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Honors Proposal

Katherine Sawyer Masterson is a marketing major at the University of Cincinnati who wants to write her first novel. She plans to write at least 50,000 words over 8 weeks, working about 10 hours per week. To help achieve her goal, she will read books on novel writing techniques. Each day, she will journal about her progress. When finished, she will make 5 copies to pass among friends so the novel spreads through the student body. Her advisor is a literature professor who can provide guidance.

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56 views2 pages

Honors Proposal

Katherine Sawyer Masterson is a marketing major at the University of Cincinnati who wants to write her first novel. She plans to write at least 50,000 words over 8 weeks, working about 10 hours per week. To help achieve her goal, she will read books on novel writing techniques. Each day, she will journal about her progress. When finished, she will make 5 copies to pass among friends so the novel spreads through the student body. Her advisor is a literature professor who can provide guidance.

Uploaded by

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Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Basic Information

Full name: Katherine Sawyer Masterson


UC Email: [email protected]
College: Carl H. Lindner College of Business
Major: Marketing
Title of Project: A Novel Idea
Thematic Area: Creative Arts
Expected Project Start Date: January 1, 2014
Expected Project End Date: March 1, 2015
Project Information
Abstract
Ever since writing was introduced in ancient Mesopotamia in 3200 BCE, it has been used
to communicate first with the upper classes, the only people who could read, and eventually a
greater variety of citizens. This was because of the difficulty associated with making a book: it
could take a monk over a year to copy a manuscript in the Dark Ages. This made books a luxury
good available only to the wealth. However, this all changed when German printer Johannes
Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press in 1450, which could make 3,600 printed
pages per workday. This innovation was invaluable because it gave many new people access to
the ideas only communicated in writing.
Today, there is a literacy rate of 99.99% in America, and nearly everyone in the country
has access to some form of written communication. The world has come a long way since the
invention of writing, and I want to help it go even further. I have been interested in writing a
novel ever since I wrote my first short story when I was five. Because I took many advanced
English classes in high school, I am almost at the end of my English-class career, but I dont
want the journey to stop. Although some novels can take upwards of a decade to complete, I am
going to compose a first draft for a novel in two months (eight weeks), working about ten hours
per week. In this time, I want to write at least 50,000 words, which is about the size of The Great
Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is an average of about 6,250 words per week, or about 16
pages in Microsoft Word. Each one of those ten hours per week will be filled with the clicking of
keys as I strive to meet this quota.
Learning Outcomes
Acquires or further develops competencies within a particular creative domain: I have a
lot of experience writing essays for school and regularly received high grades on them. I have
even dabbled in some creative writing both for school and for personal enjoyment, but nothing of
the magnitude I have outlined here. Creating a novel will force me to improve my writing skills
because I will me writing more about one thing than I ever have before. The only way to
improve writing skills is through writing, and as I complete this project I will write a great deal,
strengthening my skills.
Possesses ability to think innovatively: It would be useless to write something that has
already been written. I will center my novel around something that has ever been discussed
before; something straight from my own mind. In doing this, I will bring something new to the
world through invention, creating a brand new perspective on things. As I create this original
work, I will use my innovation to differentiate it from all things currently in existence.
Connects, synthesizes, and transforms ideas: The whole point of writing is to bring ideas
from inside the mind into the light of the outside world. Every story starts as a set of disparate
ideas floating around in the brain that must be strung together into a logical sequence through the

power of expression through, in this case, writing. As ideas flow from the mind onto the page,
they naturally transform to make more sense and fit the already-created story better than they did
as just an unexpressed idea. To create a good tale, I will have to twist and change the ideas from
my mind so that they work together in a logical way.
Goals and Academic Theories
A. I have wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I
used to keep track of who was the youngest person to write a novel, and I compared
my age to theirs at all times. I wanted to beat their record. Im too old for that now,
but my desire to write a novel has not abated in the intervening years. It has always
been a goal of mine to write something over 100 pages long, and I can accomplish
that through this project. This will also help my professional career because writing is
an important part of every job, and by improving my skills in that field I can improve
my opportunities for advancement in the future. Also, any incidents that occur along
the way while I write may serve as good stories to tell during hiring interviews.
B. To help me accomplish the huge task I have created for myself, I plan to read From
First Draft to Finished Novel: A Novel Writers Guide to Cohesive Story Building by
Karen Wiesner. Wiesner has published 90 books in the past 14 years and has won
numerous awards, and the book by her I have selected is a bestseller. I think I will be
more prepared to write a novel after I have some idea how to do it, and this book is a
good start to get me to that point of understanding. Another book I will read that will
help me learn the art of novel writing is How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake
Method by Randy Ingermanson. This book contains an explanation of the popular
Snowflake Method that has used by many writers before me to craft their work. It will
be valuable for me to learn this so that I too can write a book.
Creativity
The creative element of this project is clear: I will be writing an original novel. This
entire act will be initiated, performed, and completed by me with no outside help aside from the
sources listed in the previous section. The story will be crafted from my own ideas; I will not
copy from any material. This will be a purely creative endeavor and will have little to no
interference from the outside world.
Reflection
At the end of every day, I will reflect upon how well my writing went in the format of a
journal. I will daily consider questions such as: 1) Am I proud of what I wrote? 2) What went
well/poorly? 3) What could I do differently tomorrow to improve? This reflection will allow me
to gauge how well the project is doing and what I think I should be doing differently to make it
work better.
Dissemination
I will print five copies of what I write, bind them, and hand each one out to a friend. I
will ask that when they are done, they pass the book on to another friend with the same
instructions for that friend to pass it on to another. In this way, the novel will make its way
through the student body.
Project Advisor
James Schiff, English and Comparative Literature Professor
He teaches a class called Contemporary Novel, so he should be able to help me with my project.

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