Inside the Studio: Creative Writing at Walnut Hill

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Last musical prompt of the year!

Step 1 – Pick a song you’ve been listening to a fair amount recently.

Step 2 – Listen to the song one or two times.

Step 3 – Play the song, and write down anything that comes into your head.

Optional future Step 4 – Arrange the piece of writing into sentences/lines – i.e. try breaking the line after the fifth word of every sentence, if you’re writing poetry.

Song: Feel Good, inc. – Gorillaz 

I’m in the queue for the bus, tapping my foot against the concrete. For a few seconds each day, I can hear all the sounds going on around me – the bus engine, the buzzing of the street lamps, the ageing woman in New Balance trainers chewing Orbit gum. Nobody ever smiles around here, and sometimes it makes me feel like flying – running down the stairs and jumping into the thick air, moving my arms through it and pushing it away, like water. I think about the sky being the sea and feel an asthma attack coming on. I take out my inhaler, inhale and drown. 

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Gearing Up

By Chadam Pires

As I was sitting here in my room, staring at the newly bare walls, I realized that I have not done anything this weekend, artistically or academically. I also realized that I forgot to compose my last post for the blog last week. Whoops! I was thinking of all of the things left I have to do before earning my cap and gown which all happen to be on the list of things that I do not want to do. Walnut Hill seniors do not drop the ball, nor can they, at least for the majority of us here. We will make it to the church downtown to receive our diplomas!

Now, knowing that, I also know that we have two weeks left to create and finish up projects for classes that really determine our last semester grades. As I work on my senior journalism project, knowing that I have to start editing tomorrow makes me want to claw my eyes out! Editing and I are not on the best of terms since the last video made. Don’t get me wrong, I always love how the final draft turns out, but doing my own editing makes the climb tedious and draining! I am now staring at my computer screen, and all I can think of is the work I need to do. I leave you with this thought: since I cannot tell myself this, seniors in this world, get off of Facebook or stop however else you’re procrastinating and just do the work. Come Graduation Day, you will be proud you stuck it out till the very last second! From myself, consider this an early congratulations to us all!

[writingstudio]

Just a taste

By Chadam Pires

For a taste of the blog that I was talking about yesterday, I want to share the video of the first interview that exists. The topic for the first month was framed from the question of how safe it is to be a journalist overseas in war-torn areas. We were able to interview Sarah McClung, who worked in agricultural development in both Haiti and Iraq. The interview was a way for me to practice real skills of journalism and most importantly, how to get the story. Looking back at the film now, I realize how important it is to be aware of both my physical appearance and vocal performance. I realized that I used the word ‘awesome’ so many times in 20 minutes of footage and that I nodded constantly. Having the opportunity to film now, I will already be ahead of the game in college.

The link:

https://vimeo.com/126925190

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A Minor Realization

By Chadam Pires ‘15

Last night, it all came together: why I’m working so diligently during my second semester of senior year and why I’m trying to study Journalism at Walnut Hill, where it does not quite exist yet. In filming my second video on the Boston Marathon bombing for the “Walnut World News” blog I had created back in January, to bring current affairs to students attention on campus, I remembered why I embarked on this journey. I care about social issues happening now and want to discover stories that are worth being discussed and publicized. Throughout all of the hard work of filming, editing, memorizing, creating, and even imagining, I realized every step is vital. In any project, without putting in the work, you are not going to be happy with the final product. Someone that I deeply admire once told me that, even when doing something you love, there are going to be parts that you hate, things that make you want to drop the whole pursuit, which I am unfortunately quite good at. However, once you breathe through the hard parts and jump over the hurdles, you will feel how you did at the start: head over heels in love with what you are creating. Never give up, it’ll be worth it in the end!

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The Evolution of Cartoons

by Nick Fuller ‘15

Today I asked the members of the studio what their favorite cartoon (TV Show or Movie) was when they were a child. Answers varied, including Arthur, The Lion King, Teen Titans, Digimon, and Bremen Town Musicians. I then asked what their favorite cartoon is now, and answers included Steven Universe, Waking Life, Adventure Time, Rick and Morty, and Gravity Falls.

