We conducted this activity with our small writing group of local teens. We’d been looking for ways to encourage them to take risks with simile and metaphor, hopefully leading them towards making odd comparisons that go beyond what they are taught in school about “correct” writing. With this type of exercise in particular, I hoped they might find a way to work through or maybe challenge the constraints and pressures of their daily lives. We met in a room darkened by daylight savings time and continued a discussion from the previous week on simile and metaphor.
I waved around a copy of Lynda Barry’s Cruddy and said that sometimes I go to books with unusual narrators for inspiration for my writing. I mentioned that I like the risks Barry takes in this novel and specifically the risks she has her main character taking both in life and in her story-telling throughout the book. Jennifer Weiner stated in her review of the book, “Like Push, and like Catcher in the Rye, this is a survivor’s story. [Cruddy] is a tale of how a teenager can live through a world of hurt and emerge as someone whose voice you become addicted to, whose stories you need to hear.”
I gave the group lines from Cruddy, three pictures to inspire them, and the following instructions: Choose one of the sentences and one of the pictures below as your inspiration. Write a brief short story or poem. You may use the line from Lynda Barry or not. Take risks in describing your characters, setting your scene, and creating dialogue.
Unusual Metaphors/Descriptions from Cruddy
[Her] breathing was squidding out horror fumes in my direction.
You could have poured a gallon of water into that face and not a drop would spill out.
Super-heated rancid grease air blasting out of vents with dust tentacles waving.
Other Cool Lines from
When you are lost you can follow the telephone wires.
I have learned that concentrating on the smallest things can prove a distraction, an escape hole to disappear down.
We found it helpful to talk about some of these unusual metaphors and asked what sensory details they brought to mind (for example: “[Her] breathing was squidding out horror fumes in my direction” smelled like morning breath mixed with coffee, tuna-fish, and onions to us).
The pictures pulled from the web were of: 1) coffee shop scene of two people at separate tables writing/reading, 2) two people reading on a train, 3) a woman standing in front of an empty gas station with mountains in the background. She is holding a doll of some kind.
The pictures were in black and white and we asked them about each image, noticing the clock in the coffee shop, what we thought the characters were reading/writing, and what it might look like outside the coffee shop or train. With the gas station image, we asked them what colors were the mountains in the background that seemed to overshadow the gas station and whether the woman in the picture seemed pleased or upset.
Having multiple types of images helped the young writers tap into their specific moods (some darker than others) and create characters who strained at the limits of their daily lives. Overall, this was a really fun activity.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI think this sounds like a great activity! It sounds like the photos you chose were pretty innocuous, while all of the lines have an element of threat or discomfort. Was this an intentional dichotomy?
I applaud the idea of encouraging students to break out of "correct" writing. I see that with the freshmen in my composition class as well; they often have learned their lessons well and can write a thesis statement and topic sentences and a five paragraph essay, but they need to be pushed and encouraged to branch out from that narrow formula.
I also like that you actually brought in the book so your students could see it. Were any of them interested in it? Are they interested in reading in general?
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and questions. Well, I read "Cruddy" last year and I really was drawn into the way Lydia Barry's teen protagonist describes the people she meets and knows in the diary makes up the book. She is threatened by the people in her life, but through these elaborate descriptions she fixes them in some way. Pinning them in description seemed to give the main character some control over how they made her feel. And, teen writers can be very edgy. So, I foresaw this type of voice as one that would appeal to them.
Our teens are interested in reading, but they don't really run to pick up the writers we mention to them. I feel teens have a way of finding books when they are ready for them or when they need them. I wanted to mention the book and show it to them in case one day they came across it, but it is a rather dark book with violence and sexual content, therefore I wasn't going to press it into their hands directly. It is similar to "Cather in the Rye" in some ways, but takes some really graphic turns which the young writers might enjoy. But again, when they choose to read it on their own.
I forgot to say that I definitely chose non-threatening images to distribute to the group. The pictures aren't necessarily representative of any of the lines, but they did give our group places to inhabit that looked comfortable and were outside of houses and schools. These seemed like places where it didn't matter who you were or where you came from, but places where you could engage with the people around you or not. Read or write quietly to yourself or strike up a conversation with the person across from you on the train.
ReplyDeleteI like your reasons for picking non-threatening images. Your post made me think back to the pictures we've taken into workshop. For our very first workshop, we brought in a non-threatening image: a beautiful room with a few pieces of furniture and a man's shoes left in front of a sofa (as Emily mentioned in her November 3rd blog post). When we put together a collection of pieces from our workshops, I picked my poem from that prompt. Looking back, I'm appreciative we began there. Since then our writers have traveled to very unsafe places--taking a critical eye to marriage, motherhood, and womanhood. I don't think we could have ventured to those topics without starting in such a secure place. I hope you see growth in your writers springing from that exercise!
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