Media & Writing Assignments – Page 4

Assignment: Short Story readings

Posted on February 1, 2018Leave a comment

I read two short stories this week. The first story I wrote is called “There will come soft rains” by Roy Bradbury. I enjoyed this short story for multiple reasons. At first, I thought that it was really long and boring, but I quickly got super into it and couldn’t stop reading. I thought it was really innovative how the short story is in paragraphs by time. The story starts at 7am on August 4th 2027, and finishes in the morning of August 5th, 2027. The story has a sort of eerie feeling to it- in a way where you can’t stop reading because it creeps you out. I’m not sure if that’s the best way to explain it, but I couldn’t stop reading because I was so creeped out. As I was reading the story, it felt as if I was “watching” a vlog, but it was actually in story form. This was cool to me because I spend a lot of time watching my favorite YouTuber’s vlogs, and this short story felt like it was just another YouTube video only in writing. In addition, I also loved how much imagery was in the story. Everything had a specific meaning behind it and it felt sort of poetic. I thought that was really interesting. Sometimes there was so much description that it kind of bored me, however I think it worked well and truly caught my attention as a reader.

The second short story I read is called “Finis” by Frank L. Pollack. I really didn’t like this short story as much as I enjoyed the first one because I felt a bit bored reading it. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters, and since it was a short story there wasn’t much background- it just jumped to the character which can work sometimes, but for me personally I didn’t really like that sort of structure. It also felt just SO dragged on. For example, I didn’t like how it wasn’t in a paragraph form. The editing of the short story was annoying- it felt like it was never going to end. I wish it was broken up in paragraphs because I like when it is clear. The story just felt dragged on and on and I didn’t really enjoy the storyline to be honest. There was too much of the characters talking to each other and I wish it was more of a storyline- I wish I wasn’t reading what characters were saying, like I wish I felt like I was reading more of a storyline. Besides that, the story just dragged on, I didn’t connect with the characters, and I felt like it was just kind of dull. I really enjoyed the first short story I read compared to this.

Writing Assignments #1: Into the Deep Forest

Posted on January 25, 2018Leave a comment

***backstory: When I was growing up, I did not live in a house that had a backyard. We had a deep dark forest that stretched out for miles until it hit the highway. My friends and I would spend hours when we were little voyaging through this forest, but as the sun went down we would have to run home or we would be lost forever because it got so dark. One day we stumbled upon a broken rope swing dangling from a branch over a creek in the forest of the backyard. It had just stopped raining and the cloud were all foggy and It was sort of hard to see in the backyard forest. I ended up swinging on the rope swing and falling on a rock where I backed out and can’t remember how I got home. This is the story I made up regarding my voyage back home.***

Running and running through the darkness just to find a bit of light. I see nothing. I hear the howling of my fears inside my head telling me “You’re not going to make it, die.” I stumbled over a tree branch earlier and my knee is bleeding pretty bad, but I’m shaking too hard to stop running. I can’t see and I think i’m going crazy. It would be any second until I get eaten alive by a wondering neighbor turned zombie from the moonlight. How many hours until the sunrises? I don’t know if I can make it in that time. Running around still trying to look for a hiding spot until I see a small wooden bridge that must have been to cross a small creek. I can barely see anything, but feeling the wood makes me feel so much comfort that suddenly I forget how dark it is. Crawling under the small abandoned bridge feeling that the water that was once probably there is just a puddle of dirt and despair.

Deep breaths, in and out, I tell myself frantically. I’m okay i’m okay i’m okay. I felt a large rock behind my left foot, and quickly grab it just incase any zombies want to try me tonight. This rock won’t do much, but it might give me a chance at hitting them and getting to run a few seconds before getting an arm taken off. My knee is still bleeding, and I’m starting to lose feeling of it. I can’t tell when sunrise will be up, but maybe I might actually make it through the night.

