Meeting, February 23, 2020

Sonja reported that she sent a proposal to the library regarding a NaNoWriMo event and a writers feedback event. The library is reviewing the proposal and will get back to us.

Judy suggested running a Shakespeare Sonnet Workshop (1 hour). Virginia suggested having Brian Henry in to give a writing workshop. We agreed to wait until we hear back from the library before putting forth more proposals.

After our prompts (below), June mentioned something about an Ode to a Salad. Since there was still some time left in our meeting we all decided to write an Ode to a Salad.

Writing Prompts

The writing prompt was taken from Writer's Digest - a game of Mad Libs.

Fill in the following:

1. A name
2. Noun
3. Noun
4. A place
5. Verb
6. Adjective
7. Adjective
8. Body part
9. Adjective
10. Time of year
11. A verb ending in -ing
12. A consumer product
13. A formal occasion
14. Plural noun
15. A verb ending in -ing
16. Noun
17. Plural form of something you wear
18. A place
19. Noun
20. Noun
21. Verb
22. Noun
23. Noun

Now, insert the words in the story below where numerically indicated.

Call me _____1______. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little to no _____2_____ in my _____3______, and nothing particular to interest me in ______4______, I thought I would ________5______ around a little and see the _____6______ part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing ______7_______ about the ______8_______; whenever it is a ______9______, _____10______ in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily ______11________ before ________12________ warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every _______13_______ I meet; and especially whenever my ______14______ get such an upper hand of me, that it requires strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately _____15_____ into the _____16______, and methodically knocking people's _____17________ off - then, I account it high time to get to _____18________ as soon as I can. This is my substitute for ______19______ and ____20______. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword, I quietly ______21________ to the _____22_______. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or the other, cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ________23________ with me.

Next Meeting

Sunday, March 8th, 1:30pm

Leader: Judy

Writing Prompts from Sunday, February 9, 2020

This week's prompts had a romantic theme in honour of Valentine's Day.

Romantic Encounters

What is Romance?

In the strictest academic terms, a romance is a narrative genre in literature that involves a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest. However, modern definitions of romance also include stories that have a relationship issue as the main focus.

Examples of Romance

In the academic sense, an example of a romance is a story in which the main character is a hero who must conquer various challenges as part of a quest. Each challenge could be its own story and can be taken out of the overall story without harming the plot.

Example 1

§  A knight who wishes to prove himself by recovering a stolen heirloom from an enemy may find himself attempting to make his way through a dangerous wood filled with thieves.

§  Once he has accomplished this challenge, he may find himself climbing a tall mountain on which a group of people are in trouble. He would save the group somehow, and then move on.

§  Then the final stage: the enemy’s kingdom. There may be a fair maiden whom he meets and somehow helps or rescues, or perhaps she helps him.

But the fair maiden is not the focus of the story – his quest is the focus. Each story can be taken out, yet each builds the hero’s strength to face his final quest. These stories tend to be serious rather than humorous and touch on strong values.

Example 2

A modern romance would include:

§  The story of a character who keeps meeting the wrong type of people in his or her relationships or has run into a problem with a current love relationship.

§  The story would focus on the struggles the character faces while finding Mr. or Mrs. Right. The whole focus would be the relationship, although the character may also be dealing with other struggles, such as losing a job, handling difficult parents, etc.

These stories may be funny, sad, tragic, serious, or a mix. The obvious resolution to the conflict would be finding the right person or saving the present relationship.

Literaryterms.net/romance/

  

Prompts

1.      “I never stood a chance did I?”

“That’s the sad part. You did once.”   www.medium.com

2.      “I love you,” he whispers under his breath as the love of his life walks down the aisle to the man he is paid to assassinate.   www.writedivas.com

3.      She was beautiful in every way but, God, her feet stank.

4.      I was used to being alone. Immortals learn to accept solitude after awhile. I only went on the blind date so that my friend would stop bugging me.

5.      Father John looked over at Sister Mary. He didn’t even know her name before she’d taken her vows, but God help him, he was in love with her.

Write a story about:

a.       A knight who goes on a quest to save a dragon.

b.      People who meet at an animal shelter.

c.       Two people who hated each other as children and meet at a singles night event.

d.      Someone who falls in love with a ghost.

Choose a candy heart (a box of candy hearts was provided) and use what is written on it to complete one of the sentences below.

        i.            When I came back from lunch, there was a candy heart on my keyboard. It said __________.

      ii.            I couldn’t wait to see what was in the mysterious package I’d picked up from the post office. Inside was a bag of candy hearts. The message _____________ was on every one of them.

    iii.            Cereal was still my go-to breakfast in the morning. But today when I upended the box to my bowl, candy hearts came out instead. They all said ____________.

    iv.            A stranger bumps into you and you feel them grab your hand. When you look, there is a candy heart in your palm with the message ______________.

Next Meeting

Sunday, November 23rd

Leader: Clare