Endings can be:
Circular: The beginning and the end reflect upon one another, often using the same situation, setting, characterization, or even repeating the same line or idea presented in the opening. This provides a sense of parallelism in your story structure. It is best used when suggesting that the past and future of a character/story is similar.
Matching vs. Nonmatching: similar to a circular ending, the first image is transformed, and is repeated at the end. This is most like the pattern in music: theme and variation. The first image of the story foreshadows or suggests the last image. Sometimes this is obvious, othertimes the image is subtle.
Surprise ending: Often an ironic ending, or an ending that surprises the reader. The American writer O.Henry was a master of this kind of ending. It is often found in horror/suspense or mystery fiction. The "surprise" needs to be planned by the writer, who should include details that prepare the reader for the surprise, instead of "shocking" the reader, who usually resents this strategy.
Summary ending: A summary of the outcome of the story – this kind of story wraps the plot up very tightly, suggesting the future for the characters. No loose ends. This sort of ending has fallen out of favor lately, so use it at your own peril.
Open ending: used largely in contemporary fiction, the story doesn’t end nice and neatly (like the summary ending). Instead, it leaves an important question posed to the reader, so that the reader must interpret the ending. Caution: this can sometimes confuse a reader. It is best used for subtle effect.
Ending with an image/idea: ending a story with an important detailed image or idea that reflects the theme of the story can "stain" the idea or image in the mind of the reader.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
#1 Short Story Draft Projects
Short Story - Draft #1
Using your journal or the exercises we wrote in class, compose a short story. Your short story can be any genre or length, deal with any issue you wish to write about. It is completely up to you.
Short Story – Draft #2
Write draft #2 of your current short story. Your second draft should expand your first draft by about 50%. Add details, scenes, dialogue, plot elements, description, literary devices, etc. where appropriate.
For your second draft, focus on character. Remove minor characters or characters who do not add to the story. Flesh out your protagonist (perhaps shift POV) so that he/she has a stake in the story, a goal to achieve. Rewrite and remove static or 2-dimensional (flat) or stereotypical characters. Use a foil to enhance your protagonist. Develop your characters through characterization.
Short Story – Draft #3
Write draft #3 of your current short story. Your third draft should cut and reduce non-essential material in your current draft. Remove tired language, clichés, scenes that are irrelevant or not significant to building characterization, plot, or theme. Correct grammar and awkward syntax. Try to reduce redundant or weak description. Try to reduce your 2nd draft by about 25%.
Using your journal or the exercises we wrote in class, compose a short story. Your short story can be any genre or length, deal with any issue you wish to write about. It is completely up to you.
Short Story – Draft #2
Write draft #2 of your current short story. Your second draft should expand your first draft by about 50%. Add details, scenes, dialogue, plot elements, description, literary devices, etc. where appropriate.
For your second draft, focus on character. Remove minor characters or characters who do not add to the story. Flesh out your protagonist (perhaps shift POV) so that he/she has a stake in the story, a goal to achieve. Rewrite and remove static or 2-dimensional (flat) or stereotypical characters. Use a foil to enhance your protagonist. Develop your characters through characterization.
Short Story – Draft #3
Write draft #3 of your current short story. Your third draft should cut and reduce non-essential material in your current draft. Remove tired language, clichés, scenes that are irrelevant or not significant to building characterization, plot, or theme. Correct grammar and awkward syntax. Try to reduce redundant or weak description. Try to reduce your 2nd draft by about 25%.
Finding Your Fictional Character
Finding a fictional character
Readers want characters who are recognizable; most similar to themselves.
Where to find a fictional character:
• From your own personality (autobiographical)
• From your own family, friends, acquaintances, peers, neighborhood (biographical)
• From psychology textbooks
• From astrology charts and columns
• From mythology or legends
• From the Bible
• From other stories you read, or novels you read
• From other media
• From your imagination
Most writers fuse autobiographical with biographical sources to create a fusion of character “traits” or what is essentially “characterization.”
Characterization: How do I show character in a story?
• Summarize history or background, or describe physical or mental traits (character/self-portrait)
o Why use it? It develops character quickly all at once, allowing the writer to move on to the plot, setting, conflict, etc.
o Beware:
this sort of thing leads to telling, not showing
you are essentially asking the reader to wait to continue or go further with the plot, conflict, dialogue, or other elements that move a story along
It can slow the pace of your story down
• Repeat an action or habit (including what they say or dialogue)
o Why use it? Allows reader to understand what a character normally does in a given situation; particularly useful if your character will soon do something “out of character.” Helps develop theme & dialogue moves plot
o Beware:
The habit or action should be essential to the motivation of the character, a plot point, or reveal setting, symbol, or conflict
• Describe appearance
o Why use it? When you describe appearance, you suggest characterization to your reader through recognizable symbols
o Beware:
As “action/habit” above
• Describe a scene
o Why use it? Moves the plot, conflict, etc. along quickly; sets your character in motion without needing to summarize or generalize.
