4-H Fair 2012: Creative Writing | Musings From Neville's Navel

I love writing, right? That?s why I?ve done NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and Camp NaNoWriMo, after all.

So why did I leave part of my Creative Writing project unfinished until the last?possible day?

?I?m still not sure why. I suppose I was busy with other things. I also got writer?s block, which happens to me very rarely.

There are several options for my division of the project. I must choose at least 2 of the categories, and I can choose 3 or 4. The options are short story, dramatic script, essay, and poetry. I didn?t have any script that I thought was good enough to use for 4-H, and I don?t like to write?poetry quickly. My poetry is better when I can revise it a lot. So my essay was written in May. I got the idea from a website that listed writing prompts for essays.

My short story was supposed to be about Puss in Boots running a group called, ?Fairy Tale Characters Anonymous?, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. All the characters had problems,?such as?Rumpelstiltskin was a kleptomaniac and the Big Bad Wolf had asthma. (So he huffs and puffs away on his inhaler.) But the story wasn?t going very well. I had too many characters?and I was limited to 1,800 words. I didn?t want to have a bunch of characters who had funny little backstories but didn?t really do much in the story due to my word limit.

So the night before 4-H project check-in, I began a different story, fueled by excellent writing music, dinner, and thoughts of fluffy bunny rabbits hugging me once I was finished. I started with a weird little idea that I?d had for a while.

I?m normally leery of posting any writing that I did for purposes other than?posting on this blog. I decided to show you my Creative Writing project stuff because I?m already exhibiting it at the fair, where anyone could read it. So it?s basically the same thing.

Here?s the essay!

??????In Support of Single-Sex Schools?

Boys and girls should be in separate schools or classes in school. You may be wondering if this is backwards, since girls fought for the right to enroll in co-educational schools. The irony is that while now both genders may be getting an education, it may not be a very good one. This is due to two reasons: the difference between the genders? learning styles and the? different ways teachers treat boys compared to girls.. Boys and girls learn have different learning styles. Both genders are more willing to break out of stereotypes in single-sex schools. They have higher self-esteem and are better at leadership.

Students in single-sex schools do not let stereotypes get the better of them. They are not worried about what the other sex will think of them. Girls try harder in math and science because they aren?t worried that boys won?t like them if they do well in those subjects. They also do better in sports because the focus is on them, not on the boys on the football team. Girls become good leaders because they are given a chance to lead groups. In a co-ed school, the teacher would probably choose a boy as the girls would be quiet so that no one made fun of them. Boys develop skills in art, music, and writing because they are not worried about people teasing them. Some boys would have never discovered that they excel at writing or art if they weren?t given the opportunity to do those activities without worrying about what other people would think.

In single-sex schools, children have higher self-esteem. Girls have much higher career aspirations once they go to college. Boys feel better about school because they aren?t stressing about whether a girl will get a higher score on a test. If a boy gets a worse grade than a girl, he might be seen as stupid and he might not even bother to try anymore. Having a better attitude about school reduces the number of boys who get poor grades or even drop out of school. Both genders don?t have to worry about boyfriends or girlfriends. They are more confident because they are less worried about showing off or being rejected.

Boys and girls also have different learning styles. Boys learn better when they can move around, and they have trouble quickly switching from one subject to another. They find it harder to sit still for long periods of time. Girls do better when they are given word problems and things are explained by their real-world applications, especially math and science. Girls also work better in groups and are more likely to ask the teacher for help. In co-ed schools, they might be afraid to ask their teachers because they?re worried that the boys will laugh at them.

To summarize, boys and girls are very different and? therefore do better in single-sex schools. They break out of stereotypes, are better leaders, and have higher self-esteem. With this in mind, when you are a parent, why not send your child to a single-sex school?

And the short story!

The Dwarves Inside My Computer

Many people think that all of our fancy gadgets, from computers to iPads to cell phones, are operated by electricity. But this is, in fact, not true. Anyone who bothers to do a little careful snooping will discover that little dwarves actually make everything work. Take a computer, for instance. When you press down on a keyboard key, a dwarf standing beneath the key sees a small green light begin to blink, and he knows to jump on a little trampoline that types the letter for you. Actually, even the letter isn?t typed. The trampoline is simply relaying the signal to yet another dwarf, this one sitting hidden just behind the screen. When the second dwarf sees his green light begin to blink, he reaches out in front of him with a marker and quickly writes a letter, number, or symbol on the screen.

