prewriting

Option 1

Prewriting: Notice the familiar details cleverly woven in the piece from the toilet paper roll’s perspective: “the more I’m needed, the smaller I feel,” “hollow inside,” “cushiony-quilted softness,” and “flushed right down the drain.”

Select some other common household object and imagine everyday life from its perspective. What does it feel? What are its emotions? Examine your object closely. Sit in front of your object and concentrate on projecting yourself into it, to the degree that you lose your identity for at least a short time and become the object.

Take notes about how you feel being your object. Where do you feel tensions and pressures? What changes are you aware of? What sensations are important to you? What are you most keenly aware of?

Writing, Revising, Editing, and Publishing: Organize your notes into a narrative of a few minutes in the “life” of your object, as felt from inside. If you wish, you may want to omit the name of your object and try to make your description clear enough so that the reader will know what you are. Write in first person-“I.” You will be the object! Remember to use Chart 2 and Chart 3 to prepare you final essay.

Your instructor will be grading you on these key points:

Did you…

• properly introduce the object by describing the setting or by making a generalization about some feeling or emotion of the object? (3 points)
• intertwine sensory details about the object throughout the narrative? (12 points)
• provide a summary or conclusion? (3 points)
• edit according to Chart 2? (2 points)
• edit according to Chart 3 ? (2 points)

Option 2

Prewriting: Assume a tree has some tactile and kinesthetic awareness; do not assume that it can see or hear, which is improbable. Imagine how it might feel to be a tree: the experiences you might have in your trunk, roots, and branches with the changing of the seasons; the movement of the wind; the absorbing of water by your roots; the treatment you receive from humans. If it is practical, go outside and look at (or climb on!) a tree while you do this; otherwise, use your memory of a tree. Try to describe the feelings you might have as things happen to you.

Writing, Revising, Editing, and Publishing: Organize your notes into a narrative of a few minutes in the “life” of the tree, as felt from inside. Write in first person – “I.” You will be the tree! Remember to use Chart 2 and Chart 3 to prepare you final essay.

Your instructor will be grading you on these key points:

Did you…

• properly introduce the subject by describing the setting or by making a generalization about some feeling or emotion of the subject? (3 points)
• intertwine sensory details about the subject throughout the narrative? (12 points)
• provide a summary or conclusion? (3 points)
• edit according to Chart 2? (2 points)
• edit according to Chart 3 ? (2 points)