Are you interested in what my plans are for this portfolio?

Click the link to my Revision Plan Prezi and find out!

Ophelia and Gigi are two classmates who have to create a video project for Mr. Fortinbras’ Writing and Digital Media class. Over the course of the project they discover some secrets about the people around them, and each other.

Click here to go to the overview page: Hamlet Meets the Modern World

Click here to go straight to the YouTube page: Ophelia and Gigi’s “Month in Our Lives” Project

Overall, this is a fun and lighthearted project meant to entertain the viewer! Hope you enjoy!

Overview: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play by Tom Stoppard that dabbles into the genre of absurdism by retelling Shakespeare’s Hamletfrom the perspective of secondary characters. Ros and Guild, our not-so-main main characters, encounter and struggle with the ideas of death, friendship, and identity. All the while they weave in and out of the well-known tale of Hamlet.

My Web Essay project for my Writing and Digital Media class was an interrogation of the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This essay allows me to delve into a story that will benefit me when creating a remix of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 

Click the link to go straight to the project: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Literally Dead

Picture Citation: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Digital image. Bookstation. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

For professional writing, the one concept that is important above all else is conciseness. When writing a newspaper article or proposal, a writer needs to get the point across as efficiently as possible while effectively portraying the subject matter.  When writing technically, a writer cannot afford to use over-the-top “flowery” language, but instead has to utilize the best descriptive words (also known as imagery) to get the point across! Being concise, and not getting lost in too many words, is essential when writing for an audience full of readers who are only searching for the bare necessities. An author needs enough words, but not too much. It’s all about balance!

Throughout elementary to high school, we are taught to fill up space with meaningless drabble. We did anything to reach the page requirement and show off our knowledge of the writing language, and get the grade. But in professional writing, every word matters and has to have an exact place. The precise language could be the difference in getting that grant money, or telling the best breaking news story, and failing to capture the reader’s attention. Nothing can be wasted, which means that each letter has to be placed with extreme care. Sometimes writing sparing and concisely is difficult, but it is a useful talent to posses.

A piece of prose or poetry should be a doorway into another world — and sometimes that door is simply a window into our boring, everyday lives–  and the only way to create that door is to enable the reader with details that allow them to easily imagine the world the writer is attempting to build.

Imagery drives the plot of a piece, and is an important component of language and story telling. Without — what is often called “flowery” — figurative language, readers would find no joy in reading and writers no joy in writing.

However, imagery should not be confused with over-explanations. No one wants to sit there and read ten pages about a dust particle traveling from room to room, encountering nothing and keeping to itself. Readers want to be shown (not told) what the world they are being thrown into acts like, but that doesn’t mean a writer needs to speed pages trying to sound descriptive and poetic. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that a writer has to describe the tiniest things, but sometimes the most seemingly unimportant details can make or break a story. What color is the sky, in this new place? How does the main character’s face move when trying to convey some bad news? How did the antagonist look when throwing his blueprints across the room?

Imagery, although often misunderstood, is what turns the images into a writer’s mind into reality.

In here you can find links to my resume, fiction, poetry, interviews, and newspaper articles! I am open to feedback and criticism, as long as language is kept civilized. And am nearly always willing to discuss ideas. I just ask you to respect my work as a writer, and realize that I am simply a college sophomore creating her first-ever portfolio.

Make some tea, sit back, and browse at your leisure. I hope you enjoy!