This document provides writing prompts for journal entries, assignments, and a writer's notebook focused on literary arts. The prompts explore topics like memories, opinions, problems, knowledge, interests, and writing goals. They also include prompts for descriptive and reflective writing exercises utilizing techniques like point of view, dialogue, character development, and poetry.

1. LITERARY ARTS

2. Writing Territories

3. Writing Territories
What are your earliest memories?

4. Writing Territories
What are your earliest memories?
What have you seen that you can’t
forget?

5. Writing Territories
What are your earliest memories?
What have you seen that you can’t
forget?
What do you have strong opinions
about?

6. Writing Territories
What are your earliest memories?
What have you seen that you can’t
forget?
What do you have strong opinions
about?
What problems need solving in your life?
in the world you live in?

8. What do you know about?

9. What do you know about?
What would you like to know more
about?

10. What do you know about?
What would you like to know more
about?
What are your likes and dislikes?

11. Journal
9.14.09: What are your earliest memories?
Write about one in detail
9.15.09: Write for 10 minutes:
I remember . . .
I don’t remember . . .
9.16.09: Literary History
9.17.09: I wonder . . .
9.18.09: Your writing goals for this class
and for yourself personally
9.22.09: Titles of things I will never write

12. 9.23.09 First line: “What did you do?
“I opened a window.” Continue
9.24.09 Violence and Revenge: Write!
9.25-9.27.09: Write responses to everything on the trip.
9.29.09: I f you could have any object or place in the world completely
to yourself for one day, what would you choose and why?
9.30.09:If you were completely blind but could somehow see for just
one hour each month, how would you spend that time? (Think month
by month)
10.01.09: What “moment of glory” have you watched another person
celebrate that you too would love to experience if you could?

13. 10.07.09:Think about what you write OUTSIDE of school:
what made an out of school piece succeed? What strategies used
for that could be used in school?
10.08.09: Talk about bridges
10.09.09: If your life were literally flashing before your eyes, what are
three moments or scenes from your past that would stand out?
Describe those three scenes.
10.19.09: Respond to these first three lines of a poem by A.E. Stallings
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes The booze and
the neon and Saturday night, the swaying in darkness, the
lovers like spoons?

14. 10.21.09: Choose an emotion you have had and write about an
experience in which this emotion is prominent
10.22.09: Your life in SIX words
Daughter. Mother. Grandma. Who I am.
10.23.09: Describe a familiar place using sense(s) other than sight.
10.26.09: Start with these words:
It was a dark morning, no stars left over from the night. The fog
hung dense and close ...

15. 10.27.09 Write about your personal “voice”--physcially, personality,
and writing--what is your writing voice and how does it compare to
your life voice?
10.28.09 “We yearn. We are the yearning creatures of this planet . . .
Yearning is always part of fictional character.”
What do you yearn for? Write about your yearnings.
11.02.09: Think about the past and write using a conditional voice
(could have been, might have, would have ...). If you have trouble
getting started, begin with “I imagine . . .” or “My great-grandmother
would have . . .”

16. 11.03.09: VANTAGE POINT
what is your vantage point in/about high school (high school
student voice)
11.04.09: write about a hectic day/life
(consider sentence structure,style, word choice etc.)
11.05.09: write about something that happened to you, but using the
1st person point of view (“I”) of someone else who was there
11.10.09: If you had one “do-over,” what would you do over and why?
Use details!

17. WRITER’S NOTEBOOK

18. Writer’s Notebook:
9.12.09: A list of ways to keep a broken door from swinging open and
shut
9.14.09:
write three beginnings using the idea of a door somehow:
an essay, poem, and story
Choose one and write a final piece

19. Writer’s Notebook
9.21.09: In your mind, go through your closet (or the heap of things on
your floor)and list everything there.
Choose three things that are very difficult for you to throw out.
Make a list of at least 5 reasons each is difficult to throw out
OR
5 creative uses for each
Freewrite about one of the above...let it take its own course
Turn this into a final piece using a thing(s)and exploring an emotional/
psychological aspect of holding on...letting
go...organization...disorganization...etc.
First draft due Tues. 9.29.09

20. Make a list of:
Things on which I am an expert
Signs of Fall
Things I have lost
What to take on the journey
Things I have forgotten
Choose one list and write a paragraph. . .
Respond to each piece:
two parts you really like
what ONE place could use more information or detail
what are the strong points? (or potential for) Write them
down:
character, dialogue, plot (events), conflict

21. Choose a list and write a single line about each item on that list: write a
poem
Turn in a final of either the prose piece (paragraph starter)
or the poem (or both) based on one of your lists
Turn in What to Take on the Journey Poem

22. Abstraction:
names of ideas or concepts which cannot in themselves be
experienced directly through the senses: love, anger
Generalization:
can be vaguely visualized because they include too many of a
given group (something, creatures . . .)
Judgments:
tell us what to think about something instead of showing it:
beautiful, suspiciously

