Exercise writing
Exercise 1: Change point of view,
Goal: To show you how changing the point of view dramatically affects how the material reads. (It’s not just a case of doing a universal search and replace of “I” for “he” or “she.” Different things enter or come out of the material depending on the point of view you use.). READ p. 282-283 for a short example of how one writer changes point of view on the same story.
What to do:
1.Pick an incident that happened to you in the past month or so–something that has stuck in your mind, although for what reason you’re not quite sure. (Or, another thought from your professor: Think of the strange moment we are in — pandemic, violence in American cities, the violence of the state against its own citizens in some cases–and write about a fictional character facing one of those moments).
a.I would like you to talk about me being quarantined when I traveled from the USA to my country
b.Quarantined for a week and being tested twice even though I do not have COVID-19 or its symptoms.
c.The two results were negative, then the let me out and asked me to complete my quarantine at home with social distaining
2.Tell about the event in three different ways (professor note: imagine the narrator telling this event as a story, as fiction– so you can be free to expand creatively upon the event). The three different ways are: first person point of view, second person point of view, and third person omniscient point of view. Each point of view should be ONLY the beginning of the story (so set out character, setting, major conflict or what is stake for that character) — write 200 words for each point of view.
