I wrote about this book four-and-a-half years ago, in March 2017. As I glanced over at a bookshelf this morning, something prompted me to pull out this book. Why was it calling me? I have no idea, but I opened it to random pages and landed on this writing prompt:This collection of 642 outrageous and witty writing prompts will get the creative juices flowing in no time. From crafting your own obituary [I noticed just now that this is the very LAST prompt in the book] to penning an ode to an onion, each page of this playful journal invites inspiration and provides plenty of space to write. Brimming with entertaining exercises from the literary minds of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, this is the ultimate gift for scribes of every stripe.
"A lie you told and got away with"
Oh, boy, did that "prompt" a memory that made me grin! First, let me tell you I have always loved reading and read lots of books outside of school assignments. MANY books. So when my 8th grade English teacher assigned us to write a book review, my only problem was usually which book to write about. But that day, I had a brainstorm and wondered if I could write about a book I totally made up. I think the assignment was homework, and we probably had several days to do it, with time to read and ponder a book.
So I "read" my non-existent book and came up with a title, an author's name, a plot (that I no longer remember) with characters I created (birthed?) in my own imagination. Then I wrote a "book review" of that book — and turned it in! I held my breath (figuratively speaking) until the teacher returned our papers, and ... and ... and I got an A on my book review! Yay!
Idiom of the Day
"Out of whole cloth" is an idiom that means "with no basis in fact or reality." Example: The novel I wrote about was created out of whole cloth, plot and all.
2 comments:
That's a really good story and sort of unbelievable but I guess it's possible for teachers to make such mistakes with so many students, they probably don't have the time to check everything.
I don't think I had ever got away with a lie although my memory is bad so who knows?
Have a lovely day.
Lissa, maybe my story seems impossible to you because it's 2021 and you have the internet to check book information. There was no such thing in the 1950s when I was in the eighth grade. (In the 1953-1954 school year, to be precise.) Personal computers were not available until the mid-1970s, and I did not get my first PC until 1984. It was a big, clunky one-piece desktop computer with keyboard attached on the front.
My teacher did not know every book that was out there, and there was no way to "confirm" or check titles. The only way she could have confirmed that we each wrote about the book we named was if she had required that we SHOW it to her. Why would she worry about anyone making up a book? As I said, I probably did twice as much work (maybe more) by making up a book and THEN writing about it. So the teacher did NOT "make a mistake." I had a lot of fun making up a book, so maybe I should have kept the "plot" to write (and maybe publish?) that novel myself. Just so you know, I have been published as a freelance writer locally, nationally, and internationally — but none of it has been fiction.
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