ENG 205: Intro to Creative Writing – Fiction & Poetry
Instructor: Y. Bailey-Kirby
SHORT STORY GUIDELINES
Write a short story (dialogue and action between two or more characters in a specific place and time that you choose) placing at least two characters in this very fundamental conflict: One wants something that the other does not want to give up. This something may be anything -- money, power, respect, jewelry, sex, information, a match -- but be sure to focus on the one desire. By having the desire in mind, it will help you have a conflict for your story that needs to be resolved.
If you want a slightly more complicated variation on the same theme, you can try the following premise: Each of the two characters has half of something that is no good without the other half. Neither wants to give up his or her half. You are allowed to choose any setting, sort of characters, and plot as long as there is a conflict, turning point, and resolution, etc.
Remember to show rather than tell; keep the five senses in mind when choosing significant, concrete details; make us care about the character by giving them; and apply the idea of “only trouble is interesting“ while creating your story. There will be few structural requirements, other than the story should, for the most part, be 5-15 pages (typed, double-spaced) in length.
CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA FOR YOUR STORY:
A. Is it original and engaging? Why or why not? Then, identify what you liked best about the story.
B. Does it have a plot (conflict, crisis, and resolution) and a setting? For example, does the story end abruptly or does it have resolution that wraps up everything? Does the story apply flashbacks and/or foreshadowing appropriately? Do you have at least a sense of place and time for the setting? Do you feel as if you are there? Why or why not?
C. Does the point of view remain consistent and does it work in this piece? If not, identify the inconsistency.
D. Does the piece show rather than tell? Does the student use the direct methods of character presentation (i.e. Action, Appearance, Dialogue, etc.)? For example, with dialogue, are idioms, accents, dialects and so forth appropriately used and is it believable how these characters would speak?
E. Are the characters vivid and consistent? Does the story provide enough of a background and significant details about the characters, so you have a sense of their age, gender, profession, nationality, etc.?
F. Is the piece relatively free of grammatical errors or problems with form? Does the essay leave you with any questions?
OTHER FACTORS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
· Know all the influences that go into the making of your character’s type (age, gender, race, nationality, marital status, education, religion, etc.) and know the details of your character’s life (what he or she does during every part of the day, thinks about, remembers, wants, likes and dislikes, eats, says, etc.)
· Applying the information from the textbook: What does your character want that is at odds with whatever else the character wants? What patterns of thought and behavior work against the primary goal? Remember to focus sharply on how the character looks, what they wear, and what they even own and then how they move.
· Build action by making your characters discover and decide. Make sure that what happens is action and not mere event or movement, that is, that it contains the possibility for human change. Appearance, action, and dialogue should help convey the characters’ feelings, attitudes, etc. For example, your central character may speak politely or enthusiastically, but their thoughts may run in strong contradiction to that, and you could express the contradiction and conflict through appearance, action, and dialogue.
· Another instance of revealing characters’ different motivations or true intentions, you may have one character admit their guilt for a crime while the other character may betray themselves through appearance and action. Be aware of the five methods of character presentation, authorial interpretation, appearance, speech, action, and thought. Reveal the character’s conflicts by presenting attributes in at least one of these methods that contrast with attributes you present in the others.
· Also, you will want to describe a setting that is likely to be quite familiar to your readers (supermarket, dormitory, classroom, movie theater, suburban house, etc.), but it might be unfamiliar, strange, outlandish, or outrageous to the central character. Let us feel the strangeness of it through the character’s eyes or have us look at the setting with a new lens in the details that you choose. Focus on the details of the place, including weather, geography, people, and machines, letting these details imply the character’s feelings about the place and the events that take place in the narrative time.
· Using active verbs in your description of the setting, build forceful conflict between the person and the place. Perhaps they are uncomfortable in the surroundings, socially inept, frightened, homesick, or the like, even though it’s an ordinary or familiar place to your readers, but the details will reveal more about the character and how they feel about the circumstances and the place.
CHECKLIST:
1. _____Submit your story into the electronic DROP BOX in CANVAS under “ASSIGNMENTS” before class begins on the due date. Remember the short story must be approximately 5-15 pages in length (typed and double spaced) with a legible font like Calibri or Times New Roman (font size 11-12), and remember to include YOUR NAME and the TITLE OF YOUR WORK at the top of the page.
2. _____You must answer the workshop questions by typing a brief response to each student’s work. You will submit your typed response/critique to the author of the work as well as the instructor. You may want to mark up the student’s work in the margin if you have specific questions or want to highlight a particularly strong, vivid passage.
3. _____Include all the pre-writing exercise during class with your portfolio revision, but at the end of your story’s draft, include the following pre-writing exercise:
· You will consider alternative twists to your story based on the conflict between characters before you begin to write it. You should be considering alternative endings to the story based upon the conflict and how the story’s ending would be different if each character had an opportunity over the other(s) to get the factor that started the conflict. You want to have three different alternative twists based upon the story’s conflict on a separate sheet for your readers to consider.
Final Portfolio Guidelines for Short Story:
Each student is required to revise their short and submit it online in the DROP BOX in CANVAS under “ASSIGNMENTS”. Following the feedback from the workshop, the instructor’s response, and the peer critiques, the students will want to revise and strengthen the weak areas of their writing before submitting their work for the final portfolio. Furthermore, with the final revised version, the student must include the original draft of their story with the instructor’s feedback as well as their five in-class pre-writing activities with their final portfolio revision.
The main objective is to have made a considerable revision and not merely a cosmetic one. For example, if the story had no closure, the student provided the resolution; if the story was telling more than showing, the student provided more concrete, significant details to show; or if there were awkward gaps in time or transitions, the student created more coherence between time shifts. Therefore, you should be correcting more than grammar or punctuation errors.
Furthermore, each student needs to write a one page response of approximately 350 words on their experience with creative writing and why they would recommend the course to another student. (Of course, you can exceed this amount.)
(a) What are three weak areas that you strengthened in this final portfolio revision and what is your major strength in your fiction writing skills as a result? Provide specific examples from your short story. You may want to consult the feedback from your peers and instructor as you address this question on how you have improved over the last few weeks of the course.
(b) What examples of fiction readings from the course (i.e. short stories that the instructor shared as supplementary to the reading assigned in the book, short stories in the textbook, etc.) helped you understand how to apply a certain technique or write your short story? Why?
(c) Finally, what activities/writing prompts as well as aspects of the course instruction have helped you strengthen your skills as a writer and why you would recommend creative writing to another student?
Note: You should also argue on a separate sheet what grade you believe you deserve for the course. What can you argue with honesty is the grade you earned for the effort that you put forth in creative writing that is based on the attendance policy and the course requirements? (See course syllabus or instructor’s website for the grading criteria.)