From the monthly archives:

December 2008

“Come, trusty sword…” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, V.i.335)

December 30, 2008

by Scott   I’ve written before about using archetypes to help my students make connections between various stories and films.  One of the most common archetypal devices storytellers use is the notion of linking a particular object to a hero.  This association often occurs early in a story, and it is a process Christopher Vogler [...]

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creative writing exercise – falsified

December 22, 2008

“What, do you think I heave the crystal balls?” Since I had been dealing with the Russian for quite some time, I automatically substituted the word “have” for the apparent word “heave” in his speech.  But, for the life of me I had no idea what he was talking about.  “You mean, like for telling [...]

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Falsified

December 21, 2008

Falsified                                                       Eric M. Bahle December 20, 2008   The gates swung shut with a sonorous clang and St. Peter turned to the line. “Next.” A man stepped forth from the head of the milling throng and approached. “Wow,” the man said gazing at the tall gates, “I’m finally here. It’s a long wait on line.” “Name?” [...]

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Defining a relationship with that one special line

December 16, 2008

A woman in my screenwriting class has a script about a fairly famous historical romance, and has struggled a bit. There are several interesting scenes between the two main characters, but as we read through what seemed like the defining scene between the pair, something was missing. I noodled on it a bit, and told [...]

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The Triumphant Return of The Loser

December 11, 2008

This Sunday I finished my NaNoWriMo story.  Those familiar with NaNo know that it takes place in November and is a race to get fifty thousand words done.  In a month.  Those familiar with calendars will notice that this is, in fact December.  I didn’t finish in a month.  I didn’t get 50k either, I [...]

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