Creative+Writing

1. List 5 Positive consequences and 5 Negative consequences? Pros: having a second chance at life getting rid of the skeletons in your closet reliving the best years of your life not making the same mistakes you've made meeting new people Cons: watching everyone you love die working forever having to constantly make new friends ( if you were 20 forever you couldn't make a 20 year old friend and still be friends with them 40 years later they'd be 60 and you'd still be 20) trying to get a new passport having to hide it from everyone you cared about not being able to be in a serious relationship for more than a few years

2. Describe your character. Complete these questions on your wiki. Create a page called "Character Development" 3. Describe the setting. After the Protagonist discovers the fountian of youth and becomes young he joins the army and the rest of the story is him trying to rewrite his past in Vitinam. 4. What is the main conflict? The main conflict is man vs. self. The protagonist has embarked on a jorney to rewrite his past and be the friend he thinks he should have been. Plot outline: -he wakes up from a nightmare and decides to rewrite his past -sets out to fin the fountain of youth -after becoming young again he joins tha army and is shiped out to vitname - renacts scene from his nightmares and changes the ending
 * 1) **What do you know about this character now that s/he doesn’t yet know? He's going to die.**
 * 2) **What is this character’s greatest flaw? He's unable to accept reality.**
 * 3) **What do you know about this character that s/he would never admit? That his friend's death wasn't his falt.**
 * 4) **What is this character’s greatest asset? He is selfsuficent.**
 * 5) **If this character could choose a different identity, who would s/he be? Anyone else. **
 * 6) **What music does this character sing to when no one else is around? **
 * 7) **In what or whom does this character have the greatest faith? his oldest friends.**
 * 8) **What is this character’s favorite movie? **
 * 9) **Does this character have a favorite article of clothing? Favorite shoes? His miltary dress uniform.**
 * 10) **Does this character have a vice? Smoking**
 * 11) **Name this character’s favorite person (living or dead). His dead friend.**
 * 12) **What is this character’s secret wish? To have saved his friend's life.**
 * 13) **What is this character’s proudest achievement? Having graduated from Harvard Med.**
 * 14) **Describe this character’s most embarrassing moment. **
 * 15) **What is this character’s deepest regret? Not having saved his friend's life.**
 * 16) **What is this character’s greatest fear? That the nightmares will never go away.**
 * 17) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe this character’s most devastating moment. When his friend was killed before his eyes. **
 * 18) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s greatest achievement? A purple heart.**
 * 19) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s greatest hope? To begiven a chance to redeeme himself.**
 * 20) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Does this character have an obsession? Name it. No.**
 * 21) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s greatest disappointment? Not having saved his friend.**
 * 22) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s worst nightmare? A reoqquring nightmare where his friend dies and he is powerless.**
 * 23) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Whom does this character most wish to please? Why? Himself, because he feels that, that is the only way he'll be able to live with himself.**
 * 24) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe this character’s mother. A loving stay at home mom who was always there for her son.**
 * 25) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe this character’s father. A wealthy business man who had tryed to groom his son to take over the famliy business ( stock exchange).**
 * 26) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">If s/he had to choose, with whom would this character prefer to live? In Florida.**
 * 27) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Where does this character fall in birth order? What effect does this have? He was the youngest of five and therfore was always pushing himself to be just as big, strong and smart as his old siblings.**
 * 28) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe this character’s siblings or other close relatives. They very very close through out their childhood and into thier adult lives but after that they started to drift apart and stated to only see each other once a year. **
 * 29) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe this character’s bedroom. Include three cherished items. **
 * 30) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s birth date? How does this character manifest traits of his/her astrological sign? May 31 1921 **
 * 31) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">If this character had to live in seclusion for six months, what six items would s/he bring? A rifel, a knife, flint, saw, fishing rod and some rope. **
 * 32) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Why is this character angry? Because he has been torchered by his thoughts for 25 years.**
 * 33) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What calms this character? **
 * 34) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Describe a recurring dream or nightmare this character might have. In his recurring nightmare he watches/feels his best friend die.**
 * 35) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">List the choices (not circumstances) that led this character to his/her current predicament. **
 * 36) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">List the circumstances over which this character has no control. what his past.**
 * 37) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What wakes this character in the middle of the night? His nightmares **
 * 38) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">How would a stranger describe this character? Old, intelleengent, partiorotic**
 * 39) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What does this character resolve to do differently every morning? **
 * 40) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Who depends on this character? Why? **
 * 41) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">If this character knew s/he had exactly one month to live, what would s/he do? **
 * 42) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">How would a dear friend or relative describe this character? **
 * 43) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character’s most noticeable physical attribute? **
 * 44) **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">What is this character hiding from him/herself? **
 * 45) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">**Write one additional thing about your character**.

