Readers as Writers

In a new post on your blog Friday, please create an entirely new piece of writing inspired by one or more of the stories, books, topics, etc. we have touched on in our discussion of how reading shapes us as writers.  This could be fiction or something from your own life.  It could be a story or a narrative poem or something else, but go for at least 300 words.

Here are some ideas I jotted down in my notebook as you all were sharing your books that mattered to you last week...just things connected to the stories themselves or what you said about them...maybe something you can take and run with:

• a forgotten piece of paper or photo or receipt or note left behind in an old book
• a modernized retelling of a myth or a mythological character's story
• a well-known story from the perspective of a minor character 
• a secret hidden or revealed
• how to prepare for the end of the world
• stories of September 11th
• a story inspired by a letter or a series of letters of the alphabet
• a story for a character whose first name is also the name of a country or place
• a girl choosing between two guys
• a crazy ex-girlfriend
• a secret society or group
• meeting someone you admire
• a twisted version of another story
• falling in love over and over again
• living in a different lifetime than your own
• being an outsider
• a silly but wise story
• middle school nerd
• dealing with guilt
• an accident
• a kid obsessed with something unusual
• dragons and magic and all that
• how an animal came to be

You could also use the text you ended up with when we blacked out the book and magazine pages as inspiration for a story or poem.  Let's also say you could steal a starting point from one of your classmates' pieces from the comments section in the BLACKOUT post following this one.  Same with your text cut from magazines.

Also, take a look at the grade check I printed for you and see if there are pieces you have missed posting or something I missed seeing.  I've been trying to get caught up on commenting on your blogs.  I will read all of it, I promise!  Thanks for being patient with me and for taking the time to put your own comments on your classmates' pieces.