Creative Writing with Jonathan Rogers
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Creative Writing with Jonathan Rogers – Complete Set

(2 customer reviews)

Author and professor Jonathan Rogers of Grammar for Writers teaches high school students how to improve their creative writing by examining the literary elements of three significant novels and a novel written by the teacher himself.  Discover what makes literature good as Rogers walks us through these famous novels.  Writing Through the Wardrobe, Writing with Hobbits, Writing Through To Kill A Mockingbird, and Writing with the Bog Owl are only individually available in a streaming digital format.

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Description

Jonathan Rogers of Grammar for Writers teaches high school students how to improve their own creative writing by examining the literary elements of four stories including some well-loved classics. Students will hone their craft in this seminar series from a literary scholar and published author.

Dr. Rogers has written The Wilderking TrilogyThe World According to Narnia, and other books.

Cathy Duffy, in her review of the series, noted: “I was so unusually impressed by his insights and ideas for creative writing that I concluded he must be an excellent writer himself.”

This set contains all four courses in the series:

Each video lesson is followed by a creative writing exercise designed to reinforce the concept taught in the video. “The writing assignments are great. I found that after listening to the lectures, I was eager to experiment with the writing techniques in the assignments. Some of them are challenging, but they are also intriguing and stimulating.” (Cathy Duffy)

Additional information

Age

13+

Age/Grade

, ,

Credit

1/2 Credit

Credit Amount

Lessons

70

Teacher

Jonathan Rogers

Format

Streaming, USB Thumb Drive

Addl Mtls

Supplemental Writing Exercises

Lessons

Writing through the Wardrobe

  1. Narration and Point of View (35:17)
  2. Inversion and Juxtaposition, Characterization (30:35)
  3. Showing and Telling, Description (29:29)
  4. Dramatic Irony (23:59)
  5. Exposition (21:46)
  6. Some Guidelines for Dialogue (19:52)
  7. More on Dialogue and Characterization (23:41)
  8. Description and Figurative Language (22:59)
  9. Desire, Choice, Consequence (35:15)
  10. Concision (19:45)
  11. More on Figurative Language (20:37)
  12. Symbolism (29:47)
  13. Character-Driven Action (30:50)
  14. World-Building (31:37)
  15. Action and Motion (25:44)
  16. Allegory (13:28)
  17. Slowing Down (30:57)
  18. Abundance (27:12)

Writing with Hobbits

  1. Scene-Setting and the Inciting Incident (33:25)
  2. Dialogue (22:22)
  3. Travel Writing (23:36)
  4. Narration and Point of View (22:42)
  5. Grammar and Sentence Structure (19:17)
  6. Creating Distinct Voices (15:15)
  7. Some Thoughts About Plot (21:54)
  8. Freytag’s Pyramid (19:43)
  9. Character Development (28:52)
  10. Creating Problems, Solving Problems (34:16)
  11. Managing the Reader’s Attention (20:54)
  12. Choosing to Tell Instead of Show (29:38)
  13. Conversational Dynamics (Part 1) (23:00)
  14. Conversational Dynamics (Part 2) (18:22)
  15. Some Thoughts About Description (24:10)
  16. From Rising Action to Crisis (24:07)
  17. Disordered Loves, Reordered Loves (30:07)

Writing through To Kill A Mockingbird

  1. First-Person Narration (28:48)
  2. In-Scene, Out-of-Scene (19:02)
  3. Mannerisms and Manners (26:22)
  4. Pacing (29:21)
  5. Convincing Description (18:40)
  6. Symbolism (23:20)
  7. Tim Johnson, Part 1 (31:28)
  8. Tim Johnson, Part 2 (21:14)
  9. Engaging the Reader’s Judgment (21:44)
  10. Revealing Gestures (25:31)
  11. The Ewells (31:11)
  12. Dialogue as Action (25:40)
  13. Showing and Telling in the Courtroom (22:13)
  14. Manners (Again) (24:27)
  15. Big Ideas (16:49)
  16. Seeing from the Character’s Perspective (27:04)
  17. Reality as a Source of Fiction (24:44)

Writing with the Bog Owl

  1. Setting and Originality (22:21)
  2. Third-Person Close Narration (36:04)
  3. Bayard, Objectivity, Subjectivity (26:21)
  4. Where Did Feechiefolk Come From? (33:57)
  5. The Wilderking Chant (18:31)
  6. Writing In-Scene and Out-0f-Scene (33:04)
  7. Incongruity (33:25)
  8. Into the Swamp (30:37)
  9. Among the Feechies (24:59)
  10. Moving Parts (14:54)
  11. Fishing Trip, Feechie Feast (17:35)
  12. Foreshadowing, Expectations (33:33)
  13. Judgment, Motive (31:51)
  14. Single Combat (34:09)
  15. The False Peak (19:36)
  16. The Miner-Scouts (14:30)
  17. Narrative Layers (17:56)
  18. Climax, Falling Action, Resolution (23:06)

