Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “Literature”

24 Apr 2012
7 Comments

Chilling about my Frenzy


Script Frenzy 

In the beginning of April I blithely announced I would be participating in ScriptFrenzy, that annual craziness involving writing 100 pages in 30 days.  So here it is April 23 and I have finished ScriptFrenzy.  No, I did not type 100 pages. I did type 37 and ended up with a one-act play which I am quite satisfied with. I know I won’t receive my nifty little completion certificate, and I will end up as one of those sideline statistics who did not complete the goal.  However, I must protest.  The intent was to write a play and I did.  I cannot see the point of overwriting a play just to meet the page requirements.  The logic sounds like something from Alice in Wonderland.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland–that’s what my play is–an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s most marvelous classic of comedy logic.  My play is actually part of the NaNoWriMo novel I wrote two years ago.  Initially it was supposed to be a short story, yet it slipped into a play bit by bit .  You can see why I like Alice; I seem to dwell in the land of illogicals.

The play is a mix of Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, with a smidgen of Wizard of Oz. If you read the entire play the mix makes sense.  I shall not bog you down with all the details.  The short and quick: there two Alices–one is the narrator who is in a chair moderating her “dream” which what we watch on the stage.  “Stage Alice”  is the dream Alice and she has this terrible problem of speaking only in couplets (a bit of the Hamlet influence).  This portion is from the courtroom scene:

The Knave of Hearts, from a 1901 edition of Mo...

Stage lights open to a courtroom scene.  The King and Queen of Hearts sit on thrones. Stage right is a table with the KNAVE who is handcuffed next to a LAWYER.  Across at stage left is two rows of chairs, three in front and two in back, filled with an array of ANIMALS. The end chair is empty. Center stage is a small table with a plate of tarts. Stage Alice enters stage left and sits in the empty chair. Each animal is holding a DRY ERASE BOARD AND MARKER.  Stage Alice finds hers under her chair.

BAILIFF:  All rise.

The entire courtroom rises, except King and Queen.  Stage Alice reluctantly rises only at prodding from animal next to her.

We are gathered here today to hear the confession of the Knave, whom we know to have stolen the hearts, and we all know he will be sentenced accordingly.

STAGE ALICE: Well, that’s hardly fair and certainly not just,
I’d say this court room scene is most certainly a bust.

ANIMAL in front row turns around and hushes Stage Alice.  Stage Alice sticks tongue out when it turns around.  The ANIMAL besides her snickers.  The Bailiff(White Rabbit) walks over and bops snickering Animal on head with a BOPPER, a long-stick with a soft endpiece which could emit a funny noise for more comic relief.  The Animal winces and rubs head, even though bopper does not hurt.

QUEEN: And what has the defendant have to say for himself?

BAILIFF: (walks over to Knave) That’s you.  (whispers loudly) Stand up.

KNAVE: Well, your Majesty…

QUEEN: Thank you, that’s quite enough.  I find him guilty.

KING: Yes, I find him guilty too.

QUEEN: Then off with his head.

While the Bailiff begins to haul away the sobbing Knave, the courtroom is suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the WICKED WITCH

WICKED WITCH: Dorothy. You can’t escape me. I’ll get you yet, my pretty.  And your little dog, too.

She walks over to each of the jurors and inspects them one by one. They shiver and cower.

QUEEN: Off with her head!

WICKED WITCH: (turns around to Queen) Excuse me?  Whose head are you referring to?

QUEEN: (nervously) Her head (points to Stage Alice)

WICKED WITCH: Aha! Think you can hide out with all your little friends? Well I’ll show you. (cackles)

STAGE ALICE: No, I’ll show you (pulls out SQUIRT GUN and squirts Wicked Witch) You’re all wet, and your bullying is too.

Wicked Witch begins to shriek and runs out of courtroom, dropping off pieces of her costume on the floor.

WICKED WITCH: I’m melting! I’m melting!

BAILIFF : (Calls in on shirt cuff)Clean up on aisle three

WORKERS ONE AND TWO scurry in from stage left with MOPS AND BROOMS and clean up witch debri and quickly exit stage right

QUEEN: Now where were we?

KING: Before we go much further. I want to know why she (points to Stage Alice)knows a witch and a witch knows her.

The entire courtroom stares at Stage Alice who crosses her arms in defiance.

