Monday, September 30, 2013

Setting for short story

I really think my short story will turn out well, I'll start right into action, my character is going to be exposed by his friends and in front of his friends. His friends see that he has unusual wounds that can't be caused by regular sports. The rising action will feature his friends following him after school, and they see him go to a construction working job that they've never heard of, then he drops his perfect car off in a field and rides a bike to his house, which is in a whole different place than where he says it's been. He goes inside and runs to his room, works on hw for the next three hours, until midnight, when his dad wakes up. His dad starts drinking and slams the bottle down on the ground, and eventually ends up in the hospital. The climax, his friends find out about what my character has lived like for the past three years since his mom passed, and they take action. Falling action, the friends cut my main character off as he drops his car off in the field, and when he refuses to go with them back to their houses, they "leave," and actually follow him. This time his dad is awake, and delirious from the medicine doctors gave him, and he hurts my main character, knocks out his own son. The friends take action, subduing the dad and rushing my main character to the hospital... where the resolution will take place, but I don't want to spoil it so that's all on the plot.
I haven't decided on any names yet, but the main character is supposed to be this guy with a "perfect life. " But truly he has the most problems of all, and as his friends find this out, they find the more deep personality rather than the light hearted personality everybody sees at school. It will be written in the perspective of the main character's best friend, and the best friend will stick with the main character the whole time he suffers through this story.

short story patterns

In our english class, we've read many short stories. As assigned, my classmates and I read through the story making annotations over plot, point of view, etc. While some have been pretty weird, some have been really sad, some of them show relief at the end, or any sort of feeling, they all seem to personal stories. No story tells of an event of some type, the story shows connections between the characters and the event being told.
For example, one may tell the story of the trojan war, but they don't tell the story based on the point of view of one of the soldiers. The narrator isn't biased towards a side and explains what's happening, "And the spartans surrendered, giving a giant horse to the trojans, triggering a celebration that would leave the city rowdy and drunk." But, to make the story have tension and suspense, "the spartans gathered with an idea, they had to get past the trojan's walls, and knew just how to do it, but first they surrendered. Not knowing what comes next, the spartans prepared for a plan that required perfect timing and a common goal, destroy the city of Troy." Both examples would tell a story, but which one would tell it better? I like the second one, and it must be popular among other people.

Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
9/29-45 minutes, 33 pages

Hunger, Michael Grant
9/29-1 hour and 35 minutes, 55 pages

Monday, September 23, 2013

As Da-Duh

I've loved those trees and canes as long as I can remember, yet that child seems to tell me things about a more majestic place, New York. New York? I heard it's full of a bunch of snotty, rude white kids. Who wants that life? And that child still talks about the city as if it were the most amazing thing you'd ever seen. All she talks about is, "it's way bigger, it's way better, it's way cooler." Nonsense, I won't believe a word. 
But, she also said she would take a picture of that Empire State Building and send it to me. She was pretty confident.... I guess you have to see it to believe it, nothing else will change my mind. I'm the only land owning colored person practically on this island, and all I hear is New York, New York, New York. Nothing could be half as good as the home I grew up in. Nothing?

What elements of a civilization are incorporated into this book?

     Right now, I'm reading the second book of the gone series, Hunger. In this series, the main characters are trying to survive in an isolated community, with immature children running around and playing rather than working to provide a decent amount of food to help feed every one. Outside of the story, I'm taking World History AP, which involves characteristics of civilizations, and much more information about the workings of a civilization. So, I feel a little obligated to critique the works of the children as they build their own civilization.
       The characters in my book have the structure of a civilization in their midst, however, the structure is more communist with certain job positions where less people work than not, and everybody gets the same amount of food. This becomes a growing problem as kids have a lot of free time where they go and burn things down. There's also a lack of control. The teenager in charge of the city is very stressed and deals with as much possible, but these kids are used to being under control and think they can do whatever they want whenever they're aren't being as closely watched. Although, I can see a future for this city as the kids try to work things out, and become a better community.

Hunger, Michael Grant
9/17-45 minutes, 9/19-20 minutes, 9/22-2 hours
total- 3 hours and 5 minutes, 113 pages

Sunday, September 15, 2013

E-book factors

I really wouldn't change any thing about my article when it comes to going public, but in matters of improving it with pictures and such, I would do many things. I would add in some excerpts from my mythological story from sixth grade right before the last paragraph. Another thing I would do is I would probably add in a couple bold and colorful letters in the title to make it more attractive even before reading the title. I'm not sure past that, I'll think of some more though, I'm sure of it.

Response to last weeks predictions.