All of a sudden I hear leaves crackling. Trying to calm myself down from screaming in terror I dig my nails into the skin of my arm. the noise comes closer….closer…..closer. Grabbing my rock for protection I crawl further into the underneath of the bridge until I hear a soft, “Annie?” I slowly crawl out of the darkness of the bridge and say, “hello?” I’m not Annie, but the sound of another humans voice was enough to comfort me into telling her to come here. “Annie?” She keeps asking while her voice is crackling with fear.

“I’m not Annie, but you an hide with me here until sunrise.”

Her eyesight must be better than mine because she doesn’t have trouble seeing in this dark ass forest like I do. “How can you see so well? I can’t see much,” I explain to this new girl. “My parents would make us do our homework in the dark because we couldn’t pay for electricity before everything happened…I guess I got good at it.”

I ask her who Annie is, and she explains it’s her little sister that got lost after they had an encounter with a zombie and had to run away. “I ran so far I lost track of her. If she’s dead it’s all my fault and I will die knowing I sinned and lost the only good person left in this world.” I try my best to comfort this strange new girl, and tried to calm her down as best I could. At this point we were both shaking..maybe because of the darkenss, but maybe because we were so excited to not be alone anymore.

“Please don’t leave me,” I beg her.

We made a pact to stay together until sunrise, and I told her we could look for Annie once we knew all the zombies were away from the day.

I found out her dad was one of the main men who tried to create poison to stop the apocalypse.

“He tried to find solutions at work with the others. The poison was too strong, and when he tried to cure beginning patience they would die. Shorty after seeing so many people dying from this he started to go crazy and committed suicide. He didn’t even leave a note.”

Her story made me hold my breath and stop shaking….because for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel alone and I held her while she silently cried out her frustration. It’s a hard world we live in now, but knowing I had that girl help me through the darkness of this forest made everything better. I debated whether or not to tell her the truth about what happened to my father, but I was scared if she knew she’d run away and never come back.

……..to be continued.

Blog Post #1: the apocalypse begins.

Posted on January 17, 2018Leave a comment

Do aliens exist?

YES.

Let me tell you why.

In 2012 I was on a red eye flight on my way back from Alaska. As the plane was asleep, I looked out my window to see a spinning chrome “dome like structure” that was blinked with red and green lights. I thought my eyes were deceiving me, so I shook my dad up who was passed out in the seat next to me.”I JUST SAW A FLIPPIN’ SPACESHIP I SWEAR TO GOD”, I practically screamed in disbelief. Annoyed I woke him up, my dad fell back into sleep after rolling his eyes at me. I couldn’t sleep at all during that flight. My legs were shaking, and my 10-year-old self was shocked and delusional at the thought of aliens actually existing.

Since that flight, I have always believed in aliens. Sadly, my family doesn’t believe what I saw that night, BUT I SWEAR…I saw what I saw.

I’ve always been a little bitch when it came to scary movies, so I’ve spent most of my life swerving away from anything aliens and or zombies. The only apocalypse movie I have ever seen is called Warm Bodies. It’s a comedy, and I only saw that movie because I was on a date with this nerdy cute boy from High School and I didn’t want to be a bitch and ask him to see a crappy rom-com. I thought I would hate the movie, but I actually LOVED IT. It was the perfect amount of Apocalypse and comedy mashed into one. Besides that, I truly haven’t read any sci-fi type of novels or seen any movies that have to do with the apocalypse. The closest thing to a sci-fi book I’ve ever read was the Hunger Games, and I only read that because EVERYONE was reading it. This class is for sure going to challenge me since I truly haven’t seen much media regarding aliens or apocalypses. I’m more of a Cupcake Wars and Gossip Girl kinda gal, however, I am extremely excited to get out of my comfort zone and dive in to everything #TheEnd106 will be.

I’m not sure what my favorite genre seems particularly interesting to me because frankly it ALL seems interesting. This is all new to me, so if I seem dumb when it comes to aliens eating other aliens or preparing for the world to end- be patient with me. I am excited to emerge myself in all things alien invasion, zombie madness, and plague type of things. Although this will be a challenge for me, I am ready for THE END.