SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT Jennings

Length--1500-3000 words

Goal--interpretive fiction revealing character

BRAINSTORMING FOR STORY IDEAS Create characters and situations that you feel comfortable with. If stumped, consider models. For example, could you write an interpersonal conflict like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills like White Elephants" set in your town? Or look at news stories; what caused a man to murder his child? Create a story which tells his motivation.

Describe 3 situations you could write about:

SITUATION:CONFLICT OR PROBLEM CHARACTER(S) SETTING

EX conversation at barbershop teenage narrator barbershop

makes narrator feel he should farmer, barbers

speak up

Choose one to develop and tell why it appeals to you.

PREWRITING Aim for lots of conversation to propel the story. First person is easiest to write.

1. Who are the main characters?

2. What is the conflict between them?

How can you SHOW this conflict in action and dialogue?

3. What minor characters are needed?

If some of these are foils, what exactly is the purpose of each?

4. Write a page-long outline with a focus on conflict and character motivation.

5. Setting?

SHORT STORY P2

6.Characterization (Do on another sheet for each significant character. This doesn't have to be stated in the short story, but it helps for the writer to visualize the person and the writer knowing these details makes the character's action believable within a broader context.)

What is the character's past?

Goals in life?

Physical appearance?

Character traits?

How can character traits be expressed in body language, gestures, facial expressions?

in tone of voice?

in color and type of clothing?

in interests, hobbies (like Glass Menagerie)?

in level of diction (vocabulary) and syntax (sentence structure, style of speaking, (like Willie Loman's incomplete thoughts trailing off...)? Give examples of things character would say. Consider appropriate slang for character.

7. What is your point of view? Why?

8. What is your tone?

9. What is the theme? (Be careful not to moralize.)

10. If you have used a model, what is it? (Under your title write: with apologies to . . . or an reinterpretation of . . .)

WRITING SHORT STORY Use grammar book carefully to check dialogue conventions and punctuation.

FURTHER SOURCES TO HELP IN WRITING BELIEVABLE SHORT STORIES

CLASSIC STORIES FOR MODELS

Anderson, Sherwood."I'm a Fool." Winesburg, Ohio. (1st person)

Galsworthy, John. "The Japanese Quince." (2 neighbors meet)

Lardner, Ring. "Haircut." (unreliable narrator)

Mansfield, Katherine. "Miss Brill." (Sunday afternoon with an old maid)

Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." (mother and 2 daughters interact)

Welty, Eudora. "A Still Moment." (3 historical figures meet for the first time)

______."Memory." (an "autobiographical" childhood memory)

______."Where is the Voice Coming From?" (1st person point of view tells the murderer's thoughts on killing civil rights leader Medger Evers in 1966)

WRITING ABOUT THE PROCESS OF WRITING

Welty, Eudora. One Writer's Beginnings.

CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORIES REFERRED TO IN TALK

Boyle, T.Coraghessan. "The UndergroundGardens." The New Yorker, 25 May 1998,102+.

Kaufman, Wendi. "Helen on Eighty-sixth Street." The New Yorker,24 November, 1997,116+.

Winterson, Jeanett. Tough Girls Don't Dream." The New Yorker,15 June, 1998, 70+.

EDITING SHORT STORY

WRITER______EDITOR 1 ______EDITOR 2______

EDITING/REVISION Edit your own work. Then ask others to edit and answer too.

1. Where does pacing lag?

Where's the climax?

Is it reached logically?

2. What scenes need more development (dialogue, description)?

3. Do you CARE about what happens to these characters?

Are characters and situations believable?

If not,where and why?

Is additional development of motivation needed?

4. What is the theme?

Is the theme stated too obviously?

5. Is there a reliance on formula/escapist fiction devices?

6. If this were a selection in your literature book what aspects of the story could you write about in a literary analysis?

7. For editors, write any active reading questions (or any confusions you had while reading).

9. Reread the title and introductory paragraphs. The exposition should make the reader want to continue reading, establish background, and create curiosity.

What suggestions could you make to lead the reader into the story?

DRAMA/SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT

(*D applies to drama only;*SS applies to short story only.)

Length--Drama 15-30 minutes performance time;5-10 pp typed?

Short story--1000-3000 words

Evaluation--interpretive fiction revealing character

BRAINSTORMING FOR STORY IDEAS Create characters and situations that you feel comfortable with. If stumped, consider models. For example, could you write an interpersonal conflict like "Hills like White Elephants" set in Abingdon or "The Stronger" as a conversation between two girlfriends?

SITUATION:CONFLICT OR PROBLEM CHARACTER(S) SETTING

EX conversation at barbershop teenage narrator barbershop

makes narrator feel he should farmer, barbers

speak up

Choose one to develop and tell why it appeals to you.

PREWRITING Aim for lots of conversation to propel the story. First person is easiest to write.

1. Who are the main characters?

2. What is the conflict between them?

How can you SHOW this conflict in action and dialogue?

3. What minor characters are needed?

If some of these are foils, what exactly is their purpose?

4. Write a page-long OUTLINE with focus on conflict and character motivation.

5. Setting? (*D Is this stageable??)

*D Set design (On another sheet of paper draw the set with furniture or stationary props.)

*D Major Props--

DRAMA/SHORT STORY P2

*D What scenes require special lighting to create mood or to make transitions between scenes?

6.Characterization (Do on another sheet for each significant character. This doesn't have to be stated in the play/short story, but it helps for the writer to visualize the person and the writer knowing these details makes the character's action believable within a broader context.Think about what you learn about Bovary.)

What is the character's past?

What goals in life?

What is physical appearance?

What character traits?

How can character traits be expressed in body language, gestures, facial expressions?

in tone of voice?

in color and type of clothing?

in interests, hobbies (like Glass Menagerie)?

in level of diction (vocabulary) and syntax (sentence structure, style of speaking, (like Willie's incomplete thoughts trailing off...)? Give examples of things character would say. Consider appropriate slang for character.

*SS7. What is your point of view? Why?

*SS8. What is your tone?

*D8 What is mood of drama?

9. What is theme? (Be careful not to moralize.)

10. If you have used a model, what is it? Under your title write: with apologies to ...an reinterpretation of .....

WRITING SCRIPT Begin with list of characters in order of appearance and setting. Follow format of Death of a Saleman in terms of CAPITALIZING characters' names followed by a colon and using parentheses and italics to indicate action and expression of emotion/tone of voice. Notice how scene changes are made and how lighting is indicated.