     I finished my book Gone, and found the answer to some of the predictions I made last week. Although, one of my predictions wasn't answered at the end of the book. As it turns out Gone is a part of a six book series, and the prediction about "the darkness" wasn't answered as the first book came to a close.
     Now, I found that my other prediction was half true and half false. The brother's began their fight, and many more factors from the book are added into the fight, like supernatural coyotes, some of the younger fallout alley children, and more kids that hold supernatural abilities useful in the fight against Caine. One of the brothers did win, but neither of the brothers died, and I don't want to spoil the book, so I can't specify on who. Although, it was truly a big fight scene as buildings fall, people die, and there's a damsel in distress.

Gone, Michael Grant
9/10-2 hours 30 minutes
total-2:30, pgs 296-372

Monday, September 9, 2013

Dialogue: two different characters from two different stories


    Hannah Baker, one of the main characters from 13 reason's why. She killed herself and left video tapes behind to tell the story of why she committed suicide. So, Hannah's dead and this is what she might have said in the tape.
   Craig Gilner, the main character of It's Kind of a Funny Story. He's deeply depressed and decides to call 991 when he almost kills himself. Craig's thinking in his mind of how he would reply to her as he plays the tape recording.

    Hannah said, "I didn't know what was going on, every time I got close to somebody they turned away and left me. I tried to trust them, I really did."
   I always had friends who never turned on me, but my friends never respected how I felt.....and eventually I just wanted some company...
    "Then, Clay, the only person I would truly trust, I turned away from him, I couldn't get hurt again, no, not this time. And when he left, I hoped he would come back..."
     Wow, my friends knew I had it, but they always found it better to concentrate on other things, then I helped myself by going to a mental hospital, and I found people that really did help. Not only people, but I found things that helped, too.
     "Why did this happen to me, everything could've been better off if the rumors and hot lists went away. All I had to do was fly under the radar...and eventually I had enough of this world."
     Why did I have to put so much pressure on myself to succeed, I'm glad I called the suicide hotline when I did.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

What are some predictions I can make based on background information?

      Gone is set in a city called fallout alley. Fallout Alley was once hit by a meteorite containing uranium, and after, the children of Fallout Alley start getting these odd powers, which is very rare like the occurrence of the meteorite. Also, Lana, one of the main characters experiences a substance underground in a mine, and this substance is supernatural, it can talk to animals, glow, and most likely has many more powers. Based on these experiences, I feel as if the characters will find that the meteorite is the cause of these unnatural things. After the characters realize this, they can find how to subdue the supernatural powers, destroy the wall surrounding fallout alley, and save themselves from their imminent faith, death.
      But, first, these supernatural powers are about to collide as Caine and Sam, two brothers, fight for leadership, and rights. My prediction is that neither of the brothers will win, the both of them have valuable resources needed for the children of fallout alley's survival. And since these powers are so strong, I'm afraid that if one wins, the loser will die. If a loser dies, valuable information dies with the brother, and Fallout Alley may never return to prior conditions. I will soon find out whether my predictions are true as Gone continues to catch my attention in the ever so twisting and winding plot.

Gone, Michael Grant
9/3-1:15 minutes, 9/4-45 minutes, 9/6-30 minutes
Total- 2:30 minutes, pgs. 146-296

Monday, September 2, 2013

How did the author make me feel as a reader?


I read the literacy narrative, Always Living in Spanish, and I personally thought the author was great, and my favorite thing about her narrative was that her story connecting everything in her life to literacy and she truly cared about the subject of writing, but to her it was much more than writing. Whenever she wrote in Spanish there was a different feel, another one of those connections, except, this connection was a visit back to her home, where she didn’t feel like an outcast for once.
All of it seemed more personal than just a narrative, but it was still a narrative. The author made me feel like I wasn’t reading about her; I was her, and all of a sudden I was in the hallways struggling with English, not her. But, I’ve never struggled with English so how could I relate, and the truth is I couldn’t relate to many of the things she said, but I could relive the situation with the author by reading and gain experience for the next time I read, see, hear about being uncomfortable in English.
            

How do the characters and plot affect each other?


Gone, Michael Grant
8/28- 30 minutes, 8/29- 30 minutes, 3/31- 2 hours
Total-3 hours, 127 pages

            Yes, everybody’s different, but how many people are different compared to others. Gone’s characters are full of bullies who are forcing rule. Nobody can beat the bullies, so they’re in charge. Struggle is another abundant characteristic, all of the kids struggle with the loss of their parents because of the disappearances, but for some, it’s also an eating disorder, a little brother with disabilities, maybe even some of the responsibilities the characters took on as natural leaders. It can be hard to handle a nursing job when the bully’s beating every child in the city.
            In a city full of caged children, these characteristics are probably natural. Imagine the school hierarchy on a bigger scale, bullies would be taking leadership over others and some people would be struggling, but these characteristics are often found to be opposite in the adult world. For example, there are many stories of old high school classmates stating that bullies and popular girls become workers at McDonalds, janitors, etc. but the bullies and populars don’t become presidents and congressmen. What this may imply about the setting of the book Gone is that things will overall be a struggle for everyone due to bad leadership, and unnatural occurrences.