• Combination of all methods
Readers want characters who are recognizable; most similar to themselves.
Where to find a fictional character:
• From your own personality (autobiographical)
• From your own family, friends, acquaintances, peers, neighborhood (biographical)
• From psychology textbooks
• From astrology charts and columns
• From mythology or legends
• From the Bible
• From other stories you read, or novels you read
• From other media
• From your imagination
Most writers fuse autobiographical with biographical sources to create a fusion of character “traits” or what is essentially “characterization.”
Characterization: How do I show character in a story?
• Summarize history or background, or describe physical or mental traits (character/self-portrait)
o Why use it? It develops character quickly all at once, allowing the writer to move on to the plot, setting, conflict, etc.
o Beware:
this sort of thing leads to telling, not showing
you are essentially asking the reader to wait to continue or go further with the plot, conflict, dialogue, or other elements that move a story along
It can slow the pace of your story down
• Repeat an action or habit (including what they say or dialogue)
o Why use it? Allows reader to understand what a character normally does in a given situation; particularly useful if your character will soon do something “out of character.” Helps develop theme & dialogue moves plot
o Beware:
The habit or action should be essential to the motivation of the character, a plot point, or reveal setting, symbol, or conflict
• Describe appearance
o Why use it? When you describe appearance, you suggest characterization to your reader through recognizable symbols
o Beware:
As “action/habit” above
• Describe a scene
o Why use it? Moves the plot, conflict, etc. along quickly; sets your character in motion without needing to summarize or generalize.
• Combination of all methods
Tips About Beginning a Story
Beginning a Story
A beginning promises more to come. It should hook our attention, allow us entrance into the world of the story. Beginnings need to be full of potential for the characters (and the reader). Some simple ways writers do this is the following (taken from The Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich)
Setting: setting sets the stage and raises our expectations, introduces us to location, time, and supports character, tone, mood and POV.
On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half-way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people.
Ideas: While this can sometimes be dry or essay-like, it can also characterize a speaker, a place, an important motif or tone of a story.
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them…”
Imagistic or Strong Sensations: Imagery invites your reader to experience your narrative, giving you a good start. It also helps establish setting, usually.
1956. The air-conditioned darkness of the Avenue Theater smells of flowery pomade, sugary chocolates, cigarette smoke, and sweat.
A Need or Motive: Need is essential for all major characters. It is usually what drives the
conflict and characterization, also the plot in a story. Starting off with a motive or need is
the fastest way to learn what characters want.
On his way to the station William remembered with a fresh pang of disappointment that he was taking nothing down to the kiddies. Their first words always were as they ran to greet him, “What have you got for me, daddy?” and he had nothing.
Action: Action catches our attention.
The pass was high and wide and he jumped for it, feeling it slap flatly against his hands, as he shook his hips to throw off the halfback who was diving at him.
Scene: Usually in one sentence, combines action, setting, and character.
Card-playing was going on in the quarters of Narumov, an officer in the Guards.
Symbolic Object: Describe an object that has significance to your story, characters, plot. Usually a reader will recognize the importance of an object if mentioned in the first paragraph of a story.
An antique sleigh stood in the yard, snow after snow banked up against its eroded runners.
Sex: Sex sells. It also gets our attention.
After I became a prostitute, I had to deal with penises of every imaginable shape and size.
Character portrait: Introduces a reader to your protagonist or an important character.
The girl’s scalp looked as though it had been singed by fire—strands of thatchy red hair snaked away from her face, then settled against her skin, pasted there by sweat and sunscreen and the blown grit and dust of travel.
Character’s Thoughts: Like a portrait, this one’s internal.
If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.
Question: A direct way to motivate the reader, who often wants to know the answer to a posed question.
“Well, Peter, any sign of them yet?”
Prediction: Creating an ominous tone, a prediction foreshadows or hints at the ultimate ending of a story.
Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce.
Anecdote: an anecdote (a short story) can introduce an important idea or theme, create a symbol, or set a particular tone.
The village of Ukleyevo lay in the ravine, so that only the belfry and the chimneys of the cotton mills could be seen from the highway and the railroad station. When passers-by would ask what village it was, they were told: “that’s the one where the sexton ate up all the caviar at the funeral.”
A beginning promises more to come. It should hook our attention, allow us entrance into the world of the story. Beginnings need to be full of potential for the characters (and the reader). Some simple ways writers do this is the following (taken from The Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich)
Setting: setting sets the stage and raises our expectations, introduces us to location, time, and supports character, tone, mood and POV.
On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half-way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people.