23. Common Figures of Speech
Metonymy: one thing is represented by another thing associated with
it;
“the White House reported...”
Synecdoche: a part stands for a whole
“all hands on deck”
Personification: nonhuman with human characteristics
“the breathing city”
Metaphor: a comparison of unlike things equating them
“she is a rose”
Simile: a comparison of unlike things using “like” or “as”
“she is like a rose”
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration
“she cried oceans of tears”

24. 10.21.09 Image Poem (final piece)
first line: an abstraction + verb + place
Second line: attire
Third: summarizes an action
10.22.09: Emotion Image (Final Piece)
using your journal about an emotion, write a final piece in which
the emotion is evoked through the use of concrete images and
figures of speech: any form--poem, essay, short fiction

25. VOICE
Brainstorm a list of character “voices”
Choose a character voice and write a
monologue:
I don’t normally dress this way, but
I had a dream last night
I’ll tell you what doesn’t make any sense
I’m sorry, I didn’t see you
What I need is some kind of work that
I remember when you could

26. Monologue Revision 1:
Brainstorm: background information, personal history, life in the
present, physical description
create an image of this character as the prelude to the monologue
10.28.09: Writer’s Notebook
Write about the woman’s desires in the picture by John Grant
Write about the man’s desires in the Los Angeles Times photo
REVISE monologue including the character’s desires
This needs to be workshopped using response sheet

27. Final Piece: write a unified piece which
includes:
description of character using
imagery
the character’s desires: show, don’t
tell
the monologue (1st person)

28. Point of View
1st Person (“I”)
memoir, personal essay, lyric poetry,central
narrator in fiction
immediacy, engages reader,
cannot give others’ opinions, thoughts
2nd Person (“you”) a conversational tone
informal essays; speaking to someone in
general
can create intimacy

29. 3rd Person (“he,” “she”)
greatest range of effects
omniscient: narrator knows everything
limited omniscient: follows the mind of one
character or observes from outside
objective/dramatic: speech and action,
presents what is available to senses (not
interpretation), journalistic effect or
distanced

30. ASSIGNMENT:
11.05.09:Start three pieces in each a different point of view: 1st
person, 2nd, and any one of 3rd person. You may want to use the
three scenes of your life from an earlier journal, or rewrite
something you have already written, only using a different pov.
One of these needs to be a poem.
Final Piece: Point of View
choose one of the above and write a
final piece: any form

31. Portfolio
Cover Letter
Journals
Writer’s Notebook
Assignments
THREE weighted pieces
Log Books for three pieces
Other: OTOH,Reading responses,
other pieces (not assigned)

32. LITERARY ARTS
QUARTER 2

33. Journals
11.16.09: Start something you’ve always wanted to write but never have started
11.18.09: There are 20,000 individual moments in a day. Memorable moments create an image and
stay in your mind. Make two lists: positive and negative moments in your day. Choose one moment
and freewrite about it.
11.19.09: Respond to this quote: “Positive emotions are not trivial luxuries, but instead may be critical
necessities for optimal functioning.” Use examples as you respond.
11.20.09: Write about “To-Do” lists: potential achievements or burdens to be carried?
incorporate yesterday’s thoughts about positive emotions
11.23.09: Write about your relationship with “the land”: with landscape. This can be
urban, as well as rural. Relate to emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical ties.
11.24.09: “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. . . .
Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground. “
Respond.
11.25.09: Gratefulness

34. 12.02.09: We are multifaceted and diverse. Listen to your “parts.” Write
a dialogue between your mind, eyes, ears, hands, feet.
12.03.09: 3-5 “Secret Selves”: give each one a name and describe what
is in his/her closet.
12.04.09: Think about the creative monster who bars the door to your
dreams. Write a personal fairy tale in which you vanquish the monster
and collect your Oscar (that is, achieve your creative dream).
12.07.09: There is no journal
12.08.09: Seasons--go where it takes you!
12.09.09: See Writer’s Notebook for today

35. 12.10.09: Journal
Setting is not merely scenery; it is part of the significance: heritage,
culture,identity . . . “Home for the holidays”: what does it mean to you?
What do you want it to be? What is it? Be sure to use setting as a part
of the meaning/reflection.
12.14.09:
Write a postcard size short story. (Use a recipe card) Make sure
it has a conflict, crisis, and resolution. Post it on our blog.

36. 12.15.09: Think about the concept of “story.” We often say,”Everyone
has a story.” Stories are passed on from generation to generation.
Stories reflect our traditions and celebrations. Stories are fictional and
offer us transportation to other worlds. What is your story? What
does story mean to you as a writer?
12.17.09: What makes you:
laugh
afraid
angry
ashamed
tender or sentimental (feelings! :) )

37. 12.18.09:new journal is in Writer’s
Notebook
1.04.10: So, it’s a new year . . .
1.05.10: Write about someday.
1.07.10:Write about change.

