Projects

1. Tell a story about yourself in which you lie, or pretend to lie
2. Post your story with category “Truth or Dare”
3. Respond–via comment to story– to 2-3 classmates stories telling them if you think the story is true or false and if you can detect what part of the story is hard to believe.

1. Review some stories of the “Most Loved” stories from Cowbird
2. Pick one to use as a model and create your own story.
3. Publish as a post in this class site, using “Cowbird Story_YourName” as a title, category “Story”, add any tags to fit your story, and a photo for a featured image.

1. Review My Maine Culture guidelines
2. Look through your photos, memories, objects in your life, places you’ve been–whatever will trigger a memory of a place or moment that signifies your culture.
3. Find a photo for this memory
4. Tell a story of 2-5 paragraphs about this memory. place, event.
5. Post it to this website & on your social media net with #MyMaineCulture
6. Get other friends or family to add theirs…

1. Review One Shot Stories from Zone Zero.
2. List criteria from both Wired for Story, and Anatomy of Story that you find in one of the stories. Post this to class website under “Study” category, with Title: “Zone Zero_YourName”, use any relevant tags.
3. Then create your own story using at least photograph or video, and at least 3 paragraphs of text. Make this draft a quick version just to test out concept and allow the class feedback to help you revise it.

1. Review how to upload images to wordpress and use them to create a gallery
2. create a story using just images *and captions) using the workers gallery
3. Post your story with category “GalleryStory”

• Begin a 30 day project to develop writing/storytelling skills. It takes about that long to develop a habit.
• Pick a time each day that is available, predictable and that catches you in an energetic state.
• Get or use a blog that you have to post every day–use an image to inspire you 9 using a URL from a google image search is the easiest way to legally use images in your posts.
• Use some kind of prompt like Cowbird Seeds, or Writing Prompts that don’t Suck
• Set aside a specific time, like 20-30 minutes.
• Then just write/draw, create a gallery, cartoon, anything that will tell a story, or part of a story.
• Do this for 30 days.  Then continue…

Copy the bold items below & use them as a template for your responses; post with category “Premise”

• Premise:  Write down your premise in one sentence. Ask yourself if this premise line has the makings of a story that could change your life.
• Wish List and Premise List:  Write down your wish list and your premise list. Study them together to identify the core elements of what you care about and enjoy.
• Possibilities:  Look for what is possible in the premise. Write down options.
• Story Challenges and Problems:  Describe as many of the story challenges and problems that are unique to your idea as you can think of.
• Designing Principle:  Come up with the designing principle of your story idea. Remember that this principle describes some deeper process or form in which the story will play out in a unique way.
• Best Character: Determine the best character in the idea. Make that character the hero of your premise. • Conflict Ask yourself “Who is my hero fighting, and what is he fighting about?”
• Basic Action: Find the single cause-and-effect pathway by identifying a basic action that your hero will take in the story.
• Character Change:  Figure out the possible character change for your hero, starting with the basic action (A) and then going to the opposites of the basic action to determine his weaknesses (W) at the beginning and his change (C) at the end.
• Moral Choice:  List a moral choice your hero may have to make near the end of the story. Make sure it’s a difficult but plausible choice.
• Audience Appeal:  Ask yourself if your premise is likely to appeal to a wider audience. If not, go back to the drawing board.

Truby, John (2008-10-14). The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (p. 35). Faber & Faber. Kindle Edition.

From Truby, John (2008-10-14). The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (p. 35). 

Based on your “Creating Your Premise” exercise, write a Story Proposal including 1-2 paragraphs for each of the following:

1. Describe your main story line
2. Describe your main character as well as her/his desire, background, obstacles and character flaw(s) that work against achieving her/his desire
3. Describe some possible scenes/actions that will challenge your protagonist
4. Describe the format/technology you will use to render the story
5. Post with category “Proposal”

Begin working on your story–create once chance of the story. This could take the following, or similar,  forms:

• Text–1-2 pages of a scene in your story; try to pick the scene where the action really begins, rather than any background information
• Prezi—a visual outline of your story with key plot and character elements
• Video–The opening scene of a video story
• Animation–A sketch of your main animation shapes and description of their role in the story
• Audio–an audio recording of some part of your story, or material relevant to your story
• Drawings–of your main charters, or location, with a brief summary of main plot.
• Photography–a set of photographs plus explanatory text that begins to tell your story

I want to see how you begin, and what you are working on. Post either the work or a link to it as “First Attempt”

• Create one Isadora demo for Glooskape Chronicles based on one of the exercises or a mod of an existing filter effect

• Draft one of your story

• Finish the in-class seven step exercise for your story and post.

• Draft one of your story

• In class presentation of your story

• Make any final additions and chafes and turn in your final story

• Read play
• Reread paying attention to areas for layering with different media
• Attend Penobscot Storytelling class, Feb 22

• Listen with attention to the media layering issue
• Ask questions to help you understand play & writer’s goals
• Make any suggestions for media elements

• View Isadora Video Tutorials, 1-14
• Find media to experiment with–this means bringing video, photos, audio, etc to class.

• Create one Isadora demo for Glooskape Chronicles based on one of the exercises or a mod of an existing filter effect