Yesterday we wrapped up the first week of Project Write with a visit to the Dolley Todd House and an introduction to Science Fiction writing. During our tour of the house we learned about life in a cramped, 18th century urban home during the yellow fever outbreak of 1793. The home belonged to Dolley and John Todd. John eventually succumbed to yellow fever, leaving Dolley, who later met and married James Madison the fourth president of the United States. Following the tour, back at the Benjamin Franklin Museum, we discussed subgenres of Sci Fi, such as Dystopian and Alternate Histories, as well as the spaces where Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror overlap under the larger umbrella of Speculative Fiction.
As a strategy to hone ideas and begin writing, we first composed a whiteboard of current environmental, social and political moments. Then each student pulled, at random, an adjective, plot element and character type out of a grab bag to incorporate into their stories, so in the coming days you may be reading an excerpt from a strange world inhabited with cyborgs that underwent an extinction event, inspired by the current deforestation of the Amazon.
Happy reading everyone! We look forward to your comments and feedback.
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