Don?t believe me? Fine. Be that way. But if you?re curious and especially if you?re smart, you?ll want to pay more attention to the world around you. When you?re blasting music through your stereo, get up really close and look inside it. You?d see tons of dwarves singing and playing instruments as loud as they possibly can. The CDs don?t actually contain anything on them, but don?t throw all yours out, because CDs are shiny and dwarves love shiny things. They will refuse to play if they don?t see something shiny. See what I mean by how many things are hidden from you? We Big-Headed People, as the dwarves call us, like to think that we know everything and all our inventions run the world. In reality, we?re all stupid and dwarves do everything for us.

I didn?t always believe in the dwarves, though. Just a few months ago, I still thought that my computer was just having issues with the hard drive when it refused to save a document I had been working on. A little window popped up, saying, ?Insufficient capacity in the hard drive.? I grumbled at the computer and kicked the desk with my foot, which only resulted in extreme pain. I grabbed my poor foot and checked to make sure my toes were fine.

Just then, I heard a tiny voice that seemed to be speaking in a thick Russian accent. ?Watch it now, will you? Or I?ll cut off your ears when you?re sleeping!?

I looked up from my foot and felt around on my head. No, I wasn?t wearing headphones. Well, of course I wasn?t. They were on the desk about a foot away from me. I was reaching for my speakers to check if they were still on, and jumped when all of a sudden they both snarled, ?Don?t you dare touch us!?

Us. So now I must really be going crazy. I was hearing not one voice in my head, but two of them. I looked around to see what else might be causing that sound, and that?s when I saw a tiny man staring back up at me, looking angry.

He had a full head of bright purple hair that was sticking up in all directions but down. His skin was bright pink and he was wearing orange pants and an orange shirt that clashed horribly with the rest of him. He was shaking his fist at me.

?What?s your problem??

?Cool!? I said, my ?insanity? forgotten. I reached out for my camera, which should have been right next to my headphones?

But it wasn?t. It was being carried away by about 20 of the small men ? and women too, I noticed. They were all only about an inch tall, but they must have been strong, because I grabbed for my camera and missed as they hurried away.

?Give it back!? I said. ?Make them give it back!?

?No way.? said the little man, who had walked across the desk and was now sitting on my mouse.

I glared at him. ?I can be mean, you know! You?re so little I could crush you with the palm of my hand!?

?Oh yeah?? And he stabbed my hand with something. Great, now both one hand and one foot hurt.

?Ow! What was that?!?

He brandished a small sword, so tiny that it looked like a needle. Maybe it was a needle.

?You?re evil, you know.?

?Nope, just fed up! We?re sick and tired of you Big-Headed People not giving us our due!?

?What did you just call me? And what do you mean, ?your due???

? I said,? He growled, as loudly as one can possibly growl when one?s vocal cords are tiny. ?A Big-Headed Person. And-?

?A Pig-Headed Person?? I said, pretending that I hadn?t heard him right. ?But I don?t have a pig head!?

?A BIG-HEADED PERSON!? He yelled, jumping off the mouse and towards me for greater effect. ?And you never appreciate anything we do! Just today, you printed something and didn?t even thank us!?

?What? How do you know I even printed something??

?Because we wrote it for you! How do you think your printer works? Using magic? Using all your fine inventions? No, it uses our hard work and manual labor. We make your whole world run, and we never get anything in return. My father would have said, ?Well, son, that?s just the way things are! Now go make that lady?s cell phone ring.? but I?m sick and tired of it. So goodbye. We?re on a strike. Probably permanent. If you?re not too stupid to notice, that?s why your computer won?t work.? And he began to climb down one side of the desk and out of sight.

?Wait a minute!? I cried.? ?I didn?t even know you little guys existed until just now!?

I waited.

I saw his head poke back up over the edge of the desk. ?Really??

?Really.?