5.He becomes psychically younger and eventually dies. 6. The fact that all he talks about resting in peace and then gets his wish when he dies. 7.The sun is a symbol for the main character. 8. the theme is redemption.

media type="file" key="a second chance.m4a" <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Short story – rough copy <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Bullets whizzed overhead while shells exploded in every direction. Some of the rounds came so close to me that I could feel them as they passed no more than two inches from my body. I continued to make my way up the hill even with the mud making every little movement a thousand times harder. As I pushed on towards the top of the hill it was impossible to tell where the enemy was. With the rain and mist, one couldn’t see more than seven- maybe eight yards ahead. As I ran towards the top of the hill where the German’s bunkers lay I heard the cries of help from men who had been hit. As I turned to help them my captain barked, “Robert are you crazy? Get your head out of your ass and keep charging the hill.” It’s a funny thing war. Three years ago, I didn’t even know these men existed. Now I was willing to risk my life for them. We’d become brothers; sons of war. I was just glad that John, my childhood friend, wasn’t wounded. Last time he was wounded his pregnant wife Mary wrote me a letter in which she begged for my word that I wouldn’t let anything happen to him again. John and I were among the first to make it to the bunkers and once we got there we started to do what we’d been trained to do- kill Germans. The night before when we were briefed of our objective, we had discussed an extremely efficient way to kill the four or five Germans in each bunker. John would throw a grenade down into the bunker and they we’d blitz the wounded Germans with our rifles. Our captain just declared that we had successfully claimed all the bunkers on that hill and that now we were to help the medics tend to the wounded. As we were walking away I heard two consecutive shots - one from behind me and another from the left followed by John collapsing. He’d been shot in the back and as he collapsed, without thinking, I went to help him. The bullet had gone clean through his back and out the other side. I immediately began to apply pressure to the wound trying to remember anything that I had learned in medical school before being drafted. But it was too late. He looked at me for a last time followed by the release of life from his body. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I awoke with a start. I could feel the cold sweat dripping from my forehead and the ice cold blood in my veins. I felt like a failure. Mary had become a widow at twenty four and John’s son had never known his father. I went outside and lit up a cigar. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">If you were to pass Robert on the street, with his drinking buddies you’d imagine that he led a great life; a war hero who’d come back and become one of the best surgeons in U.S. history. You’d think that he’d have a loving wife and a loving family. Nothing could be further from the truth. After coming back from WWII he had been diagnosed with shellshock or post traumatic stress disorder. He became obsessed with his work, obsessed with never feeling that release of energy that comes from a person when they die. Immediately after coming home he married his high school sweet heart and had three wonderful children. But as the years went on he became more and more obsessed with his work and started to push his family away. Eventually he and his wife had a divorce and she moved away with the children. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> As I smoked my cigar I thought about that requiring nightmare and John. It was then that I realised that twenty five years ago today John had died, twenty five years ago I had felt John’s life leave his body, this dream had haunted me for twenty five years. It was useless to go back to bed knowing I would just have the same dream so instead I poured myself a drink and decided to wait for the sun to rise and looked out on to lake Hell’s n blazes. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">During the hours before the sunrise I thought about my life. I’d done almost everything right. I’d only ever made one mistake and done everything to make it up to Mary and her son. I always sent them presents for birthdays and Christmas, money when times were hard for them. I even helped her son get into university. But the feeling that I had let down John and his family still remained. This feeling had slowly been consuming me for the past twenty years. If only I had another chance, if only I had taken the bullet. These thoughts took over my mind for the next few hours leading up to the sunrise. As soon as I saw the sun start to come over the horizon all thoughts left my mind and as the sun rose I was filled with a new emotion. I don’t know how to explain how I felt, but after the sun had fully risen I noticed how it was different - as if it had been reborn or had grown young. Had the sun made a mistake? Was the sun being given a second chance? Oh, how I envied the sun. If only I could grow young and be given a second chance to save John’s life. Of course being a man of medicine and science I knew that nothing could reverse the effects of time, that nothing could bring back the dead and that we don’t grow young we grow old. I didn’t know what to do. It was impossible to get a second chance. John had died and it was my fault. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Some people say that we all get second chances. I was never really a big believer in that until later on that day. My drinking friends and I were at our favourite pub having a drinking contest. That was one of the few things that my mind set was just perfect for and as we got into it all my thoughts just began to drift into the back of my mind. It was down to me and Derek. We had each downed fifteen shots already and with our little side bet I wasn’t about to lose. So there we were on our sixteenth shot when Derek said “this must have come from the fountain of youth cause I feel like I’m twenty four!” It was then when it hit me. Here was my second chance. I may not be able to save John’s life but his son is currently serving in Vietnam. Maybe just maybe if I were to save his life that nightmare and the consuming feeling of failure would go away. I could finally rest in peace. I downed my sixteenth shot just as Derek passed out and fell on to the floor. I ran out of the pub. I didn’t even take my winnings. As far as I was concerned I was in debt to Derek. