Reflections 2: yet again, i reflect.
November 2, 2006
Ryan paired us up for the in-class exercise to work on our openers.
I got Ben and he got me (yea, like duh!) so here’s MY work (using his opener of course!):
In despair, he watches the clock tick his life away. It is the dawn of a new day and having little time to spare, Jang-Woon sets off feebly to Mount Jeong-Seum where the secrets of the supreme Loong-Teh lie, hidden deep beneath the rocks. As the enemy nears the treasure, Jang-Woon grows weaker with each passing day, unable to ward off their almighty powers and indomitable strength. Without unraveling the mystery his forebearers died to protect, he will have to vanish from the face of the earth along with his ancestors. The evil troops of Seong-Hee must not be the ones who recover the ancient secret of Loong-Teh for should they do so, no other warrior, no matter his strength and power, will be able to conquer Jeong-Seum and the people will suffer a much worser fate than they are suffering now.
After time for the exercise was up, Ryan raised a question and asked if it was easier doing this week’s exercise (having a variety of openers to pick from) or last week’s (having just one opener); The general opinion was that it was easier this week. For me though, i feel both have got their pros and cons. For example, it is easier if we are given a range of openers to choose from. However, this can also work against us as we may not be able to come to a decision in time and may lack focus on the opener we picked, thinking of the ‘what-if’s. (okay, i hope i’m making some sense here)
Anyway, Ryan asked us to read out our stories from this week’s exercise. I got picked (again! gee man..). My mistakes apparently, was that I lacked the active voice and that I was confusing everyone with all my characters’ korean names (whoops!).
After going through Colin’s as well as Ben’s work, Ryan posted another question to us: Since one of us wrote the opening line and the other filled up the contents of the story, who then, is the author of the story?
Vinod voiced out his opinion that the author is dependent on the type of the opener whereas Atiqah mentioned that the story is still very much ours (the person who wrote the rest of the story) although there was provision of the first line from someone else because despite all that, the content (and meat of the story) is at the end of the day, belongs to us. I would have to agree with the latter on that.
Ryan then proceeded to ask us to evaluate the originality of the story this way, since it is after all, written by two people (the one who wrote the opener and the one who continued the story).
As the lesson progressed, Ryan posted an intriguing question to the class: Who do you think was the first person to tell stories? (he even hinted that it can be traced back to the era of cavemen). Well, after much silence (if i don’t recall wrongly), he finally gave us the answer – Aristotle – a greek philosopher who wrote a 40-page memo that explained how stories are told (and thus being the first person who explained how stories are organised).
We were then left with an assignment – 50-word stories which should have:
♥ distinctive character
♥ complete sentences not necessary
♥ can work with dialogue
♥ the title helps stories
and thus, my reflections come to an end.
till next time, adios folks!
It’s time to take the reflections outside the classroom. We don’t need to reflect too much on the content of the tutorial. You’ll have that in your notes, and you’ll have that in your head.
Instead, write about writing. Or be even more broad and write about anything. We’re looking for different ways you choose to express yourself. Don’t be frightened of it; just have fun.