The Maker’s Eye Donald M. Murray

Megan HornKelsey MyersGreg DrisselGreg Foley

The Maker’s Eye - Overview

Students typically feel that their writing is done after the first draft.

Professionals complete many drafts and oftentimes feel their writing is never done.

Roald Dahl: 150+ revisions

Murray outlines eight steps for revising writing and improving drafts:

The Maker’s Eye:Creative Writing

Image: http://www.writingforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/creative-writing.jpg

The Maker’s Eye - Information

Specific, accurate, and interesting content.

Start with an abundance of information.

Creative Writing - Information

Derek Jonathan Sybil limped sluggishly into his parent’s single-story green house with white trim, the one that they were barely able to keep because rent was so high these days but they still managed to do okay, and began to complain bitterly about the worst day he’d ever had at school, at least since he was seven years old and Dan Nelson beat him up behind the jungle gym.

The Maker’s Eye - Meaning

Information should be something actually significant to what is being written about.

Each point should be a stepping stone toward the next piece of information.

Creative Writing - Meaning

Derek limped quietly through the front door, and began to complain bitterly to himself about the worst day he’d ever had at school.

The Maker’s Eye - Audience

Authors should put themselves in the shoes of the readers so they create something that has relevance / importance to the reader.

Creative Writing - Audience

Derek limped quietly through the front door, already muttering to himself bitterly about the worst day of middle school he’d ever had.

The Maker’s Eye - Form

The vehicle that carries meaning to the reader

Cannot be selected until the writer has adequate information

Creative Writing - FormFiction/Nonfiction

Poem

Flash Fiction

Free Form

Novel/Novella

Short Story

Script

Graphic Novel

The Maker’s Eye - Structure

Logical progression in the structure of the writing.

Creative Writing - Structure

Quickly the day had dissolved into the worst of Derek’s life. Middle school is awful, he thought to himself as he limped quietly through the front door.

The Maker’s Eye - Development

Must give readers enough information so that they are satisfied & not asking for more.

Most beginning writers under develop their writing.

Creative Writing - Development

Quickly the day had dissolved into the worst of Derek’s life. Middle school is awful, German class is hard, Susie Richards is a pain, and everything is terrible, he thought to himself as he limped quietly through the front door.

The Maker’s Eye - Dimension

Adding and subtracting details from the writing to achieve balance.

Creative Writing - Dimension

The Maker’s Eye - Voice

The force that drives a piece of writing forward.

Expression of writer’s authority and concern.

Creative Writing - Voice

Quickly the day had dissolved into the worst of Derek’s life. Middle school sucks, German class sucks, Susie Richards sucks, everything sucks, he thought to himself as he limped quietly through the front door.

Creative Writing Voice Example 1

“I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won’t bother to talk about,

except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that

everything was dead. With the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you

could call my life on the road.”

-Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Creative Writing Voice Example 2

“Abandon all hope ye who enter here is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall

Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with

Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five

dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.”

-Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho

Creative Writing Voice Example 3

“All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a

teapot that wasn’t his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal

enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I’ve changed all the names.”

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

The Maker’s Eye: Psychological

Research

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Psychology - Information

Start out by educating yourself in reviewing prior research.

An abundance of research is necessary to develop adequate research questions and formulate ideas.

Psychology - Information

Batson, C. D. and P. A. Schoenrade. 1991a. Measuring religion as quest: I. Validity concerns.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 416–29.

——. 1991b. Measuring religion as quest: II. Reliability concerns. Journal for the Scientific

Study of Religion, 30, 430–47.

Chase-Lansdale, P.L., Cherlin, A., Kiernan, K. (1995). The Long-Term Effects of Parental

Divorce on the Mental Health of Young Adults: A Developmental Perspective. Child

Development, 66, 1614-1634.

Gallup. (2009). Religion. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx#1.

Gorsuch, R.L., McPherson, S.E. (1989). Intrinsic/Extrinsic Measurement: I/E-Revised and

Single-Item Scales. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 348-354.

