Week of January 30

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DAY January 12, 2017 NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS! Every summer, the Television Academy Foundation offers 50 television industry internships in over 30 disciplines. These eight-week, paid positions at major media companies provide professional experience, career development and networking opportunities to talented students nationwide. Postmark deadline is March 15, 2017 APPLY TODAY CATEGORIES INCLUDE: New for 2017 Business of Physical Production · Motion & Title Design Agency · Animation · Art Direction/ Set Decorating · Broadcast News · Casting · Children’s Programming/ Development · Cinematography · Commercials · Costume Design · Development · Digital Entertainment · Documentary/ Nonfiction Production · Editing · Entertainment News · Episodic Series · Legal & Business Affairs · Live Television Production · Marketing · Media Research · Movies for Television · Music · Post Production · Production Management · Program Planning and Scheduling · Public Relations/ Publicity · Sound · Special Visual Effects · Television Directing · Television Scriptwriting · Unscripted Television

The Buzz (Campus Newspaper) Meeting Tuesday, Jan. 31 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Buzz (Campus Newspaper) Meeting is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Henkel Hall, Room 228. This will be full staff meetings for the campus newspaper and new members are always welcome. For more information, please contact Michelle Adams at madams144@su.edu. First African-American Disney Animator To Hold Masterclass At Shenandoah University On Feb. 1 Floyd Norman Will Address Those Interested In the Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Winchester, Va. (Jan. 26, 2017) – Floyd Norman, Disney’s first African-American animator, will speak at Shenandoah University at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium (1460 University Drive, Winchester, VA 22601). This event is free and open to the public; no registration is required. Norman will share his story about his pioneering work in the world of animation, and this presentation will allow participants to engage in thought dialogue about how they may enter into the field of animation and/or careers related to arts, entertainment, media management, design, film and animation. DON’T FORGET: WRITE TO WIN $250 IN THESE POETRY AND FICTION WRITING CONTESTS The deadline for the annual S. Gordden Link Poetry and Bruce C. Souders Fiction writing contests, sponsored by the English Department, is Monday, March 6. To enter, submit one typed copy of each entry via email to Ms. Jo Strader (jstrader@su.edu), or in person in Gregory Hall, Room 157. Your name should only appear on a cover sheet to ensure anonymity until judging is complete. Participants must be Shenandoah University undergraduate students enrolled full-time (at least 12 credits) during the 2016-2017 school year. Entrants to the poetry contest may submit a maximum of five (5) poems; there is a 5,000 word maximum for short stories submitted to the fiction writing contest. Submitted manuscripts must be unpublished in any other form. Questions? Contact Assistant Professor of English Christin Taylor, Ph.D., at ctaylor4@su.edu or stop by her office in Gregory Hall, Room 107.  Here is a cool essay on books.  How to workshop writing  When you have your writing "workshopped" you sit in the room as if you don't exist. The reader experiences your work the same as if they read it online or bought it in a bookstore. You are not there to defend the work, explain the work, interpret the work. To workshop is for you to see your words speak for themselves - and for some writers are surprised at what the work is really saying to someone. Don’t make vague statements like “it’s good.” Rather than simply stating what you think, explain why. Think in terms of whether something “works” rather than in terms of “good” or “bad.” Focus on strengths first, but don’t hide your constructive ideas about areas that could improve. Be sensitive but honest. The point is to help the writer consider ways to improve the work. Don’t be afraid to politely express your true reactions to the piece. As you read each other's stories ask the text the following questions: What is this story about? What is the most important thing it is trying to say? What works and what needs work? How could the piece improve overall? What aspects of the piece do you really like? How did the piece affect you? What sort of impact does it have, if any? Let's do this first with the books I gave to you.  Initial stage: Does the opening of the piece make you want to keep reading? Setting: Is the setting apparent? Are there details about the time/ place/location? Does the setting play an important role? Senses: Are you captivated by the writing in terms of senses/ does the writing make you taste, feel, see, smell, and hear in your imagination? Language: Is the writing exciting? Strange? Too simple? Would you need a dictionary to understand what’s happening? Predictability: Is the writing too predictable? Is it so unpredictable that it leaves too many loose ties at the end? Distractions: Is there anything in the writing that takes away from its depth? Dialogue: Does it blend well with the writing? Are the dialogue lines “normal” or too “forced”? Would you actually overhear people talking like that? Characters: Are they well-developed? Can you imagine them being actual people? Scenes and Scene Transitions: Can you tell when the scenes change? Can you keep track of the time//location throughout the story? Pace: Are there parts of the story that are “too slow” and could perhaps be more exciting or cut? Is there too much action and not enough “thinking time” in the piece? Believability: Are aspects of the story just too impossible? Conflict(s): Is there an apparent issue in the story that is attended to and resolved? Resolution: Does it appropriately tie up the issue? Is it too farfetched or cliched?   Be sensitive but honest. The point is to help the writer consider ways to improve the work. You may say something like: “The dialogue in the opening scene is an effective idea–I feel like it captures interest right off the bat–but it starts to get confusing towards the end of the opening scene...I’m not making all the connections between the characters’ lines...maybe the writer has those connections in his mind, but needs to give more direction to us readers so that we can make those same connections.” FOR THURSDAY Get in touch with you dancer and start doing your research portion of the project.  Identify who you want to interview or where you want to go to observe  Start to look at different CNF genres and begin to think about what way you want to write this.  In order to create the piece(s) you need to have the following:  1. The Town Hall research (three sources)  2. Two session of observation  3. Two - three interviews to expand on the research you have done and give the piece texture.  This is what we will be working on until Feb. 28