He sighed very deeply, as if it would be a lot of work to clamber back up onto the desk, which it obviously wasn?t, because within two seconds he was at my hand, looking it over.

?What did I do now?? It was my turn to sigh.

?Oh, nothing.? The little man said. ?I was just trying to figure out how I should shake your hand, since you?re so much bigger than me.?

?Oh.? I gingerly stuck out my pinky finger, which I?d never thought of before as huge, but could probably knock over this little guy ? what was his name, anyway?

?I?m Laddie the Dwarf, short for Vladimir, Head of the Department of Mouses and Cursor Icons. Nice to meet you!?

I told him my name. ?Don?t you mean mice??

He looked confused. ?No, I mean mouses. What are mice??

?Never mind.? I said quickly. ?So, is there anything I can do for you????

He thought quite hard, or at least he pretended to. I could tell he was pretending because right away, his eyes lit up. So he already had something in mind. But then he tried to look serious, like he had no idea what to ask for.

?Um? are you famous??

?Me?? I said. ?Not right now. But I?d like to be a famous author someday.?

?Really? Are you any good at writing??

?No, I?m awful but I still want to be published.? I said dryly.

?Very funny.? He said, scampering off to talk with the other dwarves. They whispered to each other and I couldn?t hear anything they said. I already had enough trouble listening to them at their normal speaking volume.

Eventually Laddie came back, this time with a female dwarf who looked exactly like him, even down to the outfit. All the dwarves looked alike, I noticed. If I ever had to greet them individually, that would not go well.

The other dwarf introduced herself as Tanya and I wondered if tiny dwarves only came from Russia. She explained their idea.

?Well, why don?t you write something about us? That way, people will know about us and you?ll become famous when people your writing and love it.?

?Or they?ll think I?m crazy!?

?What?s that supposed to mean?? asked Laddie, who was a little slow when it came to sarcasm, apparently.

?Nothing.? I said. ?So, when do you want me to get started??

?Now would be great!? said Tanya.

So I began to ask the dwarves some questions about themselves. I asked all the dwarves who were still up on my desk, and as time went on, more and more dwarves gathered, climbing up the side of the desk until they covered every square inch of space that wasn?t already occupied by my stuff. Eventually, there wasn?t any more room, and so dwarves began to gather on the floor. At one point, I realized that possibly every dwarf in the house was gathered in my room. When they talked to one another, it sounded like the beating of a hummingbird?s wings.

Within about an hour, I had a lot of information about the dwarves. I began to create a research paper about them. I convinced the dwarves to get back into my computer so that I could use it. For the next few hours, I wrote away. Or rather, the dwarves wrote away.

But the paper wasn?t going very well. It just didn?t seem very interesting. It seemed like the ravings of a lunatic. I wanted to be known as a famous author, not as a famous crazy person!

Finally, I abruptly stopped typing away and banged my head down on my desk. Ow! I needed to remember to stop accidentally hurting myself. I massaged my forehead.

?You look OK,? said Laddie cheerfully. ?You just have a big red mark on your forehead! Why did you do that, anyway? You Big-Headed People are very strange.?????

?Yes, we are. I just can?t think of anything! This isn?t going well at all, guys.?

?You mean we won?t get our story?? asked an exceptionally tiny dwarf named Natasha.

?No, you?ll get your story ? I mean paper. I?ll get it written as soon as I get rid of my writer?s block. Wait?? Why was I being so stupid? ?I should just write a story about all of you!?

The dwarves cheered and immediately began requesting that I include each and every one of them, and by name as well. It took me several minutes to calm down everyone and tell them that I was only going to name Laddie, Tanya, and Natasha. Laddie had been the first dwarf I?d met, Tanya had explained their writing idea to me, and Natasha had given me the idea to do a story.

So I wrote a story about the dwarves instead. It was much more fun to write than that stupid research paper, and it was just as informative as the paper. All the dwarves declared that it was the best story they?d ever heard once I had finished it and read it aloud to them.

Would you, too, like to read that story? Well, you just did.

What do you think of them?

Ribbons recieved:?A???????????

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Source: http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/4-h-fair-2012-creative-writing/

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