Showing posts with label adam gidwitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adam gidwitz. Show all posts

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Extra Week: Guest Post: (Not Really): Adam Gidwitz*

Hello, everyone!

So, as we know, for extra week posts I can write whatever I want. Today, I want you to read these two amazing articles by Adam Gidwitz. I put links to them, so it's not really a guest post, even though you're reading someone else's articles.

http://www.adamgidwitz.com/why-do-i-write-fairy-tales-if-theyre-so-bloody/

http://www.adamgidwitz.com/tears-into-blood/

I hope you enjoy these deeply thought-provoking, amazing, articles.

Spruce Nogard
*Post actually written on September 5th. See here for details. 


Saturday, December 31, 2016

On My Mind: (Extra Week Post): Bring Your Own Book Game

Hello, Friends!

First of all, this is a weird week. For more information, see this post.

As you are getting done with Christmas break, you might still have a little time to relax. Even if you don't, you might still find this a fun game for the weekend.

This game is called "Bring Your Own Book." It's like Apples to Apples, but with books. First, everyone picks a book. A deck of prompt cards goes in the middle. Each card has two prompts on it, with one easier one and one harder. The "picker," or judge, picks a card, then picks a prompt. Everyone else has to search their book for a word, phrase, or few sentences that match the prompt. Once one person finds it, they say "Got it," and flip the timer. Everyone else has 60 seconds to find something that would match the prompt. Next, the judge picks the one they like best. That person gets the card. The first person to get four cards wins.

Also, every time someone gets two cards, you pass your book to the left.

This is a very fun game to play, because it's a book game!

Also, it's fun when you take things out of context. For example, when we were playing, the prompt was: Something overheard at a government meeting. I put in: ". . . not quite as unpleasant, I would imagine, as getting back out again" (Gidwitz 208). This makes perfect sense, but it was amusing given the whole quote:

"As the ravens have already implied, there are some things that they do and some things they do not do. Dying is of the latter group.

Of course, getting trapped in the stomach of a dragon is, even for a creature that cannot die, an indescribably unpleasant experience.

Though not quite as unpleasant, I would imagine, as getting back out again." (208)

See what I mean?

Do you have this game? What hilarious phrases have been played?

Spruce Nogard

Sources: A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Monday, September 5, 2016

Writing: Mental Library: Postmodernism Part 1: Narrators

Hello, Post-Modern Lovers!

New series today: Postmodernism!

What is postmodernism?

Very basically, postmodernism is the main literary movement we are in right now. Literary movements are kind of like genres, but much, much, broader.

Anyways, the first characteristic of postmodernism we will be looking at is narrators, or, Participation.

In postmodernism, authors sometimes talk directly to the reader. There are two types of this:

1) I don't know the actual term for this, so we are going to call it Storytelling/Storyteller.

If you are reading a book in which the author talks to you, and includes you (making you do things, etc.), s/he is a Storyteller narrator. Adam Gidwitz is a Storyteller in his A Tale Dark and Grimm series. Sometimes, he jumps in to wonder why a certain character said something that didn't make sense, or assuring you that the story will turn out all right in the end, or just messing with you.
 SPOILER ALERT

(A Tale Dark and Grimm: "'Do I smell human flesh?' he asked.
Hansel caught his breath.
'Of course, silly,' his grandmother said. 'There's a little boy named Hansel, waiting for you in the closet in the living room.'

No, she didn't say that. I was just teasing you" (Gidwitz 139-140).)
SPOILER ENDED.








2) I also don't know the term for this, so I'm calling it Unconscious Thinker.

This type of narrator tends to go into stream of consciousness. As defined by Google, it is: a person's thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow.

Pseudonymous Bosch is an Unconscious Thinker in his Secret Series. At one point in the series, the Pseudonymous Bosch is having a dilemma about whether he should finish his chocolate now, even though he meant to be disciplined and save it for a treat later, or save it. This is more the Unconscious Thinker because his thoughts do not pertain to the actual story.

Have you read any books with these types of narrators? Have you heard about postmodernism? Post in the comments!

Spruce Nogard
Attributions: