From our discussion board and in-class discussions, we noted that artists and filmmakers such as Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg altered the story, setting, and characters for a modern audience. Like Welles and Spielberg, youll modernize the story specifically for an audience of your time and place. Unlike Welles and Spielberg, however, youll retell only one key scene (one moment in a story) from The War of the Worlds.
Since this is a creative retelling, be creative in your format. Throw the five paragraph essay formula out the window! Theres no need for an introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion. Instead, imagine that youre writing your own science fiction story (based on Wells original source material), and youre writing one key moment in that story. The scene should be 2 pages long (after two pages, youll be on your way to writing a whole story).
The first step for this writing option is to go back to Wells novel. Choose one critical moment in the text, a critical scene (for instance, the narrator meeting Ogilvy in the observatory or the townspeople gathering around the crater in Book I). Look at the way he uses first person narration to reveal the story and information about the characters (such as the narrator himself, Ogilvy or the curate) and events in the scene that youll be retelling. This doesnt mean, though, that you have to use first person narration, too. You can use whatever point of view suits your creative retelling of the scene. Experiment with third person point of view. Try second person point of view, and see how that works. The point is to return to the original source material so youll get a sense of how the author tells his story. Then, youll be able to decide the best way to adapt the scene to speak to a modern audience.
The second step is to retell the key scene from Wells story, making the necessary changes to the plot, setting, characters, etc. to fit the story youd like to tell. While the storytelling format encourages you to break away from the five paragraph essay formula, you should still follow some of the basic elements of the MLA format, using Times/New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spacing your work and using one inch margins, and storytelling conventions (i.e. the formatting of dialogue in a story, the consistency of tenses and point of view, etc.). Also, make good use of the storytelling elements (literary devices), such as narration, characterization, dialogue, and exposition (the telling of facts and information that are important to the story). Without these elements, your creative retelling wont be a story!
The third step is to write a 1 page reflection on the choices you made as a writer adapting a key scene from Wells novel. The reflection might talk about why you chose a certain point of view and setting, why you chose that particular scene from the novel, why you made certain changes to the characters, why you decided to include dialogue, and so on. In other words, the reflection gives you the space to consider your intentions for this adaptation and what you hope to achieve with your creative retelling. If you choose this option, your entire product will be 3 pages, including the creative retelling (2 pages) and the reflection essay (1 page).
RUBRIC
Structure/Organization – The key ingredients, such as the introduction with a specific, debatable thesis, body paragraphs with topic sentences, textual evidence and explanations of the evidence, and conclusion work together to create a coherent whole piece of writing.Content Development – Uses appropriate, relevant, poignant, and compelling content to illustrate the mastery of the subject, conveying the writers understanding of the material and giving new insight to the audience.Context and Purpose for Writing(Includes considerations of audience, purpose, and the circumstances surrounding the work) – Demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, audience and purpose that not only responds to the assignment but approaches it in a new way, enlightening the readers with a new perspective.Genre and Disciplinary Conventions(Formal rules inherent in the expectations for writing in particular genres, such as the literary analysis, and for a particular discipline, such as the Humanities) – Demonstrates successful execution of a wide range of conventions particular to the literary analysis, and successfully employs the formal rules of an academic essay, adhering to the MLA rules.Control of Syntax, Grammar and Mechanics – Outstanding use of graceful language that skillfully communicates meaning to readers with clarity and fluency and is virtually error free.