STAGE ALICE: Which witch I may ask of whom you inquire?
Press me further and a lawyer I shall hire.

KING: No need for that, my dear.  Just curious is all. (to Queen).  It looked like the witch knew her. (the Queen pats him in reassurance).  Bring on the next case.

BAILIFF: (calls out from a scroll) The Case of the Stolen Tarts by the Knave of Hearts

STAGE ALICE:But we just heard this case.
I cannot abide the ill-logic of this place.

ANIMAL NEXT  TO stage ALICE (whispers)Oh, there is perfect logic. What you saw first was the mock trial. We have to practice to get it write (points to whiteboard)so we can’t get it wrong.

STAGE ALICE: Getting it right is important indeed,
To practice justice, I understand; I see.

ANIMAL NEXT TO STAGE ALICE: (holds up whiteboard)No, no. Not “right”.  “Write” (makes writing motion)It takes us all such a long time to spell, that we have one or two trials before we get all our notes down.

Animal in fronts turns around and hushes Stage Alice.  She hushes Animal back.  Animal is shocked and turns around quickly.  Bailiff comes over and bops the hushing Animal.

KING: Read the case, Bailiff

BALIFF: (clears throat, reads from scroll)

The Queen of Hearts
She bought some tarts
On sale it was last Thursday

The Queen jumps up

QUEEN: I made those tarts from scratch, I’ll have you know

Bailiff clears throat and continues

BAILIFF:The Queen of Hearts
Says she baked some tarts
Perhaps it was last Thursday
The Queen nods her satisfaction, waves for him to continue

The Knave of Hearts he stole those tarts
And he ate them all on Friday

DEFENSE LAWYER: Objection!

KING: Proceed

DEFENSE LAWYER: My client could not have possibly taken those tarts and eaten them

KING: He must have–why else would he be here?

DEFENSE LAWYER: My client has a gluten allergy. He could not have eaten the tarts.

The King and Queen confer

KING: In that case he is dismissed.

BAILIFF: Mistrial.

The jury animals busily erase their whiteboard. Stage Alice stands up and clears her throat.

STAGE ALICE: Your honors, may I address the court?

QUEEN: No, you may not.

Stage Alice sits down with arms folded in a huff

KING: Bring on the witnesses.

STAGE ALICE: If the case is dismissed, then why are they calling for witnesses?They start one case, but it never finishes.

ANIMAL NEXT TO STAGE ALICE: (whispers loudly) If they like the witnesses they will create a case.

Animal in front row turns around to hush Stage Alice and she hushes him first

BAILIFF: (loudly calls out) First Witness!

The Hatter comes out sipping from a Starbucks container and eating a croissant

BAILIFF:No eating in the court!

The Hatter looks around and realizes the Bailiff is addressing him.  He lifts up top hat and puts cup and croissant on head and puts hat back on.

KING: Take your hat off in court!

HATTER: So many rules, my goodness! Besides, it’s not my hat.

KING: Aha! You stole it, didn’t you!

HATTER: Of course not.  I make hats.  If I make them how can I steal them?

KING: Where were you when the tarts were stolen?

HATTER: The tarts were stolen?

KING: Yes, that’s why you brought in as a witness. Who stole the tarts?

HATTER: How should I know?  I never touch them.  Croissants yes, tarts no.

KING: Avoiding the question, are you?

HATTER: Yes, I would like to avoid the question.  I never associate myself with questions I don’t have the answer to.  Do you have a question I might have the answer to?

Silly stuff, I know.  Carroll’s Alice is wonderful and punderfull, just like I like it.  I like Alice for its silliness, odd logic, and madcap tomfoolery.  If I caught but a twisp of it my day has been made.

So for those of you who are freaking about it being April 23 and knowing you won’t finish your ScriptFrenzy commitment–chillax.  The ScriptoFrenzo Police squad won’t take you out and publicly humiliate you.  That’s only a rumor.  They are only a figment of your writer’s block.  If you haven’t completed your writing goal don’t worry, be happy.

Posted in Books, Reading, Writing and tagged , , , , ,
14 Apr 2012
12 Comments

Hungry for Another Series?


After reading the Hunger Games series I cast about for something else as a continuous read.  Fortunately I found Divergent by Veronica Roth.  Although the next book is not due out until May I am set to move on to the further adventures of Tris.

