Write about something that happened to you today.

that sense of unique presence on the page an unmistakable something that becomes

the mark of a writer a way of saying things that is the writer’s

own

1. With words (diction)◦ Choice (vocabulary)◦ Arrangement (syntax)

2. Over time Because of writers they’ve read Because of choices they’ve made

By repeating subject matter. Using the same point of view. Conforming to a form.

Take a minute and think about your own writing.

What do you do that makes your writing yours?

What patterns exist in your writing?

Don’t worry; it happens automatically. We don’t choose it.

Seek to say something, and your voice will follow.

Work on broadening your vocabulary by reading.

You have a number of different voices. You speak differently in class than you do:◦@home◦@practice◦@a party

Imagine (remember?) that you have borrowed (“borrowed”?) a car and been involved in a fender bender.

1.Write an explanation for the police report.2.Write a monologue (a speech for one

voice) explaining the accident to the friend whose car you borrowed.

3.Write a letter telling about it to a friend who things you are truly cool.

Persona◦ Greek for “mask”◦ Pretending to be someone else◦ A mask adopted by a writer

This can be a great way to stretch imagination and writing style.

Remember: No written account can be the whole truth about an event.

Pretend you are the person in the picture. Write a poem from this person’s point of

view. Remember, you are not writing your opinion

of this person, but imagining how this person sees the world.

A close relative to voice

Definition: the perspective from which the story is told◦ First person - I◦ Second Person - You◦ Third Person – He/she

Pull out the story you wrote for our warm-up today.

Rewrite the story so that it is told in the first person from the point of view of someone else who was present or, if you were alone, from an imaginary fly on the wall.

Write about yourself from the perspective of your shoes.

Write from a baby’s perspective—in the womb.

Write from the perspective of an animal. Write form the perspective of an inanimate

object.