Sample Lessons

Sample Exercises

Wardrobe Writing Exercise #1

Your suggested writing exercise for this lesson revolves around narration and point of view.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells the Parable of the Prodigal Son using an omniscient narrator. The narrator sometimes shows things from the younger brother’s perspective, sometimes from the older brother’s perspective, and sometimes from the father’s perspective (though the narrator doesn’t really get into close third-person except possibly with the younger brother, when we get a little peek at his inner monologue).

Your writing exercise is to retell this familiar story from the point of view of one of two main characters.

Retell the parable using the older brother as a first-person narrator.  Or, retell the parable in close third-person from the perspective of the father.

Remember, whether you’re writing in first-person or close third-person, you’re only showing and telling what your point-of-view character can see and hear. You have the option of telling what’s going on inside your point-of-view character’s head, but you can also choose only to show what your character sees by looking out. That’s up to you. However, according to the rules of close third-person and first-person narration, you can only get inside the head of one character (your POV character).

Wardrobe Writing Exercise #2

In one paragraph, describe a person (fictional or real). But here’s the catch: You can’t describe the character directly. You can only describe one room in the character’s house. To put it another way, describe a room in such a way that the reader feels that he or she knows the person who lives there.

Hobbits Writing Exercise #1

It is not unusual for external, non-character-driven events to happen to the characters in a story. But a good story can’t be driven only by external events. It’s not enough to have things “happen to” your characters. Your reader always wants to know  what the characters are going to do—how they will exert their wills, pursue their desires, alleviate their fears. That is the essence of character-driven action.

For this lesson’s writing exercise, you will practice mixing external action with character-driven action. Write a scene in which two characters experience the same external event, but act very differently in response to that event.

Hobbits Writing Exercise #2

Write a scene in which dialogue leads directly to physical action.

Mockingbird Writing Exercise #1

This is a two-part exercise about first-person point of view:

  • Pick a familiar fairytale or folktale and retell it in first person from the point of view one of the characters.
  • Then tell the same story again, in first person from the point of view of another character.

Mockingbird Writing Exercise #2

Skim two chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird and note every place where Harper Lee shifts from writing in-scene to writing out-of-scene, or vice versa.

Now go back to the out-of-scene sections. What does Harper Lee accomplish by pulling out of scene? Some of the possibilities from the video lesson include:

  • Providing exposition or background information
  • Conveying necessary information
  • Moving the story along or skipping ahead
  • Establishing tone and voice

Bog Owl Writing Exercise #1

The opening scene of The Bark of the Bog Owl takes place at the edge of the forest—or, if you prefer, at the edge of a clearing. Edges and boundaries, the meeting of two worlds, are fertile ground for storytelling.

For this week’s exercise, write a scene that takes place at an edge or boundary—the edge of town, the edge of a forest, the boundary between two neighborhoods or two countries. Let’s see what kinds of things happen where two worlds overlap.

Bog Owl Writing Exercise #3

Think of a familiar character from literature, history, or folklore, and drop that character into a setting that is familiar to you. What happens next?

Examples: Rip van Winkle wakes up in a Starbucks; Cleopatra makes a Zoom call; John the Baptist visits First Baptist Church.

2 reviews for Creative Writing with Jonathan Rogers – Complete Set

  1. Brandy

    Creative Writing with Jonathan Rogers has not only provided our son new insight into writing, but it has also been a tool for better understanding and analyzing literature in general. These courses helped our son to not just write a paper or a short story, but to develop his ideas into a novel. The video lectures and writing assignments have been extraordinarily inspiring, fascinating, and helpful, teaching our son literary techniques he had never previously considered. A student that goes through this course will not only become a better writer, but s/he will also become a better reader. -excerpt taken from https://www.halfahundredacrewood.com/writing-through-the-wardrobe-writing-with-hobbits/

  2. Leah (verified owner)

    Teaching writing through great literature can be an excellent way for students to learn writing skills in context. This course uses four great books to teach high school students important creative writing concepts.

    There are four sections, each covering well-known high school literature: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Bark of the Bog Owl. In each lesson, students watch a lecture and then complete a writing assignment. The course is worth 1/2 a credit for high school. This would be a perfect creative writing course to use in conjunction with your high school literature course!

    As a fan of all things literature-based learning, I love this creative writing course!

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