What is it about getting involved in a series?  Is the lost-in-a-plot feeling?  Is it the invested interest in characters?  Perhaps it is the convenience of not having to find and audition yet another book (hmm, shades of dating and staying in a monogamous relationship).  Anyway, here are some suggested series, tried, true, and some still new to me:

1. Divergent by Veroncia Roth(next up will be Insurgent in May)

2. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

3.  Enders Game by Scott Orson Card

4.  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

5.  The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

6.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

7.  The Giver by Lois Lowry

8. The City of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau

9.  The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert

10. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

11. Sisterchicks by Robin Jones Gunn

12. Arthurian Saga by Mary Stewart

13. Redwall by Brian Jacques

14. This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti

15. Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery

16. Janie Johnson series by Caroline Cooney

17. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

18. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

19. The Zion Chronicles by Bodie Thoene

20.  Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

21. The Outsiders, That Was Then This is Now, Rumblefish by S.E. Hinton (shared characters)

22. Ramona by Beverly Cleary

23.  The Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman

23.  Constable  Evans series by Rhys Bowen

24. The Mars Diaries by Sigmound Brouwer

25. Chronicles of Fairacre byMiss Read

26. Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny

27.  Horatio Hornblower by E.M. Forester

28. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

29. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

30.  Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald Sobol

31. Little Britches by Ralph Moody

32. Diary of a Teenage Girl by Melody Carlson

33. Stonewycke Triolgy by Michael Phillips

34. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachan

35. Paddington Bear by Michael Bond

If these don’t work for you, or if you’ve already devoured them, try the GoodReads link.  There are over 1200  entries and over 100 pages to browse through.  Book Boosters need their choices, ya know.

http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/series?page=1128

I’m interested in your thoughts.  Try out my first Polldaddy attempt:

Posted in Books, Reading, reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , ,
06 Apr 2012
4 Comments

A Little Frenzied About Writing


Contests.  Oh yeah, that challenge to produce something, be it a bit of athletic prowess or artistic flair, it is that little voice that queries: “Got what it takes?  Willing to try and show it?”

Not being much an athlete I mainly gravitate towards the artistic endeavors, especially writing contests.  While people meditate, fret, and procrastinate their taxes in April I am contemplating and playing with words.  Hello, Script Frenzy.

What I like about Script Frenzy (actually there is a lot I like about Script Frenzy) is that I am competing with no one but myself and that the real prize is meeting the set goal. Plus, the finished product is something tangible, something I can maybe even turn around and share with others.  Heck, I might even get a coin or two for it.  Script Frenzy is all about producing 100 pages within 30 days.  I like it.

If you aren’t familiar with Script Frenzy here you go:

Script Frenzy in a Nutshell

The Challenge
Write 100 pages of original scripted material in the 30 days of April. (Screenplays, stage plays, web series, TV shows, short films, and graphic novels are all welcome.)
When
April 1-30
Cost
Free. We run on donations.
Who
Everyone (worldwide) is welcome. No experience required.
Prizes
Happiness. Creative juices. Pride. Laughter. Bragging rights. A brand-new script.
How 
Sign up! Tell everyone that you are in the Frenzy. Get ready to start writing on April 1.

And you will be in good company:

Stats

Annual participant/winner totals

2011: 19,123 participants and 2,204 winners

2010: 21,008 participants and 2,078 winners

2009: 12,048 participants and 1,271 winners

2008: 8,526 participants and 968 winners

2007: 7,876 participants and 1,072 winners

You can see many participate, yet few actually “win”, meaning finish, which increases the motivation to be included in that final tally statistic number.

Two years I ago I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Write Month) which is mungo craziness.  NaNo is writing a novel, 50,000 words in ONE month.  Basically, the calculations come down to producing about 1,700 words a day.  And it’s a bonus if they make sense.  It was tough because (tad bit of whine here) November is parent/teacher conferences as well as Thanksgiving, on top of the usual craziness of teaching high school English.  Yet, I persevered and got ‘er done.  Two years later I am still editing.  One can not take the time to write and edit a novel in 30 days.  It’s tippity-tappity, finger-flying for 30 days.  Produce in a hurry, edit at leisure.  When my novel, which turned out to be a teen girl writing a novel for NaNo (smacks of Escher, I know), is done I will let you know.  I am hoping to be done by summer and will try Smashwords.

