COURSE 6 - WRITING PROJECT (DETAILS) Course Code: DCE 6 Course Tite: Writing Project (Project) The detais for your course work/project are given beow: a) Introduction Course 6 is a Compusory course in which the earner wi have to prepare a Project which has two components (a) Project Proposa and (b) Project Report. You wi be graded on your Project Report. Its purpose is to give you an opportunity to deveop your creative taents in a discipined manner. The project, requiring a substantia amount of writing, wi enabe us to know how far your writing is pubication worthy. You are expected to write approximatey 20,000 words for your project. In the case of a project which consists of ony a set of poems, this imitation wi not appy. b) Choice i) Novea - 20,000 words approximatey ii) 8-10 Features/Artices iii) 8-10 Short Stories iv) 12-15 Poems of approximatey 14 ines each v) Writing Scripts for either Radio or TV vi) Any other project on simiar ines with the prior approva of the Facuty of Engish. Book reviews are aowed if they do not exceed 20% of the tota ength of the project. This is because the emphasis has to be on creative writing. However, since there is a bock on book - reviewing, a coupe of book reviews may be incuded in a project which otherwise substantiay deas with other forms of creative writing. c) Receipt of Project June 30th for January Session and December 31st for Juy Session. Proposas at New Dehi (Address the proposa to) The Director, Schoo of Humanities IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Dehi-110068 (Your proposa shoud be sent to us directy marking a copy to the/regiona Director as we). d) Length of Project Proposa: 500 words approximatey 1
e) Counseing for Project Proposa Your Counseor wi assist you in formuating your project proposa. Pease contact your Coordinator for further information. 4.3 Panning Your Project Proposa I) For your project, you may choose any one of the foowing areas: i. Novea ii iii iv Features/Artices Short Stories Scripts for Radio & T.V. v. Poems vi. Any other project on simiar ines. II) Format of Project Proposa A Project Proposa (500 words) shoud consist of the foowing: i) Tite of the Project ii) Objectives: What you propose to do in your project, and what you hope to achieve at the end (pubication of your poems, for exampe, coud be one of the goas) State approximatey how many stories, artices, poems, etc. you pan to write. Give the tite of each story, artice or poem. Make a brief statement (2 to 3 sentences) about the theme of each story, feature/artice, poem etc. iii) Methodoogy: The method you wish to adopt in order to structure or organise your work: e.g., do you propose to write experimenta stories or formua stories? How do you propose to go about your project in genera? iv) Any remarks of a genera nature comprising observations and comments. v) A Project proposa shoud be typed in doube space on one side ony, as far as possibe ona4 size paper. Pease eave adequate space on a sides for comments. Aso make sure to keep one copy of the proposa for your records. II) Guideines for Project Proposa and Project Report i) Novea The proposa shoud give some idea about the foowing: theme, approach (Formua, Experimenta, Stream-of-Consciousness, etc). The novea itsef shoud be 20,000 words approximatey. 2
ii) Features/Artices 8-10 in number. Any singe feature shoud not exceed 2,000 words. Make your features as diverse as possibe. The tite shoud specify the topic ceary. For instance, an artice tited Environment woud be quite meaningess as it suggests too wide an area to be adequatey covered in a singe feature artice. Environmenta changes in the Doon Vaey woud give the reader a better idea of what to expect. A precise tite wi aso provide a framework for your subject matter and prevent you from digressing. For instance in the artice Environmenta Changes in the Doon Vaey, you might ike to tak about the Sient Vaey Project in Keraa, but the phrase Doon Vaey wi keep reminding you that the major part of your artice shoud not be about the Sient Vaey. Be sure of your point of view before you start writing, For this, you must aso be sure of your target readership chidren, women, genera pubic, academics etc. You must aso be aware of the poicies of the journa, magazine, newspapers, etc., for which you are writing its poitica and cutura orientation, for instance. You must read various magazines and newspaper artices to get the fee and tone of the contemporary usage of the Engish anguage. Avoid archaic words, and ciches, uness you can give them a fresh twist. Carefuy observe the rues of grammar and syntax. To make your features/artices readabe and interesting, introduce humour, exampes, iustrations, anecdotes, photographs, sketches, etc. Your