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Oct. 1st, 2010 09:39 amI still have no wit (sorry Mary! I must have it somewhere, but it's well hidden) but instead I have handouts for teaching on Sunday. They include Thomas of Ercildoune. Not that the course is about Thomas, but I always include something extra as a text to lead writers astray, and Thomas it is, this time.
Did I type "lead writers astray"? That was entirely wrong. What I meant was "entice writers into understanding how very rich sources can be if you look past the modern textbooks and pop history."
It was a choice - this time - between Roland and Thomas and Thomas is way more interesting as a character. Except...I think Roland would be a terrific character in a book that has characters one wants to strangle. With both of them I get to talk about person and legend and what primarys ources there are, if there is a need for talking about primary sources. If there isn't, then I shall focus on the different roads Thomas had to chose between. Maybe. Or maybe on something else. I chose Thomas, after all, for his wondrous capacity to fit a dozen different teaching situations without straining a muscle.
I have the basics of medicine and cosmology and interpreting dreams in the handout. Only the basics. Most of it I will interpret using a whiteboard and my erratic drawing skills. By erratic I mean that sometimes my straight lines are actually straight. I can't actually draw. Wiggly lines on a whiteboard are better, however, than no lines at all.
I also have my weights and measures from the month of Thermidor. This is so bad. It means that a whole bunch of writers will realise that one really doesn't need as much in the way of languages as rumour says. My professional standing will be enmired forever. On a good note, though, more novels will possibly include muids.
I've packed other stuff: more teaching resources; clothes; work so that I don't fall behind (since this is not a holiday); G'eeek - my trusty little computer. It all weighs a bit more than it should, which means I've left things out. If it weighed more than I should carry, then I'd know I had everything.
Somewhere in there I have the whole of the Beast. If I gave the Beast a number, I could say I had the number of the Beast. It's just a dozen files, though, in case my students need information I once knew but have forgotten on clothing or land measurement or the relationship between legal codes in specific instances.
The thing about teaching worldbuilding to writers is that mostly I don't need notes at all. When I need them, though, I need very specific stuff. A lot depends on my students and their needs. If they need to build castles or towns and understand the way they work, I do it experientially (paper and pen are experiential!). For cosmology I use paper and whiteboard in unusual combinations. For how people walked and talked I use different techniques again.
I don't know what needs the students will have until we meet and they tell me what they're doing. That's why this sort of course is so much fun and also so terrifying: I never know what it's going to bring. My way of dealing with that uncertainty is to bring paper...
Did I type "lead writers astray"? That was entirely wrong. What I meant was "entice writers into understanding how very rich sources can be if you look past the modern textbooks and pop history."
It was a choice - this time - between Roland and Thomas and Thomas is way more interesting as a character. Except...I think Roland would be a terrific character in a book that has characters one wants to strangle. With both of them I get to talk about person and legend and what primarys ources there are, if there is a need for talking about primary sources. If there isn't, then I shall focus on the different roads Thomas had to chose between. Maybe. Or maybe on something else. I chose Thomas, after all, for his wondrous capacity to fit a dozen different teaching situations without straining a muscle.
I have the basics of medicine and cosmology and interpreting dreams in the handout. Only the basics. Most of it I will interpret using a whiteboard and my erratic drawing skills. By erratic I mean that sometimes my straight lines are actually straight. I can't actually draw. Wiggly lines on a whiteboard are better, however, than no lines at all.
I also have my weights and measures from the month of Thermidor. This is so bad. It means that a whole bunch of writers will realise that one really doesn't need as much in the way of languages as rumour says. My professional standing will be enmired forever. On a good note, though, more novels will possibly include muids.
I've packed other stuff: more teaching resources; clothes; work so that I don't fall behind (since this is not a holiday); G'eeek - my trusty little computer. It all weighs a bit more than it should, which means I've left things out. If it weighed more than I should carry, then I'd know I had everything.
Somewhere in there I have the whole of the Beast. If I gave the Beast a number, I could say I had the number of the Beast. It's just a dozen files, though, in case my students need information I once knew but have forgotten on clothing or land measurement or the relationship between legal codes in specific instances.
The thing about teaching worldbuilding to writers is that mostly I don't need notes at all. When I need them, though, I need very specific stuff. A lot depends on my students and their needs. If they need to build castles or towns and understand the way they work, I do it experientially (paper and pen are experiential!). For cosmology I use paper and whiteboard in unusual combinations. For how people walked and talked I use different techniques again.
I don't know what needs the students will have until we meet and they tell me what they're doing. That's why this sort of course is so much fun and also so terrifying: I never know what it's going to bring. My way of dealing with that uncertainty is to bring paper...