Anyway, back to Script Frenzy.  This year I decided to get going on another stage play since I so enjoyed writing an adaptation of Julius Caesar last summer.  I’m making my creative writing students participate in Script Frenzy as well, or they need to produce some poetry.  April is National Poetry Month as well, you know.  Hmm, gotta get a post going to celebrate that as well.  What’s that? What am I writing?  It’s a spin-off of Alice in Wonderland. 

Jessie Willcox Smith's illustration of Alice s...

Jessie Willcox Smith's illustration of Alice surrounded by the characters of Wonderland. (1923) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I adore the word play in Carroll’s classic and wanted to try an update.  I know, I know, Alice has been done and redone.  But this time Alice meets Hamlet and Dorothy as she wanders in Wonderland.  Gotta go…she’s about to play croquet with the Duchess and her cronies.

Posted in Writing and tagged , , ,
02 Apr 2012
9 Comments

An Uncommon Unexpected Read Among the Shelves


The other day as I was filling up my book bag I came across a book I must share: The Uncommon Reader

First off, the title grabbed my attention: The Uncommon Reader.  Being a Book Booster I naturally felt inclined, even obligated to inspect it.

Image Detail The Uncommon Reader is one of those “supposes” about Queen Elizabeth II, much as the movie The Queen supposed her reaction to Princess Diana’s death, TUR supposes the reaction of the Queen once she discovers reading.  From the flyleaf:

When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book.  Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J.R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically.  Abetted in her new found obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch.  Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff, and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.


Though I am not familiar with Alan Bennett, the book jacket reviews sang his praises loudly and enough to reel me in, and anyone willing to poke a bit of fun at the monarchy gets a try out.

Another reason I stuck TUR into my bag is it’s size.  Thick paperbacks and scrawny print do wear on one after a while.  I slated my dishy little find for Saturday afternoon’s nap/read.

Like many Brits, Bennett has a dry sense of humor.  I totally spoon up and relish the Brit Wit, partly because its my ancestry, and partly because I tend to love the understated which drifts into the ridiculous.  Not Monty Python overboard, more like Terry Jones when he does one of his historical videos.

At first I thought, “Of course the Queen is a reader.”  I found out from a review she prefers her dogs and horses to books. Yet, she has met and knighted many an author during her reign.  However, this does not necessarily mean she’s read them.

After the Queen mentions what a waste she had not actually read the books of the authors she knighted and therefore could not actually converse with the authors at the ceremony, her secretary replies:

‘But ma’am must have been briefed, surely?’

‘Of course,’ said the Queen, ‘but briefing is not reading.  In fact it is the antithesis of reading.  Briefing is terse, factual and to the point.  Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.’

I thought about this and had to agree with her.  Often I will skip the book and check out the video.  I’ve done much of Dickens this way.  Some of you will nod your head in agreement, and others will more than likely berate my laziness (or temerity).  I also think those wretched abridged stories I’m faced with teaching in my curriculum are a form of briefing.  Two pages of King Arthur is not the same thing as diving into The Once and Future King  or relishing Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave series.  I doubt the slim, anemic textbook offerings entice students to check out further readings.  No, I think these briefings close down their interest instead of opening it up.

I also applaud any book that has me scrabbling for my chairside dictionary. Reading this little gem provided me at least two new words: amanuensis and opsimath.  Both I do and have done.

Another aspect of the book is the clever play on words.  According to Wikipedia:

The title is a play on the phrase “common reader”. This can mean a person who reads for pleasure, as opposed to a critic or scholar. It can also mean a set text, a book that everyone in a group (for example, all students entering a university) are expected to read, so that they can have something in common. A Common Reader is used by Virginia Woolf as the title work of her 1925 essay collection. Plus a triple play – Virginia Woolf’s title came from Dr. Johnson: “I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted by literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be generally decided all claims to poetical honours.”

In British English, “common” holds levels of connotation. A commoner is anyone other than royalty or nobility. Common can also mean vulgar, as common taste; mean, as common thief; or ordinary, as common folk.

I have to admire any author who can get so much mileage out of a three word title.

The best for last is when the Queen discovers something about reading–it leads to writing.

