An update from our forty-ninth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, November 12, plus some of the output published below “A poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” -Jean Cocteau “I pulled a chicken’s foot from behind the moon.” Federico García Lorca For this week’s workshop, Conner taught us the form of the sonnet, focusing on the importance of sound. To begin, he provided us with a vocabulary for literary sound: Exact rhyme: a classical rhyme in which the endings of words sound exactly the same. Slant (off/half) rhyme: a rhyme in which the ending consonants match, however the preceding vowel sounds do not match. Could also just be words that sound similar. Assonance: when you have a repeating vowel sound in two words. “summer” and “fun.” Consonance: when you have similar consonant sounds anywhere in the word. Alliteration: the same letter or sounds at the beginning of words that appear close together Once we had a vocabulary of sound to work with, we discussed the rules of the sonnet: 14 lines Close attention to sounds, especially the end-words of each line has a volta, or a turn, often in the 8th, 10th, or 14th line We then read four sonnets: “American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin” by Terrance Hayes. “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins “Fairy-tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings “Sonnets to Morpheus [“I know kung fu”]” by John Beer The Challenge: Write your own sonnet! It should be titled “Self Portrait.” It should be 14 lines, have a volta in either the 8th, 1oth, or 14th line, and follow some sort of rhyming pattern. The Participants: Emma, Savi, Aditi, Arjun, Robert, Anna, Zar, Tate, Josh, Ella, Alice, Benedetta, Allie Self Portrait Zar Pavri, 12 With a new day comes new tasks,Challenges all greater than the last,Times when you must put on a mask,Times when you must sit back and relax,Times when you must watch your back,Times when you must let them attack,Times when you must win them back,Times when you must take a step back. And in all these there comes a time too,To return to your home and start anew.It has been a long day and you are through,Let the remaining hours wash over you.Tomorrow has things for you to do,Today you must prepare for your debut.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Writing Workshop #73: Literary Dialogue
An update from our seventy-third Writing Workshop A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, November 5 Today’s workshop called for the writers to pull from their own bookshelves and study the ins and outs of literary dialogue. The participants were asked to share out especially inspiring scenes of dialogue from their favorite books and identify why this dialogue was employed by the author. Examples included Keepers of the Lost City by Shannon Messenger and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. We then reviewed a side-by-side comparison of the same scene from Harry Potter in both script and prose form in order to learn about the powers of subtext and providing background information in an engaging way. With these concepts in mind, the students entered into a five-minute write, in which they were challenged to recreate this scene from Harry Potter using only omniscient third-person narration. After time was up, Katelyn shared her impressive work. The writers then studied a number of examples of dialogue and characterization from classic literature and opera, including Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend and Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. In these works we observed the power of spoken dialogue over simple narration in certain situations. We then sent the writers into their 30-minute writing period with efficient, character-based dialogue in mind. The day’s readers included Greta, Yueling, Katelyn, Kristen, Crystal, and Nova. The Challenge: Write a story or poem incorporating effective, sophisticated dialogue between two or more characters. The Participants: Anya, Ava, Celia, Crystal, Greta, Katelyn, Kristen, Nova, Pearl, Reethi, Yueling
Saturday Newsletter: November 12, 2022
Beyond the Horizon (iPhone 12 Pro) by Aditi Nair, 13; published in Stone Soup September 2022 A note from William Rubel Dear Friends – I would like to announce the opening of our 2022–2023 Fiftieth Anniversary Drive. In the closing months of this year, and throughout next year, we would like to gather our community of Stone Soup supporters and donors to see us on our way to the next fifty years. Our goal for this drive between now and December 2023 is $125,000. It is a lot! But that amount will provide us with the foundation we need to thrive in the decades to come. Many of us have a set of charities that are important to us and to our families. If you have the means, then I ask you to discuss with your family making Stone Soup one of your primary charities for this year and next. If any of you would like to speak with me directly, then please write to me. I’d be happy to talk to you about Stone Soup and our plans for the future. Thank you. Until next time, William’s Weekly Project I am taken with Aditi Nair’s photograph, Beyond the Horizon. I’ve read that one of the biggest differences between how we are now, we of the mobile phone era, and how we used to be is that we spend less time doing nothing. Less time thinking. We don’t just stand in line at the grocery, we pull out our phones. All of us, of all ages, do this! The title of Aditi’s photograph evokes the unphotographable—a place that cannot be captured on camera and can only exist in our imaginations, our dreams. A place beyond what we can see. The photograph offers us a rare opportunity to ponder. Let yourself be drawn in by this photograph. Spend some time with it. Let your eye wander the vast expanse of water to the point where sky and water converge on the horizon, beyond which is a place of infinite possibility. Aditi invites our contemplation through the placement of the figure looking out to sea. The boy in the photograph offers us a point of entry and helps us see ourselves standing there, looking, and absorbing the moment. I have been focusing my newsletter projects on photography because now almost everyone has a camera, either a stand-alone camera or one in a phone. I want you to find something to photograph that leads to a mystery—something that cannot be wholly captured by the lens of your camera. I will say no more. This is a very big challenge. Good luck! And, as usual, if you like what you achieve, please submit it to Stone Soup. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
