Mentorship Project, Second Lesson

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Hello, my dear mentors and mentees! :salute: I hope the first lesson went well for all of you. Thankfully, it was a very basic one so even if you couldn't finish up with it, you're not missing something that will hinder your understanding of the second lesson. Be careful, however: we're starting to focus on specific aspects now, so close following is best. (:

First things first



We have interviewed some great deviants for you: in tWR Interviews: Prose and Poetry Basics, we interviewed Carmalain7, Vigilo, betwixtthepages and Jade-Pandora for poetry, and LiliWrites and illuminara for prose. :la: please check it out! And maybe give it a fav:+fav: because it deserves the exposure. :P

Poetry Course - Lesson 2



As with the first lesson, we will be providing you with resources/articles on the lesson subject, and related activities.

This second lesson focuses on verses, stanza, linebreak and a few other basics (such as punctuation).

The Resources/Articles



Punctuation, Part 1 and Part Two
The Linebreak
Primer on the poetic line (offsite article)
A more in-depth article about line, meter, stresses and so on. (a bit more advanced maybe, but such an amazing resource - offsite, again)
About stanza breaks (offsite article too)

As before, a warning: Some of these articles may repeat each other, some may give different kinds of advice for the same topic - you can read them all, your mentor can read them and then explain to you, you can choose a few or just one to read; it's really all up to you. We're giving you the tools, but you shape your own course together.

The Activities



:bulletblack: if the mentee is at a very early stage in their writing, we recommend taking some poems from deviantArt or offsite of the mentor's preference, then highlight their different parts and describe what they do together. Don't underestimate the power of such a simple exercise!

:bulletred: write a poem, or pick one the mentee/mentor has already written, and rewrite it changing the stanza division, linebreaks, verse structure and punctuation. For example: if your start poem is made up of three stanzas, each with six verses, with run-on lines and say, rare punctuation - mix it up! Make it one single stanza, with end-stopping lines and rich use of punctuation. This will help show you how the structure of the poem affects how the message is conveyed and perceived! It doesn't matter if the end result is good, or terrible in your eyes. It's about stepping out of your comfort zone.

This kind of activity is really broad - another thing you could do is choosing a poem that is fixed form, and turning it into free verse, completely altering his structure but leaving its meaning intact.

Feel like taking it further? Then alter its structure, but change no words. You can change their form - make a verb into its noun, and so on -, and where they are in the poem, but that's it!

So what do you want to see from us before the lesson is over?



From the two activities above, if you do happen to write a piece resulting from the second exercise, please note us Note a link to it so we can include it in our Mentorship Project folder.

The first activity will be completed between mentor and mentee only, no need to note us your considerations. 

Do you need someplace to meet up and talk? A great idea is exchanging skype details, or meet up in theWrittenRevolution's chatroom, it's at your disposal. (:

Prose Course - Lesson 2



As with the first lesson, we will be providing you with resources/articles on the lesson subject, and related activities.

This second lesson focuses on paragraph division and dialogue.

The Resources/Articles



Paragraph Division
Writing Tips: Dialogue
Dialogue Lesson
How to Construct a Fictional Conversation

As before, a warning: Some of these articles may repeat each other, some may give different kinds of advice for the same topic - you can read them all, your mentor can read them and then explain to you, you can choose a few or just one to read; it's really all up to you. We're giving you the tools, but you shape your own course together.

The Activities



Bullet; Red mentees write some experimental prose pieces, playing with dialogue. For example, a dialogue-only piece: which they can then try to turn into a narration-only piece, or a piece alternating direct and indirect dialogue. As always, it's not about the quality of the final product, but about practice and exercise!

Bullet; Black mentor takes a short story from anywhere they want and takes out all the paragraph division, making it become a nice wall-o-text. Mentee puts in all the divisions as they see fit, and then discusses the final product with their mentor.

So what do you want to see from us before the lesson is over?



From the two activities above, if you do happen to write a piece resulting from the first exercise, please note us Note a link to it so we can include it in our Mentorship Project folder.

The second activity will be completed between mentor and mentee only, no need to note us your considerations. 

Do you need someplace to meet up and talk? A great idea is exchanging skype details, or meet up in theWrittenRevolution's chatroom, it's at your disposal. (:

So, what do we do now?



Now you start working on your lesson! :la:

Poetry fellows, your next lesson will be posted on February 12th!



Prose friends, your next lesson will be posted on February 19th!



Why the different duration, you ask? Well, we feel that the prose lesson is slightly more "requiring" than the prose one, and so deserves some more time. (: this will happen pretty often! Lessons will rarely go out at the same time for both courses, since the subjects differ so much.

If you need anything...



Please note the group and let us know any concern you have, or clarification/advice that is needed. Heart we're here to help! Just a note:note: away.

>>All hail GinkgoWerkstatt for this beautiful skin.
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