Week 12: Make It Misbehave

Before the session#

Bring a current experimental picture-book concept, prototype, sequence, or substantial fragment — work developing toward the final assignment, or another prototype from this course. You are revising something that already exists, not starting a new story.

Remove One Trick#

This is the main studio activity, in three stages.

1. Identify#

Briefly name:

1. the main rule your work breaks;
2. what that break is supposed to do for the reader;
3. any other tricks or experimental devices currently present.

Keep this short — a few sentences per point is enough.

2. Remove#

Choose one noticeable trick or device and make a temporary version of the work without it. Actually remove, replace, hide, or neutralise it — don’t just imagine what the change would be. You need two versions you can genuinely compare, not one version and a description of the other.

3. Compare#

Set Version A (with the trick) beside Version B (without it) and ask:

• Which version communicates the central idea more clearly?
• What does the reader lose?
• What does the reader gain?
• Does the trick support the work, or compete with it?

The honest answer is allowed to be remove it permanently. Not every experimental device is required to survive revision.

Peer review#

Show a peer the work without a long explanation first. Ask them three questions, in this order:

1. What rule do you think this work is breaking?
2. What exactly is the break?
3. What effect does it have on you as a reader?

That’s rule → break → effect. Then compare their reading with your own intention. If they notice a different trick first, that’s useful evidence about what’s actually competing for attention in the work — not a reason to explain what they were supposed to see.

Revision decision#

Using the removal test and the peer review together, make one decision about the trick you tested: keep, remove, reduce, clarify, or replace. State briefly why. The point isn’t to defend your original design — it’s to make the work stronger.

This Week’s Misbehaviour — Kill Your Favourite Trick#

A separate 15–30 minute experiment from Remove One Trick — not another version of the same comparison.

Pick a technique from any previous week that you personally enjoy using. For one small piece or fragment, ban yourself from using it, then solve the same narrative problem another way. For example: if you normally rely on contradiction, solve it without contradiction; if you normally use a reveal turn, solve it without one; if you normally use reader interaction, solve it without asking the reader to act. These are examples, not a menu — pick whichever habit is actually yours.

Briefly answer:

1. What favourite trick did you remove?
2. What did you use instead?
3. What did the restriction reveal about your habits?

This is about noticing a habit, not producing a polished piece.

Afterwards#

Add your comparison and your Kill Your Favourite Trick note to your Misbehaviour Toolbox — the last thing that goes in it. The toolbox was never a checklist to complete; Assignment 3 asks you to choose from it deliberately, not exhaustively. The goal was never to break every rule. It was to know which rule to break, why, and what happens to the reader when you do.

The spec

What you bring to the session. Written so a reader can tell whether it has been met without asking you.

• you have identified the main rule your current work breaks, what the break is meant to do, and any other tricks or devices currently present
• you created an actual version of the work without one chosen trick, not just a description of the difference
• you tested both versions with a peer using rule → break → effect and compared their reading with your intention
• you have made and briefly justified one revision decision — keep, remove, reduce, clarify, or replace — and completed this week's Misbehaviour, Kill Your Favourite Trick