Week One.

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For ease of reading and understanding, lecture notes, and key points from tutorial are gray in colour. Reflections, and actual blog post body will be in black font.

Proper writing format: Assignments should contain present tense, refer to third person, and be in active voice.

It took me awhile to realise that the purpose of doing the above-mentioned was to practice the writing style that scripts usually come in.

To me, it’s very difficult writing like this because I am so used to writing in past tense. I’ve been writing recounts for so long that I can’t adapt. Everytime I blog about the day, about the week, about anything, it’s usually in past tense. This is a departure from that. It will be difficult but I certainly hope I will get used to it, and that it’ll become second-nature.

Present tense: I type at a computer.
Third person: He types at a computer.
This style (third person) of writing is commonly used in scriptwriting.

Passive vs. Active voice

Passive voice uses weak verbs, tells rather than shows, and distances the reader from the story. We want to avoid this, and rather want to make the reader feel close to the story.

Active voice uses strong verbs, shows the action, uses immediate sentence structure and conveys the story in a lively manner.

We’re gonna attempt to avoid the passive voice, writing in the active voice as much as possible.

Passive: The sky was blue with a lot of white clouds.
It seems like nothing’s happening.
The clouds aren’t doing anything, and neither is the sky.
In a passive voice, the subject is almost always not given anything to do.

The subjects should be engaged in something.

I motivate myself to work by telling myself to just get it over and done with.

Tips – might not be foolproof!
If you have something going, don’t stop even if you’re stuck.
Always solve the problem and keep going till you’re in safer water and you’ve gained momentum. Sleeping on problems is a myth.
If you can’t get started, just start anyway.
It doesn’t matter what you write. Soon you’ll begin to think and move with your own rhythm.

Example writing:

Louis puts on his hula girl outfit and enters the temple.

The temple is large, with a sprawling, open-air outer complex, coloured primarily red and green. The main temple building occupies only a small portion of the vast compound. Everywhere, there are people, young and old, short and tall, in a myriad of colours. To Louis, these people all pass in a blur. He is focused on finding his target, and it is in this main building, planted in the centre of the temple courts, hidden in the smoke of burning altars and candles, and looking mysteriously surreal, that he will find what he is looking for.

Upon entering through the high double doors, he seeks out his target, swiftly and stealthily. He darts quickly in the shadow of the temple structure, shrouded in the shadows of the high, arcing columns and the smoke from the incense sticks. Before anyone takes notice of this visually appalling occurrence, he finds what he is looking for.

“Hi mom, the performance was a blast.”

This practice piece of writing was really fun to write. I intended for it to have an anti-climax ending, as if to build up suspense for nothing. I’ve seen many writers do that, and I thought that this story might be a good place to try doing it myself. All in all, very fun.

(These were in-class reflections.)
What were two or three questions that crossed my mind during the writing process?

Should I write a short one and enjoy the rest of my time or maximise it to get the most content I can get?
What should I eat for dinner?

What should I ask?
“Whose story am I telling?”
“What is the point of the story?”
“How can I engage the attention of the audience?”

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