I was thinking earlier this week about the process of writing a children’s cartoon, such as Arthur or Dora the Explorer, and the difficulty of only being able to use a finite number of life situations. For example, shows like Adventure Time and Rick and Morty have elements of life v. death and heavier life topics. While they may still be presented in an unserious manner, they are included in cartoons geared toward tweens, teens, and young adults.

In a third category we have cartoons geared toward kids anywhere from 8-18 years old, such a The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Gravity Falls. Shows like these don’t include the inappropriate humor of Family Guy or The Simpsons that teenagers are so often attracted to, yet they still have/had large teen audiences. I wonder if this is a result of the fantastical elements of the shows, the appeal of the characters/their relationships, or something entirely different. It also strikes me that networks like Disney Channel and Cartoon Network have produced cartoons from the time I was born to the present that appeal to my generation.

I challenge/encourage you to think about what obstacles would be needed to overcome in order to write a successful cartoon appropriate for younger children while still appealing to teenagers and beyond.

[writingstudio]

Sylvia Driskell v. All Homosexuals

I don’t know if you have heard about this woman, Sylvia Ann Driskell, but if you haven’t, beware, she’s trying to sue all of the homosexuals. Driskell, of Omaha, Nebraska, hand-wrote a seven page lawsuit and filed it with the U.S. District Court of Omaha. Not only is her lawsuit riddled with grammatical errors, but she sites bible verses irrelevant to her case.

What I find most interesting about this situation is not even that she is attempting to sue all homosexuals, but that she is accusing us of being sinners when she is trying to create a divide between a group of people and the rest of the world. She cites Webster Dictionary’s definition of sin: the willful breaking of religious or moral law. Now, this is just my opinion, but I firmly believe that trying to get a legal mandate confirming the “sin” of homosexuality is against moral law. To see the full lawsuit, click here: http://ia801502.us.archive.org/2/items/gov.uscourts.ned.69317/gov.uscourts.ned.69317.1.0.pdf

To see the lawsuit in print, click here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/05/05/nebraska-woman-sues-all-homosexuals/

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Believability in Fiction

Whenever I am writing a new piece of fiction and start introducing my cast of characters, I find myself not being able to use or having to change one of the characters because they are not believable enough. Whether it be in his/her thought process, dialogue, or action, something about them is off. If you ever find yourself in a similar dilemma, here is some advice to liven up your writing and allow you to use that character:

Months ago, a visiting writer came in (though I can’t remember her name or the title of her book), and introduced this idea to the studio. In her book, she had, if I remember correctly, about six characters, all very wild in their own ways. The characters would not have necessarily been believable as “normal,” but she made her characters non-human. For example, I believe some of her characters were a gun, a book, a monkey, etc.

Applying that to my own writing, if I am stuck with a character and their believability in my piece, I like to use this way of writing not only to allow me to use said character, but also to completely blow open the world of the piece. In pieces that I have included a non-human character, it has been difficult keeping them active throughout the piece, but in the end has been incredibly rewarding and taken the piece in a direction I never would have thought with strictly humans.

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New Worlds

As artists, and writers specifically, we like to (and often have to) create entire worlds. More often this occurs in prose. I’ve been spending a lot of my free time recently watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, and I find it absolutely fascinating how the world of drag is one of it’s own. Applying that to my writing, I often find myself creating a world around a character instead of vice versa. My prompt for today is:

If you were to create a new world (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc.), what would it be like? Think about things like environment, wildlife, inhabitants, atmosphere, and technological advancements. Once you have created your world, create a character that would fit perfectly in that world, but still has a major problem to deal with. Often times in today’s most popular literature (Uglies, The Hunger Games, Divergent), and particularly in dystopian literature, the main character’s struggle is because he/she is not like the other people in his/her world. That being said, for the sake of originality, create a character that fits into the world, create his/her problem, and go forth!