Week of January 24

General Notes

UNIVERSITY LITERARY MAGAZINE MEETINGS FOR THE SEMESTER BEGIN TODAY

Students create, edit and promote Shenandoah’s literary magazine, Avalon. Students involved in Avalon’s creation meet from 3 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Wednesdays in Gregory Hall, Room 128. Meetings begin today, Jan. 26, and continue through May 13. Contact avalon@su.edu for more information

FOR TODAY

1. Make sure you have a folder in the Google Drive
2. Make sure you share the folder with an open setting

TOWN HALL STUFF

In Google Drive

Hopper

First, some words about expanding your reading

What does it mean to be a writer?

Is it the same as what it means for you to be a writer? What is expected of you?

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
• Stephen King, On Writing

From Writer's Digest 

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
J.K.Rowling

Write what it is you want to read is a great start.

So what are you reading?

How to make reading a habit. 

Start with topic or genres that you love

Use websites to help you

• WhatShouldIReadNext.com: start with an author or book you love, click the closest match from the list that pops up, and then this site will generate a list of books you’ll probably like based on your initial author/title. Pretty cool.
• GoodReads: This is social networking for readers. Join (you can use your Facebook credentials) and then find friends and see what they’re reading, find interest-based groups, search book lists, or join a discussion.
• BookBrowse.com: The “Read Alikes”  service here is similar to WhatShouldIReadNext but the lists of comparable books is handpicked by other readers.
• WhichBook: Choose your book by mood or other fun factors, like Happy or Sad, Beautiful or Disgusting, Conventional or Unusual.

Use books lists

• Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels (Board List and Reader’s List)
• Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction (Board List and Reader’s List)
• The 100 Best Business Books of All Time
• Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
• 25 Recommendations for Life-Changing Biographies
• Telegraph’s 110 Best Books List, divided into genres
• The 50 Best Food Memoirs
• Ultimate Travel Library: Around the World in 80+ Books
• 50 Essential Mystery Novels

You can skim a book to know if you want to take the dive

“First, you do not know whether you want to read the book. You do not know whether it deserves an analytical reading. But you suspect that it does, or at least that it contains both information and insights that would be valuable to you if you could dig them out. Second, let us assume—and this is very often the case—that you have only a limited time in which to find all this out. In this case, what you must do is skim the book, or, as some prefer to say, pre-read it. Skimming or pre-reading is the first sublevel of inspectional reading. Your main aim is to discover whether the book requires a more careful reading. Secondly, skimming can tell you lots of other things about the book, even if you decide not to read it again with more care.”

Use the 50-page rule

If you are not into it by the 50th page there is no sin in saying that this book is not for you.

Start a reading notebook

It could be a Pinterest board, a note on Facebook, a list on your phone, a folder of photos, your GoodReads account etc.

Make the time to read. Make it important. Make it a priority.

• Read in the bathroom
• Read in line
• Read while you are waiting for . . . anything
• Read before you go to bed
• Read in a favorite chair on a rainy day
• Read outside on a sunny day

Find your reading spot

• Make it comfortable
• Where you cannot be disturbed
• Turn off your phone
• Have a good light
• Have some tea or some other beverage of your choice
• Maybe eat the food you might be reading about
• Read with someone else who appreciates reading (fun to read to each other)

How to become an avid reader (and why)

Don't forget about audio books!

I'm listening to The Strain

Getting started in Applied Writing

 So what is creative non-fiction? 

Creative nonfiction is also known as: 

• The Art of Fact
• The Art of Truth
• Gonzo Journalism
• Neo-gonzo Journalism
• The Fourth Genre (after poetry, fiction and drama)
• The Literature of Reality
• New Journalism
• Literary Journalism
• Narrative Nonfiction

A good introduction to the idea(s)


Here are some examples of the genre

Essay as Hack

The Surgeon at 2 A.M.

Here are some prompts to get you started. 

200 WORDS ON YOU

In no more than 200 words, explain who you are.

This is a challenging prompt, as it is the one topic you know everything about, and you have to be really selective to choose which 200 words of your life define you.

It will force you to make hard choices that you need to transfer to your real writing. Practice it a few times taking a different perspective each time.