounds like something to should be added into Busted Kate's categoy of "And Yet THESE People Can Procreate".  I will never be like this woman. EVER.

Kaitlin

"Wordless" Wednesday

It's become an obsession... already.

My weakness is baby girl clothes. Can you tell?

Found some really great Target deals.

I adore the Grease onesie.

You don't even want to know what I bought at JCPenney's on Sunday.  I found an amazing deal -- 75% off!  How could I pass that up?!

Kaitlin

My School Journal

Everytime I think of a journal, I think of the awful ones that I kept as a little girl.  You know what I mean, right?  The one that was filled with a bunch of useless unimportant information.  Yeah, that's what I think about.  I never knew what to write about, so it was a bunch of "Dear Journal/Diary, How are you?"  Yes, I asked "how are you?" to an inanimate object.  Loser.

This one though, is different.  And the great thing is, my workbook gave me a list of things to write about when I get stuck!  Awesome, right?

Write any sort of thing in your journal, and write various kinds of things:

  • An observation
  • An overheard conversation
  • Lists
  • Longings
  • Your response to a piece of music
  • A rough draft of a letter
  • Names of characters
  • Quotations from what you are reading
  • The piece of your mind you'd like to give so-and-so
  • An idea for a story
  • A memory
  • A dream
  • A few lines of a poem
  • A fantasy conversation
  • Titles of things you are never going to write
  • Something else
These are great pointers for me when I'm stumped.


It's so simple, and it has a built in bookmark!

Make a habit, rather than a chore, of writing in your journal.  This is exactly how I view my blog.  I don't want to view it as something I have to do, just something that I want to do.  My text book suggests that I write in my journal once a day, but that's been a difficult task for me.  Even though I carry it in my purse with me, I never have time to just stop and write something in it.  I need to make time.


Two of my new goals, for always.

Kaitlin

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