She found, though, that when she had written something down, even if it was just an entry in her notebook, she was happy as once she would have been happy after dong some reading.  And it came to her again that she did not want simply to be a reader.  A reader was next door to being a spectator, whereas when she was writing she was doing, and doing was her duty.

Just when the book seems like an overplayed joke, Bennett snips it off with an absolutely brilliant and perfect ending.

It’s hoped you are enticed to look up this delightful little offering.

Wait a minute, I’ve got the sequel to the book.  If she next discovers writing she could open up her own WordPress account.  Yes, bang on, that’s the ticket–The Uncommon Blogger.

Posted in Books, Reading, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , ,
24 Mar 2012
2 Comments

A Little Lost in Translation: Part One–“It’s Greek to me”


March may be madness for basketball fans, but here in the English courts I am knee-deep in teaching the nuances of Homer and Hamlet and Caesar (oh, my).  Freshmen get to sail the seas with the wandering Odysseus, while sophomores figure out if they would have followed Brutus or Antony after those stirring funeral speeches, and the seniors decide the course of tragic hero Hamlet.  No matter how I teach it:  lively YouTube clips, polished PowerPoints, thought-provoking pair share activities, or No Fear Shakespeare helps, something gets a little lost in translation.

For instance, working with freshmen is tricky.  Most are on the cusp of maturity, and often senselessly slip into giggling fits of pubescent behavior at the mere mention of certain subjects.  Especially when they drift into PG-13. I’ve always wondered how to best approach the subject of Odysseus’ habit of dallying with those goddesses.  I mean, honestly, Penelope is keeping the home fires burning and keeping true to her man while raising their son, crushing the olives, and staving off lascivious suitors while Odysseus keeps company with the likes of Circe and Calypso.  Willing prisoner, my foot.  The guy couldn’t figure a way off the island for seven years?  We read about him crying during the day facing the sea, his heart breaking for Ithaca and Penelope, and we stir up a little bit of compassion.  At night?

A couple of years ago I asked my across-the-hall coworker how he explained the nighttime adventures of our lonely Greek epic hero.  Scrabble.  Excuse me?  He told me he would explain to his ninth graders that during the day Odysseus pined for Penelope, but at night he couldn’t resist playing Scrabble with Calypso.  Circe is another story.

So I borrowed the Scrabble euphemism and it worked well until two years ago.  A big backfire ensued.  A sweet girl who must have been preoccupied when I first began the lecture, brightened up when I mentioned Scrabble.  Popping up from her head-down reverie she exclaimed, “Scrabble?  I love Scrabble!  I’d play Scrabble every night if possible.”  Yup, pandemonium in the classroom.  It took about ten minutes to quell the masses of giggling hysteria, plus I had to smooth over the collateral damage to my naive student of the moment.

You think I would have learned my lesson.

This year once again I’m teaching freshmen and once again we cruise up to Calypso and her night time activities.  This year Yahtzee became the fill-in-the blank.  Oh, did they run with that.  I told them it didn’t qualify for an in-text citation reference in their unit essay.  I know they will sneak it in anyway.

Homerian values of men just gotta be men and women staying true make for decent discussion in terms of  how roles of heroes have changed over time and what values are esteemed in society. However,  our current textbook has sliced and diced The Odyssey’s twenty-two books into a pale, anemic handful of adventures, and even those are abridged to anorexic shadows.  Trying to make a cohesive unit out of hobbled material is definitely challenging.  It all works out though–we read a bit then watch a bit of the 1997 movie (a remake, please?) and I explain and translate the dissected textbook offerings  into everyday vernacular.  Even though it sounds a little erratic, by the time my little freshies are done with their three weeks with Odysseus they have the foundations of epic heroness down so when they get to senior English and face Beowulf there is something to dredge up and refer to.

Truthfully, The Odyssey is not my most favored unit; I’m not much into mythology, the whole gods/goddesses messing around with humans is irritating, to say the least. Nevertheless, the unit is a curriculum requirement, which means I do my best to make it enjoyable for my students.  They learn how to create a reader’s journal while duly noting epic hero characteristics and through the process discover how ancient literature can still transfer a thrill, but most of all they appreciate how it’s all about doing the right thing and that there is no place like home.  You did know Dorothy is an epic hero,  didn’t you?

Next stop: “The play’s the thing”– trying to get my seniors to groove on Hamlet

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