In honor of Halloween, a prompt inviting spooky creativity (with a second option in case the first prompt does not resonate)

Prompt 1: Fall into the uncanny valley in this week’s post! As we discussed in class, the uncanny can be both weirdly compelling and terrifying. Write a post inspired by our collective readings or discussions in some way, with the goal of making your readers experience those uncanny shivers.

Prompt 2: If horror/terror isn’t your style, how about humor? Laughter is a great way to celebrate our differences, enabling social critiques to connect rather than isolate us. Again connecting your post to our class readings or discussions in some way, craft a comedic take on any issue related to our class (fairy tales, impenetrable academic writing, literary theory in general, English majors, college students, the academic bubble. . .so many possibilities).

NOTE: as you all know, there is a fine line between funny and offensive; please make sure you don’t cross that line and offend or alienate any of your readers!
As usual:
Keep your posts to 300-500 words;
Include digital media, as appropriate;
Include links to related pages, as appropriate.

Assignment:  As for last week, explore your creative side by modeling one of our writers.  Modeling is a powerful tool for developing your own distinctive voice, as well as the best possible way to learn scansion and form. 

The only restriction, this week, is to broaden your sources of inspiration a bit—stretch your own writing range and keep your classmates guessing! Remember that all our authors, including critics and theorists, are fair game.

Guidelines:

This is your opportunity to learn from a master craftsman!  Model your writing style, imagery, themes and tone on one of the writers we’ve read so far. As always, decide whether you want to stretch your analytical or creative voice, or something in between, and choose the author to model yourself after accordingly (our theorists and critics are fair game). 

After carefully reading your model author and analyzing their choices, create a brief scene in essay, fiction, or poetry form. For your subject matter, pursue what has interested you most in our readings so far.

Whatever author you choose, to get credit for this assignment you MUST take the modeling requirement seriously.  When we read your post, we should know just from your language (syntax, diction, etc.) or form which writer you’re channeling.  Do NOT tell us, though—part of the fun will be guessing, via comments and in class, the source of each short piece.

No restrictions on word limit this week!