Short Story #1: 4-8 pages typed double spaced

What: When:

  1. Five effective “what ifs?” Wed/Thurs 9-13/14
  2. 4 pages of a draftMon 9/18
  3. Final draftTues 9/25, with possible extension…

Options:

  1. No character growth/insight, epiphany, or something in between?
  2. Realistic story (BRSM), one fantasy element (Enormous Radio), reality/dream confusion (Rainy River), and/or subtle surrealism throughout (The Swimmer)?
  3. Tight time period (16) or extended time period (Rainy River)?

Requirements

  1. The story grows from an effective what if? A situation that places a character or group of characters in a potentially engaging predicament. The story grows naturally from the characters’ attempts to work their way out of it. With this approach, you should trust intuition over pre-plotting as a way of guiding the story. See SK pages 163-165 for more on this, as well as the story/plot distinction on page 170.
  2. The characterspass the gut check.This happens when you tell the truth. Think The Firm, but it isalso true in fantasy fiction. Think Harry Potter when he turns into a teenager.
  3. The description is effective. This happens when…
  4. You avoid vagueness, treating us instead to specific places, things, events, character behaviors, and (sometimes) character thoughts.
  5. All description adds something to the story and isn’t just description for description’s sake.
  6. So is the dialogue. This happens when your characters talk the way they wouldtalk, given…
  7. Who they are
  8. Who they are talking to
  9. The situation they are in
  10. So is the narration.
  11. Basic effective narrator:She intelligently chooses which moments to speed over (or skip entirely) and which moments to linger on, thus keeping the pace brisk and drawing our attention to what matters most.
  12. More effective:she also has a distinct personality and an attitude, and the language she uses (word choices, sentence types, figurative language) fits with who she is.
  13. Still more effective: her point of view and reason for telling the story addvalueto the story.
  14. Very effective:unaware of her own bias, she misjudges, even though the reader doesn’t
  15. And remember: with stories, audiencemembers come for the entertainment, but they stay for the meaning.Effective stories give both, in the right proportions, at the right times. And then they make bank.