factua information shoud be accurate. Remember, however, that the persona creative touch is more important than mere data and statistics. Do not make your project report into a research paper aways bear in mind the fact that your feature wi be read by the ay reader rather than the speciaist. ii) Short stories 8-10 in number. You must give a 2-3 ine statement of the theme of each story in your project proposa. Stories can be of different types, each type requiring a sighty different approach. So, first you shoud decide whether you want to write formua stories, detective stories, experimenta stories or chidren s stories. You may, of course, have a project which wi be a combination of these types of stories. We give you a brief outine of each type beow: Formua Stories A formua story usuay is written or revoves around a we-defined pot based on an incident, cuminates in a cimax and resoves itsef tragicay or happiy for the main characters. These characters are recognizabe types, who often face diemmas that arise out of stock socia probems. Detective Stories Remember that your main task is to buid up a sense of mystery and keep the suspense of the story at a steady pitch ti the end. For this, unnecessary descriptions and detais shoud be kept out as they distract the reader from the focus of the story. The detective s character shoud be buit up carefuy. Secondary characters shoud be kept to a minimum to make the ending pausibe. Reevant cues to the mystery shoud be presented throughout the story. 3
Experimenta Stories In such stories events are usuay viewed through the subjective vision of the main characters. Memories intervene; ife is seen as a ceaseess fow. Hence, such a story does not give importance to a pot, a proper beginning or a definite end. Rather, it highights significant moments in the ife of the protagonists, and eaves the story open-ended. The concusion is not important. The anguage may be highy informa or even yrica. Writing for Chidren Writing stories for chidren can be highy demanding, both in terms of content and design. Observe chidren. Try to keep cose to the reaity of their ives. Chidren appreciate a sense of humour. The vocabuary and sentence structure are aso important for rapid and easy reading. Iustrations eniven any piece of writing for chidren. iv) Scripts for Radio and/or TV You can attempt scripts for either Radio or TV or both. (Writing for Radio and Writing for Teevision se item3.8 of unit 3, Bock 1 for radio format, and Unit I, Bock 3 for TV format). A radio script can incude a radio pay, an iustrative tak with sound effects. You coud attempt a seria adaptation of a nove or a radio profie (feature, magazine or even a documentary on a personaity).you may incude an interview a spot interview, a fied interview or a studio interview. You coud identify a topic and present it in the form of a discussion with severa participants and a moderator. In case you wish to produce a script for a pay, keep in mind the fact that appropriate sound effects wi be needed to repace the visua eements and you woud have to suggest them in your script. Whie formuating your proposa. choose your area of interest with care - radio and/or TV then decide on your intention - education, information, entertainment, choose your topic/ programme narrow it down to specifics - an adaptation, a series, a number of taks, a quiz programme decide on the word/time ength - say 22 minutes and then formuate your proposa. v) Poems 12-15 poems of approximatey 14 ines each. You shoud give the centra theme and image or symbo of each poem in your project proposa. Longer poems are not acceptabe. Go through the four bocks of your course materias first. They have been structured to identify and discuss the components of a poem. Before you start writing, be sure of the form of your poem wi it be a yric, a sonnet, or free verse? the meaning of a poem aso conveys itsef through its form. Do you want your poem to te a story, describe a scene, an emotion or an idea? What is the overa mood of your poem? Buid it up by the use of appropriate simies and metaphors and other kinds of imagery. 4
