Create something inspired by something we’ve read.
That’s it? Really?
I know this prompt seems rather…open-ended. Actually, open-ended seems too nice. More like vague. Or maddeningly unclear. The thing is, I want this prompt to be maddeningly unclear.
Maddeningly unclear?! Prompts shouldn’t be maddeningly unclear. They should spell out exactly what I need to do–preferably in the exact order I need to do it.
Yeah, you’re probably right. But we have only a couple of weeks left in the semester. Most of our work here is done. You’ve heard what I have to say about sci-fi ad nauseum. I’ll shut up now. I’m stepping out of the car and handing you the keys. From now on, you’re in charge of what you learn and how you learn it.
But that sounds…hard.
Mmmhmm.
OK whatever. But can I ask one question? What do you mean ‘create something inspired by something we’ve read?’ What do you mean, something? How do I know what you consider ‘something’?
And what I consider ‘nothing’?
Mmmhmm.
Don’t be so precise. Jeez. Why are you close reading everything I say? (Ha ha. Get it? Because I taught you–okay, never mind.) Here’s the short version. I consider something, something. And I consider nothing, nothing. It’s that simple.
So, what you’re saying is, if I hand in something, I’ll get something.
Yes, if you create something, you’ll get something. Specifically, full credit. And if you create nothing—
I’ll get nothing. Fair enough. But what kind of something are you looking for, exactly?
Again, ‘something’ is nothing in particular. In other words, something is anything—anything you can create, as long as it is inspired by something we have read together. For example, you could create a trailer for an imagined movie adaptation of Feed maybe by mashing up clips from other movies. You could write a modernized version of the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” You could assemble a soundtrack or ‘interpretive playlist’ to complement “The Brain is Wider Than the Sky,” with some text (or audio commentary) explaining how the songs you’ve chosen relate to the themes and events in the novel. Or you could create something that brings together multiple texts. Or you could write an original story of your own.
Okay, that gives me some food for thought. But I’m worried about length—or substance, I guess. How much something is enough?
Hard to say. But since you are thirsty for specifics, I can give you a few rough guidelines. If you’re writing prose, you’ll probably want to write about 5 pages. And in other media, you’ll want to do an equivalent amount of work. There’s no exact formula, but a video should probably be at least 2 ½ minutes, a graphic narrative maybe 4 pages, a playlist about a dozen tracks, etc. But there’s no limit. Let yourself get carried away!
What if I want to do something more abstract, like a painting? How will you know what text I’m responding to, or how I am responding to it?
Each creative response (even the prose ones) must include a one-page ‘Artist’s Statement’ that includes 1) A title for your work, 2) The name of the text you are responding to, and 3) A narrative that explains how you created the work, why you made the choices you made, and how the work responds to the text that inspired it.
