12/18/2017 - Authenticity, Revision, and a Bunch of Bobs

Today we discussed authenticity in writing. As a class we had to attempt to and define it, and this is what we came up with -

What does it mean to be authentic -

• You do not fundamentally alter your voice to appease your audience. You, above all else, are writing for yourself.
• Be genuine and uninfluenced.
• It is legit...its real

After that we started looking at sentences about Bob, but each one was written and structured differently. This is the Bob exercise -

How are these “Bobs” different?

• Bob was an asshole.
• Blunt, bland, and simplified
• About his personality
• General
• Bob snapped impatiently at the barista.
• About his action
• Specific
• Bob snapped immediately at the young barista, who reminded him of his dead wife.
• Why?
• Describing the way Bob views the barista.
• Insight to thoughts, conflicts.
• Bob snapped immediately at the young barista, who reminded him of his dead wife, who he missed so much, especially now, at Christmas.
• Creates empathy and sympathy
• Adds even more description
• Adds a “when” which adds more emotion
• Further develops “who, what, where, when, why, how.”

After all of this class discussion Mr.Rivers told us that the most important thing about authenticity and writing a complex sentence/essay is revision. For this reason we are going to be given time to revise our letters which were written on last Wednesday. You will have to unsubmit the letter, and using color coated highlighting mark your skills on the rubric as done well or done poorly. Then, go back and make revisions on the letter in an effort to fix all of the things you did poorly. The letter should be re-submitted by 11:59 on Tuesday.

Looking beyond class, today's idea of different Bobs can be very important for choices in story telling. The first Bob would likely be a character that the audience is just meeting. (Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back - Yoda was a crazy, old hermit). They will initially only be made known as actions and based on the character's purpose, the audience may learn more. The second Bob would be the stage in which a character is being developed. (Yoda didn't seem like he would be much help to Luke). The third Bob could potentially be a well developed protagonist or antagonist. (Yoda seemed like he wouldn't be much help at first, but later proved to be crucial to Luke's training). The final Bob would be a fully developed character. (Despite Yoda's initial behavior towards Luke, he would go on to become one of the more important beings Luke comes in contact with). This shows that all four variations of the Bob situation can be important for characters, and a really good character would not stay stagnant within one form of "Bob" throughout their story.