11/13/2012

For those of you who can't get the information by creating a Google account and clicking on the provided link, I have pasted the Song of Deeds Requirements right here for you. 

Aside from editing your Song of Deeds this week, there will be no take home work for me as I want you to have time to work on this assignment and of course the DRAG.

***Please take the time to find a good editor (even if you are one yourself, it's important to get another perspective) and have them comb over your paper for errors. Also, ask them to make sure that you have covered the following things (in addition to the checklist below):

• Do you have believable characters who the readers wants to see succeed or fail?
• Do you have holes in your plot? For example did you forget to thoroughly cover an area of your story line so that it's all resolved in the end? 
• Do you have a strong conflict? Stories that drag on with the hero and villain looking for each other or too much dialogue etc. don't capture the reader's attention. 
• Do you have an ending that isn't a cliche or a cop-out--in other words, it's obvious when a writer doesn't know how to end a story, so he/she abruptly just ends it with a random death that makes no sense or is cheesy or ends with the ever-favorite "It was all a dream" cliche. You know what I mean . .  

Song of Deeds Creative Writing Assignment

1.        Your Song of Deeds must include:

                                    a hero

                                    a sidekick/loyal friend

                                    a weapon with a name

                        good must triumph over evil

                        descriptions/details of battles and gore

                                     you must respect your household’s rules regarding violence and your violence must be                                             appropriate for school

                        repetition of key phrases

2.         You may include the following elements for extra credit

                        a love interest

                        a mentor

3.         Your setting may be any time or any place

4.         Your point of view may be first or third

5.         Characters:

                        hero may be male or female

                        sidekick may be male or female

                        if characters are animals—take into consideration your setting

                        you may combine elements into one character (for example: love interest is also the hero’s mentor)

6.         You may write in prose or poetry

7.         Your story length has a three page maximum--please talk to Ms. McLean about a page maximum for poetry

8.         Type or write your story in ink and make sure to double space

9.         Margins are one inch

10.       Font size is 10 or 12

11.       You may create a creative title page OR use MLA Heading—DO NOT DO BOTH

12.       MLA Heading is as follows (note it is double spaced)

                        Super Student

                        Mrs. Johnson

                        World Humanities

                        16 November 2012

13.       A Creative Title is a must

14.       For dialogue—remember that a new paragraph starts each time the speaker changes

            "It's hard to believe that this huge valley is actually a meteor crater," commented Mark.

            "Really, look how wide it is—at least half a mile!" exclaimed Phil.

            Mark laughed as he said, "Well, I’m glad I wasn’t around when the meteor fell.”

16.       Please remember to respect others' intellectual property. For example, you shouldn't be using Hunger Games, Twilight, or Harry Potter because you don't have their creators' permission.

17.       EACH CONVENTION ERROR WILL COST YOU ½ POINT

18.       You may earn extra credit for writing a grammatically clean song of deeds.