Option One: Write about yourself “TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW”

Imagine yourself in 20 years. What will you be doing? Where will you be living? How will the world be different than it is today?

Prewriting/generating ideas: List, freewrite, or create a web of ideas that answer the above questions.

Outlining: Decide on what format you would like to write. Here are your choices:

  1. Write a five-paragraph expository essay that explains what your life will be like in 20 years. Focus on three topics. (Possible topics include home/family life, work life, political conditions inthe world, environmental conditions in the world, leisure activities, current technology that you use … and any other topic that you consider relevant.)

If you choose this option, please fill out an expository essay outline, which I will make available on the links page of my website and/or as a shared document on Google Drive.

  1. Write a story with yourself as the main character. You may write from a 1st person or a 3rd person point of view. Minimum length: 500 words. Maximum length: 1,000 words.

If you choose this option, please answer the following questions as your outline:

  1. What is your setting? Where does your story take place?
  2. Besides yourself, who are the characters?
  3. What is your story’s central conflict?
  4. Summarize the basic plot of your story in 6-10 sentences.
  5. What point of view are you going to choose (1st or 3rd person)?
  6. What will be the theme/truth of life that you’ll be communicating to the reader?
  1. Write a song or poem that reveals your life in 20 years. Minimum length: 30 lines. Plan to recite your poem or sing your song (or show a video of you singing your song) to the class!

A short summary (one paragraph of 6-10 sentences) of your poem’s content will serve as your outline if you choose this option.

  1. Write a one-act play that illustrates your vision of your future life. Use stage directions and the other conventions of drama. A summary of the content of the play will serve as your outline.
  1. Film a scene from your future life. We’ll watch your video, which needs to be at least three minutes in length, in class. In addition, you’ll need to submit a written copy (minimum length: one and one-half typed pages) of your scene’s script. A 6-10 sentence summary of your play will serve as your outline if you choose this option.

Composing: Once you have completed your outline, it’s time for you to begin composing. Your initial (rough) draft will be due on this date: ______.

Peer Editing: Choose two peer editing partners. Their job will be to provide you feedback on your composition; your job will be to provide them feedback.

Revise, rewrite, and publish: Make changes to your initial draft. Turn in your perfected final copy and prepare to read it to the class. Your final draft will be due on ______.

Option Two: Write a Creative Story from a First-Line Prompt

Choose one of the opening sentences listed on the next page to begin your short story.

  1. Prewriting. Please complete your prewriting in your journal. You may choose to use a web or an outline. Before you begin writing you should know the following:
  1. What is my setting?
  2. Who are my characters?
  3. What is my story's central conflict? How will it reach a climax?
  4. What is the basic plot of my story? What is going to happen?
  5. Who will narrate my story--one of the characters or myself?
  6. What is the point or theme of my story?
  7. What kind of tone or voice will I create?
  8. What mood(s) will I try to create? How?

2. Composing. Write your composition. Be creative! Your story should be between 500 and 1,000 words in length.

3. Edit, revise, and publish.

Here are the opening lines from which you may choose (all of which are from actual published stories or novels):

  1. I lined up for my daily medication, deciding that today I would hide it under my tongue.
  1. I got out late winter.
  1. I am riding my bicycle on Route 31, on my way to I don't know where.
  1. John Morton came down the aisle of the plane, banging his luggage into people's knees and sweating angrily under his suit.
  1. Shut it off, Steiner told himself, and the station wagon was silent.
  1. Margaret was on her knees in the front yard, pulling weeds, when she spotted a snowy mystery on the ground.
  1. On some days during the year I wish I could forget, I would be dumped by the porch at my grandmother's house without an explanation.
  1. Afterward Dolores Starr would lie on her bed with a sort of stunned amazement at the power of things, the power of that vast, soft universe of force contracting gently around her like a hand.
  1. Before he had a chance to object, the state trooper threw him violently against his Camaro.
  1. Opening her eyes to a dim room lit only by soft light filtering through a dirty window shade, she had no idea who or where she was.
  1. When I saw my high school sweetheart with that skunk John Cale, I should have bolted out of the banquet room right then.