Writing With Atticus: Week 1 (Adult) • The Habit

Lecture 1: First-Person Narration

Writing Exercise

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

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

Lecture 2: In-Scene, Out-of-Scene

Essay Question

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

Lecture 3: Mannerisms and Manners

Writing Exercise

Write a scene (300 words or less) in which two or more characters are in conflict because of a difference in “manners”–not because one person is wrong and one person is right, but because their “normal” response to a given situation is different. Write in-scene, showing rather than telling.