[writingstudio]

We can do it! ...Right?

Right now in the studio we have about 3 weeks of school left. For most seniors right now, the year is winding to it’s very end, and graduation is basically only a week away. Being at a boarding school, however, the seniors aren’t able to graduate early, so we’re stuck through early June. What I’ve noticed as my high school career comes to a close is that senioritis is REAL, and it hits HARD. The combination of nicer weather, an exhausting schedule, and the end of the year right around the corner makes me want to hop in my cozy bed right after dinner (and I eat dinner at 5:30) and sleep till 10:00 am the next day. Unfortunately, I can’t do that, nor can other members of the class of 2015 (though some would like to believe they can).

We all have to keep doing our homework, going to classes, getting up at 6:00 am or earlier, but when we step back and look at this time of the year after graduation, we’re going to be glad we did. We’re going to be glad that we spent the 5 minutes between class talking to our best friends about after-school plans, doing our homework and graduated with honors, and making the end of our high school careers the best part of the whole thing. After these 3 weeks we have left, we’re out for summer, and then WE’RE GOING TO COLLEGE! Stick in there seniors, whether you have a month or a day left of school, you’ll be glad you put in the extra effort.

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Silent Hills

There’s a lot of reasons people are upset Silent Hills is being cancelled. To clarify, Silent Hills was going to be a video game, but it’s publisher cancelled it after one of it’s developers separated from the company suddenly. It had an all-star cast of people working on it, between Guillermo del Toro, Norman Reedus, and Hideo Kojima, the game could do no wrong. It was a long awaited reboot of a series that was gathering cobwebs. And on top of that the Playable Teaser (warning: scary) was one of the most original horror games. The fear in the game came from a different place than the usual jump scares we see in games like Dead Space. It drew on disgust, eerie atmosphere, and rising tension. The sound design was horrifying on it’s own, and it felt like a step away from being a game, towards being an interactive story. But more than anything the Playable Teaser’s most horrifying moments came from leaving things to the imagination. Before we saw the crying fetus, we heard it’s echoes. We had to imagine what was happening. This game really set out to do something individual: to scare and not to startle. We can only hope other developers take note that there’s interest in this type of horror (warning: scary).

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Who writes for video games?

A lot of people who play games don’t really consider where the story comes from. They assume its a pronounced writer, or something along those lines. The answer isn’t simple, it varies game to game. For instance, indie games are written by the small team making it. Meanwhile triple A games are more often written by higher ups, and people working under the Creative Director. Some studios like Naughty Dog had hired script writers (formerly Amy Hennig.) Certain games like World of Warcraft are so large that they have to field stories from many different people on their team. A lot of the appeal of getting into the industry for many people is being able to make your story come to life in an interactive way. That said, there’s a lot of people who don’t get to touch the creative half of the game. That’s part of the reason indie games have become increasingly common, as people want to make something that they have a solid say in.

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Characters and Philosophy

To help flesh out characters during writer’s block, I find it easier if I mix match concepts like careers, or more broad things, like philosophy to help give them something to push them along.

For instance, Solipsism, the philosophy that nothing can be proven to exist beyond one’s self. This means that only the character exists and everything else is impossible to prove to exist beyond being perceived. Now apply that to a serial killer. The character feels more human now, and less cliché, because everyone’s seen a serial killer. There’s a lot of interesting possible combinations of philosophies and so on, like a Nihilist flower salesman.   

Art made by Musa

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May 4th famous and historical birthdays:

Audrey Hepburn (1929) - Actress: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday, Charade, War and Peace

Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655) - Inventor of the Forte Piano

Horace Mann (1796) - Senator, Education Reformer

Keith Haring (1958) - Artist, Social Activist

Artwork by Keith Haring (© Keith Haring Foundation)

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Playlist For Rain

Blowing in the Wind by Bob Dylan Candles in The Rain by Melanie Safka Rainy Day Man by James Taylor Dry The Rain by The Beta Band Rain by The Beatles Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot Rainy Night House by Joni Mitchel The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin Mary’s Place by Bruce Springsteen

Writing prompt: Create a scene that begins without rain, but approximately half way through a storm begins and some how drastically effects what is happening.