Ideas: While this can sometimes be dry or essay-like, it can also characterize a speaker, a place, an important motif or tone of a story.
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them…”
Imagistic or Strong Sensations: Imagery invites your reader to experience your narrative, giving you a good start. It also helps establish setting, usually.
1956. The air-conditioned darkness of the Avenue Theater smells of flowery pomade, sugary chocolates, cigarette smoke, and sweat.
A Need or Motive: Need is essential for all major characters. It is usually what drives the
conflict and characterization, also the plot in a story. Starting off with a motive or need is
the fastest way to learn what characters want.
On his way to the station William remembered with a fresh pang of disappointment that he was taking nothing down to the kiddies. Their first words always were as they ran to greet him, “What have you got for me, daddy?” and he had nothing.
Action: Action catches our attention.
The pass was high and wide and he jumped for it, feeling it slap flatly against his hands, as he shook his hips to throw off the halfback who was diving at him.
Scene: Usually in one sentence, combines action, setting, and character.
Card-playing was going on in the quarters of Narumov, an officer in the Guards.
Symbolic Object: Describe an object that has significance to your story, characters, plot. Usually a reader will recognize the importance of an object if mentioned in the first paragraph of a story.
An antique sleigh stood in the yard, snow after snow banked up against its eroded runners.
Sex: Sex sells. It also gets our attention.
After I became a prostitute, I had to deal with penises of every imaginable shape and size.
Character portrait: Introduces a reader to your protagonist or an important character.
The girl’s scalp looked as though it had been singed by fire—strands of thatchy red hair snaked away from her face, then settled against her skin, pasted there by sweat and sunscreen and the blown grit and dust of travel.
Character’s Thoughts: Like a portrait, this one’s internal.
If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.
Question: A direct way to motivate the reader, who often wants to know the answer to a posed question.
“Well, Peter, any sign of them yet?”
Prediction: Creating an ominous tone, a prediction foreshadows or hints at the ultimate ending of a story.
Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce.
Anecdote: an anecdote (a short story) can introduce an important idea or theme, create a symbol, or set a particular tone.
The village of Ukleyevo lay in the ravine, so that only the belfry and the chimneys of the cotton mills could be seen from the highway and the railroad station. When passers-by would ask what village it was, they were told: “that’s the one where the sexton ate up all the caviar at the funeral.”
Character & Characterization
Characters and Characterization
Choosing a POV for your character:
Major Question: Who is the story about?
--Someone who is most interesting
--Someone who is involved in the action of the story
--Someone who has the most to gain or lose from the event
1st Person POV: Main character is the narrator (good subjectivity, but lacks objectivity, limited to one character’s mind)
2nd Person POV: Main character is the “reader”, used through an objective and omniscient “I” narrator (difficult to maintain for a long time, reader must be willing to play the part, difficult to reach into reader’s mind)
Third Person POV: Omniscient or Limited
Omniscient narrators can tell the story of many characters, but this can be confusing. The reader may not know who the story is about or whose conflict is important.
A limited POV allows the writer to focus on one particular character. The story told is the story of that character. Consistent POV gives a story coherence. Inconsistent POV confuses the reader.
Character:
Hero/Heroine: The main character of a story
Villain: The character who opposes the main character
Antihero: A normal, ordinary character
Protagonist: The main character of a story
Antagonist: The opponent of the protagonist
Foil: Either one who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast, and perhaps by setting up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character but, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality.
Characters can be either major or minor, round or flat.
Major characters are characters who are important to the conflict and plot of the story. They often have motivations linked with the main conflict
Minor characters are characters who are not necessarily important to the story. They often are used to develop the main characters or to provide rising action or complications to the plot.
Round characters have a distinct motivation and personality or “voice”; Often they are complex and dynamic (they change through the conflict of the story)
Flat characters are characters that do not change significantly through the conflict of the plot. Sometimes the reader knows or cares little about them because of lack of detail or purpose.
Stereotypes: Characters who are generally recognized as a “type”; These characters lack individuality and often can be boring because we already know how they will act and why.
Ways to develop character:
Characterization: Physical characteristics and personality characteristics which develop the individualization of a character.
Motivation: reasons for the character to act in the story
Dialogue: What characters say helps to develop them
What other characters say about a character also helps develop them
Action: Describing the actions of a character helps develop them (allows writer to show not tell)
Choosing a POV for your character:
Major Question: Who is the story about?
--Someone who is most interesting
--Someone who is involved in the action of the story
--Someone who has the most to gain or lose from the event
1st Person POV: Main character is the narrator (good subjectivity, but lacks objectivity, limited to one character’s mind)
2nd Person POV: Main character is the “reader”, used through an objective and omniscient “I” narrator (difficult to maintain for a long time, reader must be willing to play the part, difficult to reach into reader’s mind)
Third Person POV: Omniscient or Limited
Omniscient narrators can tell the story of many characters, but this can be confusing. The reader may not know who the story is about or whose conflict is important.