\ vi) IV) Any other project Any other project on simiar ines is permissibe so ong as it conforms to the format and is duy approved by the Facuty of Engish. Book Reviews are permitted; so ong as they do not exceed 20% of the tota ength of the project; Combinations, judiciousy baanced, are permitted. In case you wish to combine genres in your project report, it shoud incude a fair representation of each kind. For exampe, a report coud comprise 5 features and 5 short stories; Transation of poems, short stories etc. (into Engish) as a project, or part of it, wi NOT be accepted. Traveogues, Biographics and Book-Reviews or Radio Interview aone cannot form an entire project. SAMPLE PROPOSAL -This is what your proposa shoud ook ike: Tite of the Project: THE FRAGMENTS Objectives The Project wi consist of 5 short stories and 5 feature/artices I hope that utimatey I wi be abe to get some of my artices and stories pubished. Methodoogy Some of my stories wi be formua stories others wi be eft open -ended. Some of my stories wi empoy the stream-of -consciousness technique. The atmosphere, setting and tone wi suit the theme in each case. The day-to-day experience of iving raises a number of questions. Probems encountered, topics deepy pondered, unfamiiar scenarios these wi be presented in the form of feature artices, the aim being to evove a we-rounded, unbiased picture of the situation. For this, I wi conduct some on the-spot interviews, read reevant materia on the topic under discussion and then write these feature artices, presenting my persona point of view. Stories 1) Quirk of Circumstances: Popuar, erudite professor, but a tyrant at home, ti an incident changes his ife. 2) The Mask: A pretty and peasant gir seems to behave oddy, a of a sudden. Her deceptive appearances are seen through in the course of events. 3) The Dark Horizon: Son of sociaite parents, negected, oner, stern upbringing makes him ean towards the peasant haucinations of heroin and opium... 4) The Refections: A number of persons are seen waking down a country road, they are being watched by someone. His refections on the persons who move aong the road form the main ingredient of the story. 5) The Memories: Anup recas his friendship with Joseph on hearing the shocking news of the atter s suicide. Atrai of memories foow. 5
Features 1) Capitation Fee: Can we entrust our ives and industries to those doctors and engineers who have bought their education through capitation fees? 2) Poor Standard of Indian Sports: Why is the standard of Indian sports so ow? Why do other deveoping countries perform so much better than us? Is something wrong with our sports poicies? 3) Ecoogica Degradation: In recent years, a great dea of damage has been caused to the natura environment. This needs to be stopped otherwise the consequences wi be disastrous for the future generations. 4) Growing Od: The effect of the spit in the joint famiy brings tremendous menta suffering to od persons who even though economicay independent, require ove and care. 5) Singapore Revisited: A gimpse into the scenic spots of the proverbia Shopper s Paradise, and some of the many festivas that make up its cutura cimate. V) MODALITIES FOR SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL AND PROJECT REPORT In any project undertaken for DCE-6, it is necessary to observe the foowing steps: i) Draft your Project Proposa as per the guideines given above. ii) Submit your Project Proposa to Director, Schoo of Humanities, send a copy, simutaneousy to your Regiona Director for information and records. iv) Your Proposa wi be returned to you within ten weeks of its receipt with one of the foowing remarks: Approved Approved conditionay subject to observation of certain guideines and modifications. Re-do and re-submit to the Director (Schoo of Humanities). v) A approved proposas must be attached with the competed project to enabe the evauator to check whether there is conformity with the proposed outine, suggested modifications, etc. Some projects have arrived in parts 4 stories in one despatch and 4 features some weeks ater. Pease note that the entire report must be in one cover, and bound if possibe, or at east tagged. It is of no use if you send your reports in parts in fact, there is every chance of it getting ost. vi) Your report must be accompanied by a certificate that the work is origina, has not been submitted esewhere and embodies the writing done as part of Course 6. (Sef certified) (PLEASE RETAIN A COPY OF YOUR PROPOSAL BEFORE MAILING IT TO US FOR APPROVAL) vii) Project Report (Singe copy) -If you wish to compete your Dipoma within a year of the enroment kindy submit your Project Report by the 30th November for December Term End resut and 30th May for June Term End resut. 6
Submit your Project Report by Registered Insured post to: Pease note that Registrar Student Evauation Division (SED) Indira Gandhi Nationa Open University Maidan Garhi, New Dehi -110 068 You wi not be required to do any assignments or term-end examination for Course 6, i.e., you wi ony submit the Project Proposa, foowed by the Project Report, The Project carries the weightage of a fu course, (4 credits) and You must get a minimum C grade for your project. If you get a D, you woud be required to revise the report, Pease submit a typed and bound copy of the Project Report. Use A4 Size paper. Use one side ony. 7