Hill, R. (2007). Family development in three generations: A longitudinal study of changing

patterns of planning and achievement. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers.

Holland, J.C., Kash, K.M., Passik, S., Gronert, M.K., Sison, A., Lederberg, M.,…Fox, B.

(1998).

A Brief Spiritual Beliefs Inventory For Use In Quality of Life Research in Life-

Threatening Illness. Psycho-Oncology 7, 460-469.

Mahoney, A., Pargament, K.I. Tarakeshwar, N., & Swank, A.B. (2008). Religion in the Home

in

the 1980s and 1990s: A Meta-Analytic Review and Conceptual Analysis of Links

Between Religion, Marriage, and Parenting. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality,

S, 63-101.

Lawton, L.E., & Bures, R. (2001). Parental Divorce and the “Switching” of Religious Identity.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40, 99-111.

Psychology - Meaning

Once research has been accumulated, it must be sifted through to find the most effective and relevant studies.

Finding studies most relevant to your research topic will be most helpful to focus on.

Psychology - MeaningBatson, C. D. and P. A. Schoenrade. 1991a. Measuring religion as quest: I. Validity concerns.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 416–29.

——. 1991b. Measuring religion as quest: II. Reliability concerns. Journal for the Scientific

Study of Religion, 30, 430–47.

Gallup. (2009). Religion. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx#1.

Hill, R. (2007). Family development in three generations: A longitudinal study of changing

patterns of planning and achievement. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers.

Mahoney, A., Pargament, K.I. Tarakeshwar, N., & Swank, A.B. (2008). Religion in the Home

in

the 1980s and 1990s: A Meta-Analytic Review and Conceptual Analysis of Links

Between Religion, Marriage, and Parenting. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality,

S, 63-101.

Psychology - Audience

The researcher must look at the audience who him or her is presenting to and tailor research accordingly

Goals for research are often aligned with the journals research will be submitted to:

Counseling

Cognitive

Social

Perceptual

Etc.

Psychology - Form

How will your study be conducted?Experiment

Survey

Observation

The type of research might dictate for what purpose you are researching for and what your results will mean

Correlation ≠ Causation

Psychology - Structure

Structure of a Research PaperAbstract

Introduction

Method

Results

Discussion

References

Appendix

Psychology - Development

Provide results and data from your experiment

What was accomplished? What was learned? What can be further accomplished?

Psychology - Dimension

Revisions to add & subtract data & irrelevant information.

Multiple-trials to validate data.

Confounding variables.

Psychology - Voice

Instead of working toward having a certain voice for a research paper, authors should work away from it.

Less creativity and more readability & understanding is better.

The Maker’s Eye: Teaching

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Teaching - Information

Pick topic for lesson plan

Decide the skill/content area

Age group targeted

Decide on number of children in group

Decide on space and materials needed

Teaching - Meaning

What will the children experience during the activity

What are the different skills they will acquire during the activity

Teaching - Audience

Age group being targeted

The cognitive level of the age group targeted

Teaching - Form

Figure out why the lesson being taught is worthwhile

Teaching – Structure & Development

Beginning of Lesson Transition Intro into lesson

During Part of LessonWhat will the children doWhat will teachers do/ interactionsWhat are they learning

End of LessonConclusionTransition out of lessonClean-up

Teaching - Dimension

Figure out developmental objectivesSocial/EmotionalLanguageCognitivePhysicalAdaptive

How will individual needs be metSpecial needsEasy/Hard

Teaching - Voice

What are potential problems?

How can activity be extended?

The Maker’s EyeArt

Image: http://h30187.www3.hp.com/media/ns/11205/LeonardoNotebooks01fg01.jpg

The Maker’s EyeVideo Example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtU8q-38UPE

http://www.gomonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/question-mark.jpg

Questions?

Works Cited

Murray, Donald M. “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts.” Language Awareness. 10th ed. Ed. Paul Escholz, et al. New York: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2009. 161-165. Print