Gail Carson Levine's Blog, page 3

7/8/24 Homework

Pick one. Write up to five double-spaced pages and email me, either the link to your Google document or your pages as a Word attachment. If you send me the link to your Google document, be sure to give me permission to edit it. You don’t need to finish the story. Just write as far as you get.

The king of Sanobia has been assassinated, and the three suspects are imprisoned together in a single cell: the king’s younger brother, Duke Bunda; a dairy maid named Jorn; and a talking unicorn. The ki...

7/8/24 Prompts

Pick one. You can change anything.

Your main character doesn’t know they can turn into a spider (any kind) if they want to, but they can. They believe they can turn into a wolf, but they can’t. They know that sometimes, whether they want to or not, they have to turn into a table for half an hour. A person or pet they love has been kidnapped—or some other disaster that you make up. Write what happens.In this world, any dreadful deed or event can be reversed within a week if something (y...

7/27/2023 Prompts

When the mirror tells the evil queen that Snow White is the fairest, the queen doesn’t decide immediately that Snow White has to die. The queen hasn’t killed anyone before. She loves her husband and knows he’s fond of his daughter. She invites Snow White to the throne room for a chat. During that meeting something happens that turns her into a villain and seals the future of each of them. Write the scene.Jack has a magic coin that will grant a single wish. Jackie wants him to use it to ma...

7/24/2023 Prompts

Here’s an old nursery rhyme, which you may know:

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Tell the story of the nursery rhyme from the spider’s point of view. Give it spidery thoughts, whatever they are. Make up the workings of a spider’s mind.

Jay or Jae wants to do something that is almost certain to turn out badly. Two of his (or her) friends are trying to talk him ou...

7/24/2023 Homework

Take the humor road with a disaster deluge. Write a story that involves at least three of these: the end of civilization, dead siblings, drowned cats, a curse on green-eyed men, and the spontaneous combustion of umbrellas! Handicap your main character with double vision, an inability to pronounce the letter t, and a fear of metal. Or make up your own disasters. Write the story.In medieval England, the punishment for most crimes—really!—was execution. Henrietta or Henry has been falsely accu...

Two Books on Grammar and Usage

Woe Is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Woe Is I Jr. by Patricia T. O’Conner

7/20/2023 Homework

Your main character, Lou, can see the future. He (or she) never studies because he knows what the answers will be. Same with homework. He always does very well, but his tests and his homework are never perfect because he doesn’t want to raise suspicions. Today is his final exam in History. What could go wrong? Write what happens and make things not go his way.Your main character, Jan, is an activist against the tyrannical rule of dictator Mun the Fourth. Jan is imprisoned for protesting a...

7/17/2023 Prompts

The new Science and History Museum is holding a treasure hunt for its opening event. Clues will lead participants to the treasure, a certificate entitling the winner to the thing he or she needs most. (You decide what that is.) Naturally, the clues will be hidden, and participants will have to use all their senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch) to find them. Write what happens.Your main character Jules is on a European vacation with his (or her) parents. They’re on a walking tour of the h...

7/17/2023 Homework

Use at least four of the bits of dialogue below (in any order) in a scene or a whole story. Make up the two or three characters who are talking. You can add to the dialogue with anything you like. Follow the guidance in “Dialogue Helper” to format the speech and show who’s speaking.

“I wish I could have ice cream for dinner and nothing else every night.”

“Are you listening?”

“I like clouds better than a plain blue sky.”

“What are you up to?”

“What do you mean ‘up to’?”

“Doing...

7/13/2023 Homework

Homework

If you’re participating remotely, email your work to me as a Word attachment or with a Google Docs link by Wednesday at the latest: gclevine@ayortha.com. I’d like three to five double-spaced pages if the work is typed. If you’re hand writing your work and bringing it with you, skip lines on your pad. If your pad isn’t lined, estimate the spaces. Three to five pages too. Please write clearly and big enough for old eyes to see with reading glasses. Please don’t write with pink or yello...