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Writing Prompts

Two days ago I made a list of events, all of which occurred on April 28th, below are three prompts, based off that list.

For Fiction:

Write a short story, or simply illustrate a moment in which a character is reading that day’s newspaper. They land on an article about an event off that list, of your choice. Create a space for them to read in, a time. Are they skimming, or focused on the paper? What else are they thinking?

For a Found Poem:

Pick one of the events listed and find an article about it, try to create a poem using only words found in the article. When you’re done, go back, change around tenses and pronouns if you like.

For Nonfiction:

Think about important events and days in your life, ones where you remember the exact date, then search for other things that happened on that day. Try and write a nonfiction piece connecting the two events.

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The History Of Prom

With prom coming up I’ve been thinking a lot about the typical high school rituals, and just how they came to be. The word prom is a shortened version of Promonate which is “the formal, introductory parading of guests at a party.” Today’s prom originated from the 19th century when the elite American colleges would throw semi-formal co-ed banquets for their graduating classes each year, which themselves were based off debutante balls (a tradition typical in old-money eastern families). Proms overtime became targeted for a younger and younger age group, until it was more of a ritual in teenage culture than anything else. They were first mentioned in high school yearbooks as early as the 1930s. In the 1940s the version of the Prom we see was beginning to form, and by the ‘50s they were not uncommon in public high schools, and because of the thriving postwar economy it was more common to see a prom held in a local country club than a high school gymnasium. However it wasn’t until the 1980’s today's proms were fully formed.

When they first started, proms were fairly simple. Attendees would simply wear their church clothes. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that it became common to spend any money at all on the dance, and then it was only in the form of occasionally purchasing a private car to take students to and from the event: a trend that dropped out for about twenty years and then resurfaced by the ‘50s. It was around that same time it became particularly important to have an attractive date, and girls started making special shopping trips just for the event. In the 80’s proms became commercialized, featured in numerous Hollywood films and truly became the cultural phenomenon we are familiar with today. The average amount of money spent each year on Prom by any given family with a teenage attending ranges from between 1,100$ and and 1,600$. The American Prom Industry is estimated to be worth approximately 4 billion dollars.

When President Kennedy was in office he made the decision to reschedule  $1,000-a-plate fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton because a local prom was booked for the same night, and a little over ten years later President Ford threw his daughter’s senior Prom at the White House.

The entire history of Proms hasn’t been so wonderful. They have often been vehicles of discrimination. In schools all over the country since 1944 schools have threatened to cancel, or have canceled proms, if interracial or homosexual couples attended. This has resulted in kids going in groups, instead of as couples, something we see a lot here at Walnut Hill, though for less serious reasons. So, if you’re going to Prom this Friday, with a date, or in a group of friends, try and keep in mind the history of the event and have fun!

[writingstudio]

What Has Happened On April 28th Through History

In 1931, the first vaccine for yellow fever which was available for human use was announced.

In 1991, “Gypsy” opened at the Marquis Theater in New York City, which was performed 104 times after that night.

Also in 1991, the Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) was launched.

In 1910, Claude Grahame-White took the first ever air flight after dark.

In 2001, Millionaire Dennis Tito was the first tourist to be taken into space.

In 1848, the last slaves were freed in the French colonies.

In 1974, Penelope Cruz was born.

In 1994, the first multi-racial South African election closed after three days.

In 1986, the Soviet news announced a nuclear accident at Chernobyl power stations, two days after the initial event.

In 1971, Samuel Lee Gravely Jr was officially announced as the 1st black admiral in the US Navy.  

Please check out this post, where you can see some writing prompts based of this list!