Assignment List for April / May 2012 and meeting recap - Created by Airen Wolf on Apr 10, 2012: EdenFantasys Forum

Airen Wolf

Where to start, where to start? We had such a great meeting this Month. Check out the whole thing here.
We started as usual with a discussion about the assigned topic, second person perspective/narrative and the stories that were turned in. Then we moved to our fun topic: Five Words! Finally we ended with our open topic. Stormy had some news about the Eden Topics that the site posts every month and a promise to post our work in the Chronicle.

Then we moved into lesson mode and learned about Third Person Perspective: I'll post the lesson in full at the end of this post.

Our topics this Month are:
* Third Person Perspective/narrative: Using the lesson as a guideline write a third person piece. The person who writes the best example of this perspective will win a $25 gift card for EdenFantasys!
* Five Words- We are revisiting this topic for fun so please write for us a story, poem, editorial, whatever including all five words: Bloom, Spring, Erect, Blue Birds, and Ms. Piggy. Go and be creative all you intrepid writers!
* Open Topic- Like usual this is your chance to write about whatever interests you.

The Eden Theme for the entire month of April is "Expressions of Love". We are looking for stories about how you've turnd friendship into romance, how you can identify an expression of love even if it is convoluted in nature, or even how you express your own love towards someone. Erotica is fine but hardocre erotica is not what we are looking for. We're looking for more reality than fantasy here folks!

Also each week we will be featuring a sort of mini theme and the link will say #ExpressLove like this link. Each week will feature a different mini theme. So go nutz!

If you wish to be featured in the Chronicle write a piece on the theme of the month and include the hashtag #ExpressLove- #EdenLit (date) (title) in the 'discussion topic' line and Stormy will scoop up your work and showcase it for the whole community!

To post your work here, in this forum, for the Eden Lit club just include the following information in the 'discussion topic' line: #EdenLit-(04.2012)- topic- title and I will create a link one week before our next meeting. Be sure to use this format so that it will be easy to gather the pieces and not have a few slip through the cracks.
If you hit the word limit simply carry over to the reply function and finish the work as a post. If you are replying to a posted work, as a reader, please note when the work was published and give the author the time he/she needs to finish posting before you give them some feedback!

Our next meeting will be on May 14, 2012 at 7pm EST here in this forum. HOWEVER, the EdenFantasys Theme will be open for submissions until April 30, 2012! So you guys should have plenty of time to write for the club and for EF itself.

If you aren't a writer or you are kinda shy then come to our meeting anyway and give us some feedback on our writing. There could be a gift card in it for you!!

04/10/2012

Airen Wolf

(EF Review Program Mentor)

Quote:

Originally posted by Airen Wolf

Third Person Perspective/Narrative

Third Person Narrative is probably the most flexible and widely used of all the perspectives. It is the perspective that is most familiar to readers and to beginning authors. Using this perspective can take refinement to remain fresh and exciting. To really stand out the third person perspective should be studied and understood mainly because it is so common!

When an author chooses to use third person perspective the characters are referred to as he, she, it, and they but never I, we or you. Now keep in mind, that this means the narrator never refers to the characters as I, we or you, but the characters may refer to themselves and/or other characters using these words. In this perspective the narrator is a third person recounting the tale rather than being personally involved in it as it is unfolding. The narrator keeps the continuity of the story going and introduces the scenes with information that the characters may not know or be privy to.
The narrator can convvey thoughts and feelings of the characters as the omniscient narrator or the narrator can know everything about the 'focal character(s)' but nothing about the others. Leaving the secondary characters as unknown or even unknowable can be tricky but can lend spice to the story and these characters are often the focal point of 'fan fiction' type writings. These secondary characters can be the focal point of spin off stories/books ashe author explores their motivations and desires.

In the third person perspective the author/narrator can describe the thoughts and feelings of one or more of the characters in a subjective manner. On the other hand the author/narrator can let the characters think and speak for themselves in a more objective manner.
The author should remember that the narrator is needed to help the reader, who is essentially deaf and blind to the actions that are occurring. For example, if there is a rustle of a skirt that has meaning in the story then the narrator may need to step in and explain the significance or describe the sound more vividly.

The author can use third person narrative to delve into the thoughts, memories, feelings and motives of many characters showing the real complexities of a story and fleshing it out, so to speak. The author can have an omniscient narrator that knows the first person perspective of the characters but the author MUST be aware of when the change in voice occurs. This is a common mistake of new writers, in that they can see the whole picture but cannot decide how to begin describing it. The easiest way is to find a perspective and then stick to it!

04/10/2012