EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELLW H AT ’ S Y O U R S ?

B Y M E L I N D A J O N E S

MY BIOGRAPHY

Began writing in childhood

Inspiration comes from brother, history and music

Achievements/Accomplishments Published short story and poems in the Journal of Ordinary Thought and Opus

Literary Journals Guest lectured at DePaul University on blues music and the great Migration Served as a panelist on blues poetry discussion at the 2004 Chicago Blues Festival Majored in English Literature and earned B.A in 2007 Began writing professionally in 2009 Wrote several vignettes for black history month for WAPZ radio in Montgomery, AL Recently completed my first novel, Black Rock Currently researching African-American jazz musicians for a non-fiction project

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING?

• Creative writing is about self-expression

What you think

How you feel

• Creative writing is expressing your thoughts and ideas in an

imaginative way through writing

• Creative writing can be in the form of drama, poetry, fiction, or non-

fiction

CREATIVE WRITING IS NOT

• Technical (Instruction manuals)

• Journalistic (Newspapers, magazines)

• Academic (Journals, Textbooks, Style Guides)

THE BENEFITS OF CREATIVE WRITING

• Sharpens your overall writing and critical thinking skills

• Gives you the freedom to express yourself

• You control what is written

• Allows you to make something completely your own

• Gives you a voice when you feel you don’t have one

• Therapeutic

MAYA ANGELOU – PHENOMENAL WOMAN

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

Maya Angelou

• Phenomenal Woman is a celebration of womanhood and self- acceptance.

• An excellent example of not only creative writing but self-expression

WHAT IS POETRY?

• A piece of imaginative writing in verse (Oxford Dictionary)

• Writing that expresses thoughts or feelings

• Poetry does not have to rhyme

Common Poetic Forms

• Free verse –Poetry that does not have a regular pattern or meter or rhyme. It is not bound by poetic conventions

• Ballad- aka narrative poem (Tells a story) written in four lines stanzas (verses)

• Sonnet- Aka Love poem. Usually has14 lines. Most connected most with William Shakespeare

• Ode –Lyrical poem (Sounds like a song)

WRITING PROMPT #1: WHO IS YOUR PHENOMENAL

WOMAN?

• Create a poem about a phenomenal

woman you know or admire

____________is a phenomenal woman

because_____________... Or I am an

phenomenal woman because…

WHAT IS YOUR STORY?

"There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

Zora Neale Hurston

• Every story tells something about life and we are the authors of our lives

COMPONENTS OF A STORY

Plot - Structure of a story. Tells how it will unfold. The plot includes

Complication (build up)

Conflict (a struggle between opposing forces)

Climax (turning point)

Resolution (ending/how everything is resolved)

Characters – Persons that inhabit a story

Dialogue-Conversation between characters

Point of View-the perspective from which a story is told. They are several types of POV’s. The most common are:

First person or “I’– The narrator is character in the story (ex. I watched him walk away)

Third person – The narrator does not participate in the story action, but is able to relay how the characters think and feel ( “He took all the money,” she said, “ And never looked back.”

Omniscient or “All Knowing” – The narrator knows everything about all the characters

WRITING PROMPT #2: CREATE A STORY

Write a short story using one of the following prompts:

1. You often hear people say, "You'll never understand another person until you've walked a day in his or her shoes." Choose a fictional or real person and walk a day in his or her shoes . Write about it.

2. If you could take a trip anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

3. What's the worst present you've ever received? How did you react and what, ultimately, did you do with the gift?

4. Write a short story based on your favorite song, using the song’s title as your story’s title and the lyrics for your plot.

5. If you could have dinner with three famous people, living or dead, who would they be and what would you ask them? Write a brief dialogue.

6. Oprah has given you one million dollars to do good in the world. What would you do with the money?

CONCLUSION

• Everyone has an inner writer inside, because we all are the authors of

our lives. No one can tell a story about you better than you can.

• Every experience is a prompt and gives us an opportunity to express

ourselves, teach others, and leave our mark on the world.

• Write! Write! Write!

CONTACT/FEEDBACK

Let me know what you think of the workshop and writing @:

mzjones44@gmail.com

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Facebook: meme jones