Q1. describe how the author moves through time in this story in your own words. How much time is covered in the story? What tools are used? Are the time transitions smooth? Why or why not? Cite from the text to back up your analysis. What did you learn from this author on how the author structures the story? (100words)
Be sure to do some citing from the text if you’re going for a B or above.
Q1-1. how and where does the author provide backstory? What tools did the author use–sensory detail, dialogue, summary, etc–to show the reader the background of the characters? Did they do this in a sentence? Through summary? Description? How does this relevant backstory add to character/theme/tension/etc. What can you learn from how this author provides backstory? (100words)
Be sure to do some citing from the text if you’re going for a B or above.
Q1-2. Responds to another student’s analysis with your own critical analysis. This means you agree/disagree. (30words)
Peer’s post: In The Shared Patio, Miranda July reveals the backstory of the narrator through summary and her own thoughts. For instance, right from the beginning the audience gets the idea that she is lonely, What if she and I were close friends. What if I borrowed her clothes and she said, That looks better on you, you should keep it, (July 2). She is longing for someone, a friend, a lover, or somebody. She wants to be noticed, specifically by her neighbors, I have tried to demonstrate ownership by occasionally leaving something down there, like my shoes, or one time I left an Easter flag, (July 3). The author subtly reveals the narrator’s obsession with her neighbors in almost an admiring state that she wants to have someone in the way that Vincent and Helena have each other. A lot of her backstory is seen through these fantasies she indulges in or her conversations with Vincent. For example, He is the art director of a magazine called Punt. This is an unusual coincidence because I am the floor manager of a printer, and we sometimes print magazines, (July 4). Later in the story it is seen how this comes full circle; not only does it reveal her job but it also makes the narrator feel some sort of special connection with Vincent. Its the small details that the author uses to show the narrator has a distinct perception of things.
Q2. – Choose the crisis/climactic moment of your story. I’m assuming you’ve revised or will revise this moment for this exercise.
– Write it in scene. In your scene you should have some dialogue, dialogue tags, some sensory details.
– Write it as a summary.
– Write a slow-motion version of the scene. For this last one, keep filmmaking in mind: Begin with an establishing “shot” and keep zooming in. Instead of moving the action forward, move it inward and expand, psychologically and in terms of sensory detail.
– In a short paragraph, analyze what you learned from this exercise? What was missing in your crisis moment? How did it change? What did you eliminate? (300 words)
Q2-1. Finally, choose the author you used in Q1. Post the climactic scene in their story and then do your best to write your climactic scene from your own story in their style! Study their word choices, sentence length, transitions, dialogue choices, sensory details, use of adjectives and/or adverbs/the kinds of verbs they used/etc. Try to mimic their style as best you can in your own crisis moment. Also, Comment on anything you learned from attempting to write in their style. (250words)
