FLANNERY O'CONNOR for May
Exercise #1 - A backward-walking chicken
At the age of five Flannery appeared on Pathe news showing how she had taught a chicken to walk backward. This started a lifelong love of birds. She raised chickens, emus, ostriches, toucans and peacocks. She used the motif of the peacock in many of her works.
Write about an unusual childhood memory. Try to really get back into the moment. What words evoke the sights, the sounds, and the smells? What were your thoughts? How did you feel?
Exercise #2 - Chekhov's Gun
In many of her stories Flannery used "foreshadowing". This is also known as Chekhov's gun rule: "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off." As well as a rule to ward off red herrings, Chekhov's gun rule when employed effectively can create a "foreshadowing," giving the reader an idea of what will happen in advance. Subtle associations can add texture to writing.
First, describe a major event that is going to occur in a a story you may be planning or have already written. Then associate an image with this event : an obvious example is "a shooting" - for example, a peanut sized hole on the front of a man's t-shirt. Then write the scenario in which this associated image is contained. Finally write the sentence, paragraph or dialogue containing this scenario to create a "foreshadowing" of events.
MAJOR EVENT:
ASSOCIATION IMAGE:
ASSOCIATION SCENARIO:
FORESHADOWING:
Exercise #3 - A train journey
In her short story, "The Train (1948), Flannery O'Connor describes what the main character, Haze, sees from the train window. "Now the train was greyflying past instants of trees and quick spaces of field and a motionless sky that sped darkening away in the opposite direction."
Imagine you are on a train. Describe what you see and any thoughts triggered by what you observe. Where is the train going to or leaving from? Who are the passengers? What do you see from the train's window?