38. Writer’s Notebook
11.17.09: Imagine a place where there is a small,or underlying, tension.
Write about it. Just write.
11.18.09: Consider the place in which the tension occurs. Describe this
place: specific descriptions of objects and people; include colors,
smells, sounds, movement--all senses.
Insert a real or imagined person into the place. Include an action for
this person that explains what he or she is doing in this place. Do NOT
explain his or her presence: the action will explain. Show; don’t tell.
Add a reflection. Why did I choose this place? Add a sentence or two
reflecting on the meaning or importance of selecting this place. Begin
with “I . . . .”
Assignment 1: Write 100-200 words describing a place, inventing a
person with whom the speaker feels tension, and reflecting on the
setting and tension. Let it take you where it goes.

39. 11.19.09: make sure you fill out a conference sheet about someone’s
tension piece
11.20.09: Stay in the setting of your tension piece. Write a short
imaginary conversation between you (or the narrator) and real or
imagined person with whom there was tension:
What is the root of the tension?
What do I want from this person?
What do I want for myself?
Use short phrases and sentences
Write fast.
Write at least 5 exchanges. Label as “A” and “B.” (50-100
words)

40. 11.20.09: Assignment 2: understanding what is causing the tension,write:
100-200 words in paragraph form
Begin with the words, “I remember.”
1st person
past tense
Write about a memory tied to emotional tension that may or may not
be related to the original place you wrote about in Writer’s Notebook.
Feel free to invent facts and details. Stay honest --not necessarily
true to the facts. Include setting details, names of people, dialogue,
and actions.

41. 11.23.09: Share your tension piece.
First Responder-- answer these questions:
(on paper)
Why does the speaker speak?
Why is the setting important?
Why is the conflict created?
What do you think is the meaning of this
piece?

42. Narrative Poem
Using your tension pieces,select one detail or moment and write a narrative
poem:
Begin the poem with “When”
Write a sentence that places the speaker in a clear setting and
introduces the conflict
As you work your way through the story, use words to signal shifts in
time and/or place (“years ago” “in the kitchen”)
Write in first person and present tense
in final three or four lines insert a detail,metaphor, or simile that
connects the story to a larger meaning (significance)
Look in the poem for words or a phrase that connects details to final
lines. Use it for the title.

43. 12.02.09: Workshop narrative poem first draft:
What is the poem about?
Who is the speaker?
How is the poem organized?
How is the tension created?
Are the actions and events clear? (What is not?)
Do the parts of the poem connect to create meaning?
Give suggestions for improvement in each area.

44. 12.04.09: Revision of Narrative Poem
Circle verbs.
Check for /change to active, specific, vivid
verbs (try onomatopoeia just for fun).
Eliminate being verbs (is, am, were, was, have, had,
would). This should force you to cut deadwood.
Cut at least 20 words. The finished poem
should be sixteen to twenty-two lines.

45. 12.09.09 Using sharply focused images, write a poem, paragraph or . . .
incorporating one setting that suggests one of the atmospheres listed below:
the city in the rain sinister
midnight on the farm full of promise
1890 in the parlor suicidal
high noon on the river dangerous
in the bar, after hours suspense
dawn in a foreign place lonely
happy-go-lucky

46. Know your setting: experience it mentally and recreate it
with significant detail.
What sort of place is this? What are its peculiarities?
What is the weather like, the light, the season, the time of
day?
What are the contours of the land and architecture?
What are the social assumptions of the inhabitants?
How familiar and comfortable are the characters with this
place and lifestyle?
Assignment 1: Create/write a detailed setting for
your fairy tale; be sure to create a mood/atmosphere

47. 12.11.09: Using a camera:
Pick a typical scene from your life:
describe it with three camera shots:
a long shot, medium, and close-up
Rework fairy tale to include these three
camera shots. (and elements from the
“Elements of Fairy Tales” sheet.

48. 12.14.09: Create a plot graph of your fairy tale using
the inverted check mark: See Cinderella example.
exposition
conflict
complications (good and evil on opposite sides)
Crisis
Falling Action
Resolution

49. 12.16.09: Authorial Interpretation
Write at least a paragraph or two
about each character:
four qualities each possesses
three important events
two habitual actions

50. Revise your fairy tale and insert some of
the details from 12.16.09 character
paragraphs
Write a dialogue between your
protagonist (you) and your antagonist
(your creativity monster)
Add dialogue to your fairy tale

51. Assignments for 12.18.09: If you get done with journal/assignment,
work on your blog.
Journal:
Prewrite: List what you (personally) want for Christmas
List what you would like for family and/or friends
List what you would like for the world
Write a letter to Santa Claus that truly expresses what you
would like for Christmas if your wishes could come true.
This will go up on the Bulletin Board Monday...bring a
final copy the way you want it to look. Be creative.

52. Object/Metaphor Poem
1.05.10: Writer’s Notebook
Make a list of objects important to
you/Share with the class
Choose ONE object that has marked
a new beginning for you. Write about
it, making sure to write about the
change.