| Before you ever start to write the story, you need to be able to fill out the details of the following three-part sentence. 1. My characters will interact in these ways … 2. in order to achieve this resolution … 3. so that readers will get this message. Assignment 1.1- Genre: Speculative Fiction Assignment 1.2- Theme: Assignment 1.3- Characters: - What is the characters’ identity, name, age, nationality. - What does the character look like? - What is the characters’ background? Family, education, hobbies, and so on. - In a setting, what kinds of things does your character like? Leather furniture, hardwood floors, and so on. - What does the character think about? How does he/she react emotionally to frustrating situations? What is important to them? - How does the character move, respond, behave? - What does the character sound like while talking? Is there an accent? What is their vocabulary like and is it consistent with their personality? - How to other people react to your character? Who are friends and enemies. Does the character see himself the same way other people do? - What are their most unusual characteristics? Assignment 1.4- Plot - What event(s) lead your main character to a conflict. - What is the initial conflict that is encountered. - What type of conflict is it? Internal or external. - Which character is right, which is wrong or mistaken? Does that change in the story? - What are the results of the starting conflict. - How does the starting conflict lead to more complicated conflicts. - What brings the conflict to its greatest intensity? - What is the climax? - What happens as a result of that climax? - What is the end result? If the character makes a change, what makes him/her change. All in all, what is the end resolution. Don’t forget, the events should be in chronological order, where one event leads to/causes the next. Following, is a sample of how an outline can be set up. Feel free to copy and paste. A. Exposition 1. 2. 3. B. Opening Incident 1. 2. C. Rising Action 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. D. Climax E. 1. 2. F. Resolution Assignment 1.5- Setting An easy way to picture your setting is by answering these questions: - How does the setting look? - What sounds are present? - How does it feel? Cold, wet, and so on. - What is the mood? Depressing, light-hearted, and so on. - How does it smell? - What is the time of the setting? - What is the space? Miles? A small bedroom? - Is there more than one setting? (If so ask these questions about each). Now, even though you can picture all these details, they are not all important to the reader. Before using a lot of detail regarding setting, ask yourself these question: - Is setting important to the plot? - Is setting important to the characters? - Is setting important to the theme? If no, then you probably don’t need a great amount of detail. Assignment 1.6- POV A short story is a narrative. It tells readers about imaginary events that happen to imaginary people, and these events lead to a crisis which is then resolved at the end. The goal of a short story is to provide entertainment while conveying a message or theme to the readers. Edgar Allen Poe said that a short story has a beginning, middle, and end. Beginning- the characters meet. Middle- the characters face growing conflict. End- the characters resolve the conflict. Broadly speaking, there are characteristics which should be present in any good short story. - Believable characters whose motives are understandable, and with whom the readers can identify. - A plot that has conflict, rising action, climax, and of course, resolution. - A setting that meshes with your characters’ personalities. - A theme or message. - Maintains a steady POV. - Has appropriate dialogue that suits your character and setting. - Your characters, themes, conflicts, and so on and so forth, and shown, not told about. - Uses appropriate doses of imaginative language, imagery, and literary devices (flashbacks, foreshadowing, and so on). - In the end, each character, every action and every word leads to a single effect. Following, are the assignments for Week 1 of Project Short Story, which will help you to get ready to write by helping you discover the main elements of your story: Theme, Characters, Plot, Setting, along with other, lesser elements. Some of these assignments will take no more than a couple minutes, while others might require more attention. I would suggest doing these in order to maintain a steady progression of thought. Before starting the rest of the process, you need to establish what Genre(s) you will be writing in. This will help you later on, so that you don’t have errors in your setting. A dragon appearing in a horror story set in modern times would be an example. Before you can plot out your piece with specific incidents, you must first determine theme. Although the main goal of a Short Story is to entertain, it is also are meant to evoke emotion- fear, hope, joy, surprise, and the list goes on. The purpose of the story and the message of the piece are closely related. You may call the message of the story its theme. Theme is what you might call ‘the moral of the story’ though in short stories, as in real life, these morals are sometimes not so sharply defined (I.e. this is wrong, that is right). Now, how do we, as writers, convey theme? By creating conflict between characters. This character tells that character something, reveals a hidden agenda. What happens? How does the relationship between the characters change. What happens as a result of the conflict, can be called the theme. It is not unusual for the theme of a piece to change throughout the story, as the