WEEK 10 Lab: Advice to Writers

Source: Advice to Writers by Jon Winokur

I always like reading Jon's tweets. I feel like they're helpful and constructive. It's nice to have little reminders about different writing styles and pieces of advice throughout the day. I've been to the website for a lab before and I just read interviews, but this time, I'd like to just read a few quotes and come to my own conclusions from the collective advice.

It's been a crazy few weeks and I've wanted to do more writings for class, but it's... there hasn't been any time. It's easier to do a few readings and be done with it, but I feel out of practice with writing now. It's not great, but it's something. I like Mary Karr's advice on characters a lot. Loving them and understanding their past is so important. I don't like having to plot out their past as much as their future plans, but it's necessary to understand how this person came to be. It's difficult, at least for me, to plot super in depth pasts for characters because I never really deal with that, but it's definitely crucial.

Nora Ephron's Advice is also very good. Making people care about what you're doing feels like an uphill battle sometimes. It feels like its easier to just do something that you know will be successful instead of taking risks, but ultimately, why would anyone care about it if you don't? I've definitely read some things lately that were not as... I don't know, not as unique. Make people care!!!

I feel like there were other pieces I also liked, but those were the ones that stuck out the most to me. I've been spending a lot of time reading and reflecting on old material that I've read/watched and what made it stand out and that advice feels applicable here. Making something long lasting and worthwhile, you have to find a way to connect to the audience and to do that you need to have the characters be well-developed. Putting your heart into something can make people care about it. Passion is important in a project.

A pretty fountain pen (Wikimedia Commons)

WEEK 6 Lab: Storybook Research!

The Shield of Sir Gawain

I've been meaning to talk about this more, but the shield is a huge piece of "The Green Knight." Gawain looks at it constantly where there is a pentacle that represents Christ's five wounds. It also symbolizes the star of Bethlehem and the key attribute for being a knight: generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry, piety. They also refer to the virtues of Mary, whom Gawain has a picture of inside his shield. I've been reading on which meaning probably makes the most sense, but they probably all have equal meaning. I'd say that the last one has additional meaning because of the picture of Mary that he carries around. An article I read on Shmoop said this, "His five senses are very keen. His five fingers are dexterous. He devotes himself to the five wounds of Christ. He always thinks on the five joys Mary had in Jesus. Finally, he possesses five virtues: fellowship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and charity. Basically, Gawain is the perfect knight."

I'm focusing so much on his shield because it really embodies his pursuit of perfection. It's why it makes his failure with the Green Knight so much more difficult. Arthur is able to forgive him. He sees Gawain as all of these characteristics. He values honesty in times of adversity. Gawain doesn't understand how, when he fell short of the characteristics that he actively practices, how his king could forgive and even celebrate him at the end.

Sword Terminology by Albion Swords

So, there's a few sword fighting scenes. I might need to know the words so I don't look like a huge fool. The link includes useful resources to the histories of different styles of sword fighting, and most importantly, the anatomy. I expect I'll refer to this a bit. I believe knights usually used longswords, so I'll need to find more information on those specifically.

I don't usually write action sequences, but I'm thinking it would be fun to do so with the perspective that I'm using. It could be fun and act as a way to see Gawain's dexterity in action. There's a lot of information to remember here. I'm realizing this is a huge poem to adapt, but I'm having fun. :)

A cool longsword (Wikimedia Commons)