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)

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes A

Source: Charms & Lullabies from The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang

Quarantine is super fun because I totally forget what day of the week it is and also that I am still in school! There's a lot of sarcasm there. The days blend together as I try to balance moving out and also having enough time to finish everything. I'm definitely behind on readings, but thankful fort he grave period being extended! I thought it would be fun to do an extra reading that was simple and didn't require much from me.

I've always enjoyed nursery rhymes. I had a huge book of them growing up, though not this exact one. We've all heard these classic riddles at some point in time. I'm not sure how to talk about these exactly, but I will say how interesting it was to see them in an original form. As language evolves, so do the stories. That's my main fascination with folktales and whatnot. It's fun to see how they originally were said as opposed to the version I grew up with. For a quick example, Rock-a-bye Baby. They aren't big changes, but different still!

I liked the one about hiccups. I thought that it was fun. There were a few I hadn't heard of before like "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." I didn't completely understand the point of some of them, though maybe they're very clear and I'm just very tired. Who knows!

I like the simplicity of each rhyme. It's easy to see why children like these rhymes and even adults. They're fun! I like how they have a unique background as well. The one about cows was said to be a divination children would say. It's fun to think about! There's a lot of inspiration to pull from these. I feel like I've always seen adaptations of these that used the source as a rough outline and the actual story would go completely elsewhere. You really have the power to write whatever story with these as a source.

An illustration by Beatrix Potter from Apply Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains B

Source: Why the Possum Plays Dead from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine B. Judson

I honestly chose this section because I love possums. I think they're just the coolest little scavengers. They're both creepy and cute. What a good combination. Anyway, I like the stories centered around animals the most. I feel like they're easier to retell because there is more room to play with. I feel like with the creation myths and such I wouldn't want to mess with something already done so well! There's always room for more animal stories!

Rabbit and Possum are trying to get wives but alas, they are loveless. Rabbit then hatches up a scheme to get themselves hitched. They say that they must move to the next town and Rabbit will claim to be from the Council and that everyone has to marry someone once. They figure someone must choose them by that logic.

Rabbit got to the next town first because rabbits are faster than possums? I don't know if they're much faster, but that's okay. I don't know enough on this to say for sure. Anyway, Rabbit spreads the news and gets a wife before Possum can even get there. Poor fellow. Rabbit is a damn awful friend and traveled to the next town over and told them things that were bad. Specifically, that there had been so much peace, that now there must be war. Possum didn't know this.

Rabbit got away and Possum got there, confused. All the other animals started attacking this man trying to find a wife, so he just rolled over and played dead. It's a good strategy. Man, that Rabbit was a jerk. What was the motivation? Cause problems on purpose? Like, why? I would definitely want to change the ending. I don't feel like there was enough justification for why Rabbit acted the way that he did. I liked the story though. I think that it's fun to explain behaviors or things in nature with stories!

A possum, just chilling (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains A

Source: The Legend of the Peace Pipes from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine B. Judson

I wouldn't want to do an entire notes section on it, but I wanted to mention how much I enjoy creation myths. The one included here with Elk and how land was formed was so beautiful. The ties with nature and animals make it so easy to visualize. I do love that one a lot.

The Omaha Legend of the Peace Pipes begins with people coming across the water on logs. They land and clear the land of grass so that they can see each other. I like the detail of "so they can see each other's faces." It opens the scene up to one wide landscape with everyone sitting with nothing in the way. They hear an owl and a woodpecker individually and they call to them for aid and to join their meeting.

The chief sent a servant to get an ash sapling in the forest. The servant beings back the wrong sapling and they let the servant know. They tell the servant the specificities of the ash sapling so they can get it right. They do this time. An eagle came by and dropped a white feather in the middle. They don't want that feather. A bald eagle also come down, very fierce, and that wasn't want anyone wanted either and sent it on its way. A spotted eagle came by and it was wrong too. The imperial eagle was the right one!

The peace pipe is finally formed with the feathers from all of the birds and the other materials! It's used to bring friendly relationships with others. (It's also on the Oklahoma state flag!) Seven other pipes were made to keep peace amongst themselves. It was used for revenge cases. If a family wanted to act on revenge and had already received and refused the pipes four times, they were to take the punishment and would not get help from anyone else.

Eastern Imperial Eagle (Wikimedia Commons)