characters themselves exhibit signs of change. Overall, you can be sure that most of the time, the theme of a piece is closely related to what the eventual outcome will be- the ending is related to theme. So, how do you decide on a theme? There are many possibilities- have you ever witnessed something that left an impact on you? Are you frustrated by things that you seem to have no control over? Do you often struggle with personal dilemmas? These are general situations, that could possibly offer a theme for a story. A specific example is: say you live in a small town on the coast. A freak storm produces a tsunami, which ravages your town. In the aftermath, you see people who had previously been on bad terms with each other, now helping one another. The theme here is that tragedy brings people together. One thing to keep in mind however, is that having a complicated plot in a short story could prove troublesome. Theme is very broad, but a short story is a specific example. Spend some time thinking about theme. What message do you want to convey to your readers? Think for five to ten minutes, every time you come up with a possible theme, stop and write a sentence that expresses that theme. For example: A good attitude will get you far. Or: Tragedy brings people together. Once you have a few themes, decide which one you want to center your story around. Or you could pick a couple, but be wary of what I mentioned before about getting too broad and complicated. Believable, relatable characters are what determines if a story is any good. If the reader can’t understand what makes your characters tick, what motivates them, then the whole story is a failure. This is because your theme is carried on the backs of your characters. There are two kinds of characters in a short story: major and minor. Major characters are oftentimes called ‘round characters’ because the readers see these people as well and fully developed. The minor characters, who are called ‘flat characters’ have little or no personality. We may know many little details about a major character, perhaps that he/she always chews gum while thinking, while me may know nothing more about a minor character than that he/she is ‘tall’. Good characterization does a lot towards establishing the relationships between characters in the readers mind. One important thing to remember about main characters: while physical descriptions are great, they are not as important as personality. Before you start writing your story, you need to develop an identity for your characters. This will help you to focus on your main characters, and will decrease the possibility of inconsistently portraying your characters (I.e. in one scene the character says he hates cigarettes, while in another he is smoking). Okay, so how to we develop characters? How do we come up with a sketch of their personalities? A good strategy is to write up a list of people in your life: members of your gym, church, school, and so on, then devote a bit of time to each person, thinking about their characteristics. You can then take characteristics from different people, and meld them together to create your characters personality. Keep in mind one thing: avoid stereotypes (I.e. cliches). If people know how a character is going to react, know how he/she is going to respond to a situation, before getting to know the character, then there is no suspense and the story becomes boring. Take a few minutes with each main character, and answer the following questions (feel free to expand the list): - What is the characters’ identity, name, age, nationality. - What does the character look like? - What is the characters’ background? Family, education, hobbies, and so on. - In a setting, what kinds of things does your character like? Leather furniture, hardwood floors, and so on. - What does the character think about? How does he/she react emotionally to frustrating situations? What is important to them? - How does the character move, respond, behave? - What does the character sound like while talking? Is there an accent? What is their vocabulary like and is it consistent with their personality? - How to other people react to your character? Who are friends and enemies. Does the character see himself the same way other people do? - What are their most unusual characteristics? Why are the above questions important? Because in order for you, the writer, to maintain consistent characterization, you need to understand them far beyond the context of the story- both past and future. Answering these questions will help you to clarify your characters in your own mind, making it easier for you to convey that mental image of what your characters are like to your readers. The next step after selecting a message, is to decide on the conflict that your characters will face, which will reveal the message. The conflict begins when your protagonist faces an obstacle. You may choose one or both of the following: Internal- Conflict within him/her- maybe your character is troubled by guilt. External- Conflict with an outside force- perhaps a bad boss. The result of the main conflict is the plot. Your plot will develop as your character struggles with a problem, resolves it, then accepts the results. The following chart nicely defines the various parts of the plot, in order. Exposition- Introduces characters and setting. Your POV is established. Opening incident- Leads the main character to a conflict. Begins the plot. Rising action- Builds the conflict. Adds new, more complicated incidents. Leads to the climax. Climax- Raises conflict to greatest intensity. Changes the course of events or the way the reader understands the story. May be