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I didn’t know a lot about the fountain of youth only that it was near some lake in Florida. It was perfect in that all the lakes in Florida are connected through the swamps. I had my twenty two foot speed boat all gassed up waiting on my private dock. As soon as I got home I looked up the location of the fountain of youth. There were over one hundred different locations so I took the top fifteen and wrote them down on my chart. I grabbed anything else I thought that I might need - a hunting knight, food, a handgun, extra gas for the boat, all the money from my house safe and a sleeping bag. And then I set out to claim my second chance. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I searched for the fountain throughout the night. Whenever I got to the location marked on my chart I’d then look for the fountain anywhere within a five hundred yard radius. I looked throughout the night and when I got to the ninth location and started to look around I saw it. It was just there in plain view overrun with all types of vegetation. I tried to remember what I’d read. I think that you’re to say the age to which you wish to return to and then drink, but the fountain’s powers will only work once and once you’ve drank the water you’ll remain however old you chose to be until you are killed. If you were to drink the water again you’d only get a surge of power. I took out my flask and drank what little scotch I had left, then filled it up with the water surging from the fountain and just as the flask touched my lips I thought about my family and friends and how I’d never be able to see them again. But then the feeling and memory of John dying overtook me. I just wanted to get rid of that memory so I muttered twenty two and raised the flask to my lips and drank. Almost immediately I began to have this psychedelic effect and started to wonder if it was safe to mix hard liquor and water from the fountain of youth. As this feeling began to go away I felt different ... younger, stronger but that was all; my knowledge hadn’t changed, just my body. I took two steps and then leapt into my boat and sped away. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I’d been given my second chance and now I was determined to make something of it. I began to think how to get into David’s company. I pondered this for at least an hour when it came to me. Mary had written me a letter saying how the medic in David’s company had died and that there was no one to replace him due to the heavy casualties. I pulled I went into town and docked my boat and phoned up an old war buddy who was now a two star general. I told him how I knew that the 57th infantry division was in need of a medic. I also told him that I knew a kid at med school who wanted to join the army. He said that was great and asked for his name. That was a question to which I had no answer. I couldn’t be Robert Graham anymore. I had to choose a different name. I still liked Robert so I told him that the young man’s name was Robert Kelly and that he’d be at basic training in two days. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">When I got to the U.S. military base and went to check in they asked me if I had any id to prove that I really was Robert Kelly. This was the last of questions I was prepared for so I calmly asked if it really mattered and was told that it didn’t really make a difference. So I was checked in, given all my clothes and gear told that I was to be shipped out to the 57th infantry division the next day. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know if was the water from the fountain or if I was afraid to see John’s death. But what I think it really was that I couldn’t believe that I was living my second chance. At the crack of dawn I was loaded on to a cargo plane with all my gear and as the doors closed I knew that this is what I had lived for, for the past twenty five years. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">That evening I arrived in Vietnam and met up with the 57th infantry division. After introducing myself and learning a few rules I set out to befriend David. It wasn’t too hard. Apparently he hadn’t really liked the old medic and sharing my cigarettes closed the deal. It was uncanny just how much he resembled his father not only physically but also with his personality. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">I made it my duty to protect David. I always had his back. The fighting was much different than in WWII. The Vietcong didn’t have any set turrets or bunkers and there wasn’t really any real line for us to hold. They’d just hid in the vegetation and shot at us. The next few weeks passed by and were fairly uneventful with the exception of one or two battles with the guerrillas. On my twenty-fifth day with the 57th infantry division we were being shot at from above. The Vietcong had positioned themselves on top of the hill and were now shooting at us. However I must congratulate them. They couldn’t have chosen a better time. It had rained for several days now and the mud was making it much harder to move around and the rain and mist made it impossible to tell where we were being shot from. We were given the order to charge the hill guns blazing. I wasn’t shooting; my senses had gone into overdrive after realising that this was the scene in my dream. Once we reached the top of the hill and our captain had told us to tend to the injured I heard the sound of a hammer from a hand gun being drawn back without thinking I spun around and threw myself at David. As I did so I felt the impact of a bullet hitting me in the chest as I hit the ground I heard someone shoot the Vietcong who’d taken the shot at David. David bent over me and tried to apply pressure to the wound but it was no use. I just laid there until I felt a release knowing that I would finally rest in peace. <span style="color: #002060; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Andy Muth block 2