Week 1

Welcome to The Art Institute, and to your first writing class here at the school. This class is designed for practice and instruction in writing short essay compositions. In it, you will discover some of the ways in which writing can help you to develop your creative capacities and understand better your particular kinds of knowledge and experience of the world. Writing is a process that will reveal to you what you know, and what you don't. The simple act of putting words on paper (and screen!) will open the spring of remembered people, places, events, and ideas that you carry inside. What is more, writing will reinforce your sense of what you can contribute to the lives of others, for all of us are seeking greater knowledge and understanding of the very large and often complicated world we live in, and all of us are in need of the perspective and experience contact with others can give us. Each of us brings something fresh and unique and lovable to the world. In giving expression to our thoughts, memories, dreams, desires–and in sharing them with others–we discover the many ways we have been shaped by life, and the connections we have with others.

Getting started is easier than you might think. The first step is to take the pressure off yourself. Forget rules, forget rules, forget rules. Comma? Semi-colon? Forget them for now. Restrictions can make anyone freeze up, and most of what anyone writes will be forgotten or lost or trashed at some point. Suspend your inner critic. Write for the sheer pleasure of it, the sense of discovery and surprise at how the mind works, and what you've got hidden inside. The following prompts and exercises are designed to help you get started. There is no purpose to them beyond getting words to flow from you, and having a little fun. You may well find something in what you write, something for keeps, something to shape and present to the class or others. But that part of the process, which involves making decisions, making decisions about what to keep, what to toss, and how to order, shape and polish the stones if rough, all that comes later. The start of anything is often messy. And that is fine. So jump in the water. And get your hair wet!

Exercise 1: Write for five-ten minutes on anything that comes to mind, no matter what it be. Pretend, if you must, you've been let loose in a grocery store and the more items you can pull down into your cart, the fewer you'll have to pay for later. Don't pause for long. Let one thought lead into the next with as little interference from the analytic mind as possible. Don't censor yourself. Let yourself go.

Ex. 2: Write for five minutes a mini sketch of yourself, right here, right now. Record the five senses–what you see around you (objects, colors, lights, people), what you imagine you look like, what you are feeling (nervous, relaxed, tired, hungry, etc.) what you hear (even to the voices in your head), what you smell.

Ex. 3: Word Prompts: respond to one or several of the following words for two or three minutes at a stretch.

love

cherries

lips

goddess

stones

grass

the sea

music

Ex. 4: Peruse the headlines of today's LATimes. Pick one and make-up a one-paragraph article to go along with it. Now go back and read the real news.

Ex. 6: Imagine a situation, a young boy or girl neatly dressed (or shabbily dressed!) and being led by the hand of Father or Mother to the gates of the schoolhouse, on the first day of school. Include whatever conversation or dialogue occurs between the two people, characterized by great joy, or fear, concern, suspicion, love or desire, whatever comes to mind. Write it down.

For Homework: The central idea of a paragraph is the topic idea, an idea stated in a sentence that is often found at the very beginning and which gives readers a clear statement of what the paragraph is about. All the material that is in the paragraph supports the topic idea by way of elaboration, detail, example, and/or story incident.

Sort through the material you wrote today in class. Select the best of it, here an artful or interesting sentence, and here a dramatic image or fresh thought. Arrange these cuttings or clippings together in a paragraph or two that illustrate something you learned in today's writing work, as a discovery about the writing process, about yourself, or whatever the topic may chance to be. Develop and refine the material as needed with the time you have outside of class.

Alternatively, you may write on a topic that did not come up in today's class work, but which you would like to address because it is on your mind and something you want to create.

This paragraph length essay should be at least 150 words in length, typed in 10 or 11 point font (Times or Courier), and spaced 1.5. Bring the piece to class next meeting.

Remember your audience, however you imagine that group of readers and listeners, and make your work as clear and complete and generous and interesting in content as you can. Readers want to connect with the writer–that is, with you. So give them a good idea of who you are, where you are coming from, and why the topic is of interest and importance. For example, an audience of your peers, students, might want to know what other students think of just such a thing or two. If you are writing about food, to food lovers or chefs-in-the-making or restaurant owners, for example, establish a common ground of interest in advancing your point. Appeal to readers' love of a good meal, particulars of preparation or presentation, or the owner's pride in the quality of experience a restaurant can provide.

In Addition: By Next Class

Review the definitions and illustrations of independent and dependent clauses on the following page at the Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/

Review also the Parts of Speech in English: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/730/01

Finally, copy out the following sentences. Draw one line under the sentence subject and two lines under the main verb.

1. A large, sunny window brightens the whole room.

2. Certain people know early in life just what they want from life. Most do not.

3. There should be more holidays.

4. I gave myself a present this Christmas–a trip to Guatemala.

5. Swimming in the clear, cool, blue waters of Lake Atitlan invigorated me.

6. Lake Atitlan is a caldera, a very large crater lake, that filled after the extinction of a large volcano.

7. Volcanoes tower over the southern shore of the lake and provide a beautiful backdrop to the lake itself.

8. One day I will visit there again.

9. Do you dream of traveling?

10. Write about your dreams.