Week 8 Reflections

So. Now that we're halfway through the semester—which is kind of freaky to think about, so let's not, thanks—it's time to look back at The Road So Far. (Cue the Kansas music.)

Reading

Overall, I think my process for taking reading notes has been working well for me so far. I try to spin each myth or scrap of lore off into its own story and give myself at least a general idea of what that story would look like, though sometimes a myth just doesn't do it for me, and I don't have anything to say about it. Moving forward, I think I'd like to start trying to do my reading notes during the weekend before they're due, just because it takes me a little time for a story to germinate once I decide on something. That way, instead of having to wait till Thursday morning to do the storytelling assignment, I can take my time on Tuesday or Wednesday rather than scrambling.

During the Native American units, I think I'll at least like to do the Blackfoot Stories unit.

Writing

As a whole, I'm content with the stories I've done so far: there are a couple I wasn't crazy about and a couple I was actually pleased with, so I figure it all balances out. Writing short has always been a huge struggle for me—I'm definitely a long-form writer at soul—but I've enjoyed stretching new writing muscles in that regard.

I think I'm learning that these thousand-word pieces work better if they're structured around a character's core issue or emotional crux that everything can hinge on and relate back to: when there can be so few scenes, that helps me make sure that each scene is the most motivated and necessary, and it also gives the whole piece more resonance. That way the story can serve as a sort of snapshot of an issue, a contained nutshell kernel of a story, instead of just an action gear-up that ends on a cliffhanger and the promise of more to come (which is my natural tendency, but also just doesn't resonate as much).

Initially, I completely regretted all the life decisions that led to me deciding to do a storybook instead of a portfolio, because I couldn't find the right spot in the story to start with for my introduction. Now that that's worked out and I've got a clearer idea of what I'm actually going to do with this, I'm feeling better about the project. Hopefully that doesn't change anytime soon.

Connecting

Going into this class, I knew I'd love the reading and retelling aspects of the assignments, but I'm surprised at how much I actually enjoy the blog commenting. Looking at how different people have such different readings and interpretations of the same stories is endlessly fascinating, and I love seeing the same story spun out in several wildly opposite directions. I generally opt for compliments instead of constructive criticism with the stories, just because of the nature of what they are; I feel like they should be fun and maybe not have to live up to as much expectation and scrutiny as the portfolios and storybooks. Sometimes I wonder if it would be more helpful of me to give constructive feedback instead, but for now, I think I'll keep the informal feedback to go with the informal blog comments.

Image Credit: Hand Writing. Source: Pexels.