assignments ENGL344 Young Adult Literature: Write Your Own YA
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Overview. I ended this week’s overview by saying that we help our students be better readers and writers--of poetry or any other text--by engaging them as both readers and writers. You’ve done both in our class so far. For this assignment you will try your hand at writing a piece of YA. You’ll consider what you’ve learned about how the genre is constructed. You’ll write a synopsis of you story, and a sample excerpt, and, finally, a short analysis of your work, explaining why you’ve made the creative decisions you’ve made in light of what you understand about the genre.
Details
1.Consider what you understand about writing for young adult readers:
2. Write a synopsis of your young adult text. I say text because you have free range to write in whatever other genre you elect to work in. By “other genre” I mean you may elect to write fiction or nonfiction, a series of poems, fantasy, memoir. Write what feels like the best way for you to tell the story you have to tell for an audience of young readers.
Depending on the length of the story you are telling, you may need more or less language to do so. As a guideline, your synopsis should be roughly 500 words. Please double space your document and do not save it as a .pdf so that I can comment on it directly in MSword or as a google.doc.
Your synopsis should give an outline of your plot. If you are writing poetry, you would want to outline what your poetry collection would cover, poem by poem. Be sure to identify where your excerpt would come.
3. Write a sample excerpt. As I identify in the synopsis explanation, make sure we know what part of your piece this sample would appear. You should literally write a piece of your story. Again, depending on how into this project you are, and what genre you are working with, your excerpt might vary in length. However, please try to keep your excerpt to under 1000 words.
3. Finally, please write a brief analysis of your piece. Circle back to list I open this assignment with. In what ways does your YA text feature or play with the conventions of the genre. This final piece should be roughly 300 words.
When you turn in your completed assignment (the synopsis, the excerpt, and the analysis):
How you will be evaluated for this assignment
The Write Your Own YA is worth 15% of your final grade. In order to earn a B for that 15% you must
In order to earn an A for that 15% you must
In order to earn a C for that 15% you must
If you do not complete the requirements for the "C" grade you will earn an F for the 15% of your final grade that the Write Your Own YA makes up.
Details
1.Consider what you understand about writing for young adult readers:
- Coming of age stories (the Bildungsroman)
- Relationships to and against authority
- Elements of melodrama
- A responsibility to “edify” as well as “entertain”
- A responsibility (in the best writing) to help young readers become stronger and more mature readers.
2. Write a synopsis of your young adult text. I say text because you have free range to write in whatever other genre you elect to work in. By “other genre” I mean you may elect to write fiction or nonfiction, a series of poems, fantasy, memoir. Write what feels like the best way for you to tell the story you have to tell for an audience of young readers.
Depending on the length of the story you are telling, you may need more or less language to do so. As a guideline, your synopsis should be roughly 500 words. Please double space your document and do not save it as a .pdf so that I can comment on it directly in MSword or as a google.doc.
Your synopsis should give an outline of your plot. If you are writing poetry, you would want to outline what your poetry collection would cover, poem by poem. Be sure to identify where your excerpt would come.
3. Write a sample excerpt. As I identify in the synopsis explanation, make sure we know what part of your piece this sample would appear. You should literally write a piece of your story. Again, depending on how into this project you are, and what genre you are working with, your excerpt might vary in length. However, please try to keep your excerpt to under 1000 words.
3. Finally, please write a brief analysis of your piece. Circle back to list I open this assignment with. In what ways does your YA text feature or play with the conventions of the genre. This final piece should be roughly 300 words.
When you turn in your completed assignment (the synopsis, the excerpt, and the analysis):
- Include your name and the title of your YA text at the top of the document
- Please save your work in MSword and email it to me or as a google doc that you share with me so that I can comment directly in the document.
- Please DO NOT save it as a .PDF because it makes it impossible to comment on the document.
How you will be evaluated for this assignment
The Write Your Own YA is worth 15% of your final grade. In order to earn a B for that 15% you must
- Complete the three components of the assignment (the synopsis, the excerpt, and the analysis)
- Participate in the online workshop in your google.doc book club group
- Turn in your materials on time.
In order to earn an A for that 15% you must
- Complete all of the requirements for the "B" grade
- Demonstrate a real effort to include and analyze in your own writing the qualities of the YA genre that are outlined in this assignment and that we have talked about all semester long.
In order to earn a C for that 15% you must
- Complete two of the three components of the assignment.
- Turn in your materials on time.
If you do not complete the requirements for the "C" grade you will earn an F for the 15% of your final grade that the Write Your Own YA makes up.