an event or an insight. Falling action (optional)- Reduces conflict. Prepares reader for the resolution. Resolution- Ends the conflict. Leaves the reader satisfied. Now, before starting to write, you need a plot outline. You can do this by answering the following questions. - What event(s) lead your main character to a conflict. - What is the initial conflict that is encountered. - What type of conflict is it? Internal or external. - Which character is right, which is wrong or mistaken? Does that change in the story? - What are the results of the starting conflict. - How does the starting conflict lead to more complicated conflicts. - What brings the conflict to its greatest intensity? - What is the climax? - What happens as a result of that climax? - What is the end result? If the character makes a change, what makes him/her change. All in all, what is the end resolution. Don’t forget, the events should be in chronological order, where one event leads to/causes the next. Following, is a sample of how an outline can be set up. Feel free to copy and paste. A. Exposition 1. 2. 3. B. Opening Incident 1. 2. C. Rising Action 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. D. Climax E. 1. 2. F. Resolution A good plan is to start with the initial conflict in mind. State this conflict with a single sentence, next, work out the climax- now you can fill in the rest. Don’t forget about Flashback(reveals something that happened earlier, something that is out of chronological order), or Foreshadowing (subtle clues to give readers an idea of what might happen next) as possible tools. The setting is the time and places or series of times and places, where protagonist and antagonist meet. Your characters and action should interact with your setting. But keep in mind that readers learn about setting through the eyes of the character, so it needs to flow naturally. Avoid long paragraphs of detailed physical descriptions, atmosphere is more important. In order for the writer to get his/her readers to visualize the settings, he/she must know all the details, even ones that don’t appear in the story. The writer must have a complete picture in his/her minds eye. An easy way to picture your setting is by answering these questions: - How does the setting look? - What sounds are present? - How does it feel? Cold, wet, and so on. - What is the mood? Depressing, light-hearted, and so on. - How does it smell? - What is the time of the setting? - What is the space? Miles? A small bedroom? - Is there more than one setting? (If so ask these questions about each). Now, even though you can picture all these details, they are not all important to the reader. Before using a lot of detail regarding setting, ask yourself these question: - Is setting important to the plot? - Is setting important to the characters? - Is setting important to the theme? If no, then you probably don’t need a great amount of detail. Point of view is the place from which, or way in which, something is viewed. Because readers identify with the point of view from from which the story is told, how you tell your story determines its message.The three main types of view are: my point of view, your point of view, and third-person points of view. The short story is traditionally written in the first or third person point of view. And within the third person, there are three perspectives- third-person, limited third- person, and omniscient third person. For this Project, we will only focus on these POV’s. How do you decide which to use? Use first-person if: - Readers must know your main character’s inner thoughts and fillings in order for the plot to advance. - Your main character is best revealed by your telling the story from his or her vantage point. - You can best establish the conflict by sharing only your main character’s thoughts. Use third-person if: - Using the first -person POV prevents your showing the main character’s weaknesses. - Your message will be more clear with a narrator, slightly removed from the scene, reporting your main character’s thoughts and actions. - The objectively of a narrator will add strength to either the character or your message. - You can best establish the conflict by sharing only your main character’s thoughts. Use limited third-person if: - Using the first-person POV prevents your showing the main characters weaknesses, - The character is best revealed by permitting readers to observe only what your character does and says. - Suspense builds most effectively because an objective narrator reports what happens. - Your main character’s actions are more important that his or her thoughts. Use omniscient third-person if: - Readers must know your main character’s inner thoughts or feelings in order for the plot to advance. - Using the first-person POV will prevent your showing the main character’s weaknesses. - Your message is most effective when readers learn how all characters feel. - You can best further the plot by showing all characters’ thoughts. These are general guidelines to help you establish the proper POV. We will learn more about the specifics of using each POV next week when we actually start writing our stories. Due Date All assignments for Week 1 are due (posted in the forum) by 1:00 AM on Monday, March 24. You can either post them one by one as they are completed, or do them all in a single post. This week is the busiest in regards to how much time you will have to spend on it. But remember, what you get from something directly correlates to how much you put into it. I would suggest putting aside thirty minutes or more a day to working on these assignments.  |
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