A limited POV allows the writer to focus on one particular character. The story told is the story of that character. Consistent POV gives a story coherence. Inconsistent POV confuses the reader.
Character:
Hero/Heroine: The main character of a story
Villain: The character who opposes the main character
Antihero: A normal, ordinary character
Protagonist: The main character of a story
Antagonist: The opponent of the protagonist
Foil: Either one who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast, and perhaps by setting up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character but, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality.
Characters can be either major or minor, round or flat.
Major characters are characters who are important to the conflict and plot of the story. They often have motivations linked with the main conflict
Minor characters are characters who are not necessarily important to the story. They often are used to develop the main characters or to provide rising action or complications to the plot.
Round characters have a distinct motivation and personality or “voice”; Often they are complex and dynamic (they change through the conflict of the story)
Flat characters are characters that do not change significantly through the conflict of the plot. Sometimes the reader knows or cares little about them because of lack of detail or purpose.
Stereotypes: Characters who are generally recognized as a “type”; These characters lack individuality and often can be boring because we already know how they will act and why.
Ways to develop character:
Characterization: Physical characteristics and personality characteristics which develop the individualization of a character.
Motivation: reasons for the character to act in the story
Dialogue: What characters say helps to develop them
What other characters say about a character also helps develop them
Action: Describing the actions of a character helps develop them (allows writer to show not tell)
Baseline Project
Baseline Piece - Draft #2
In draft one, you wrote a poem, short story, scene/script, or creative non-fiction piece. Effectively, this was freewriting, generating new material, and composing (the first two steps in the writing process).
Start a 2nd draft. Please label this draft as draft 2. Do not save over your original draft.
In draft two, I’d like to you to “find the story” of your poem, short story, script, or non-fiction. To find the “story” identify:
a. What the major conflict of your story is.
b. What the main character of your story is (and why).
c. What the most important scene in your story is.
d. What you want to say (theme) about the human condition in your story.
e. What your setting is in your story.
At the top of your 2nd draft, write a short paragraph answering A-E. This is for you, initially and will be removed later, (but I will be checking to see if you have written this important step). Skip a line or two.
After “finding the story” of your baseline piece, add details, scenes, other characters, description, setting, dialogue, etc. to your original draft. This will ultimately make your draft longer. As you write, you may also choose to remove or delete irrelevant material. Try to make sure you have included the answers to the question: “what is your story?”
Draft #2 is due 9/9.
In draft one, you wrote a poem, short story, scene/script, or creative non-fiction piece. Effectively, this was freewriting, generating new material, and composing (the first two steps in the writing process).
Start a 2nd draft. Please label this draft as draft 2. Do not save over your original draft.
In draft two, I’d like to you to “find the story” of your poem, short story, script, or non-fiction. To find the “story” identify:
a. What the major conflict of your story is.
b. What the main character of your story is (and why).
c. What the most important scene in your story is.
d. What you want to say (theme) about the human condition in your story.
e. What your setting is in your story.
At the top of your 2nd draft, write a short paragraph answering A-E. This is for you, initially and will be removed later, (but I will be checking to see if you have written this important step). Skip a line or two.
After “finding the story” of your baseline piece, add details, scenes, other characters, description, setting, dialogue, etc. to your original draft. This will ultimately make your draft longer. As you write, you may also choose to remove or delete irrelevant material. Try to make sure you have included the answers to the question: “what is your story?”
Draft #2 is due 9/9.
The Writing Process
The Writing Process
All writers go through a similar writing process. The five basic steps are examined below:
1. Coming up with an idea: Generating raw material freewriting Journal exercises Reading Experience Choosing the gem among the rocks (expanding and exploring the idea) Getting stuck and moving on
2. Writing the first draft: Composing and structuring Experiment with technique Decide on a genre Decide on the best structure to tell the story
3. Revising: developing meaning, Rereading your work to look for a deeper meaning, Sharing your work in a readers’ circle/workshop, Getting feedback and response, Revision: transforming, rearranging, expanding, cutting
4. Editing: Fine cutting (cutting unnecessary words and paragraphs), Line by line editing, Reviewing word choice, Proofreading for errors
5. Publication: Preparing the manuscript for public perusal, Sending your manuscript out to publishers, The rejection letter/the acceptance letter, working with an editor/agent/publisher, Publication
All writers go through a similar writing process. The five basic steps are examined below:
1. Coming up with an idea: Generating raw material freewriting Journal exercises Reading Experience Choosing the gem among the rocks (expanding and exploring the idea) Getting stuck and moving on
2. Writing the first draft: Composing and structuring Experiment with technique Decide on a genre Decide on the best structure to tell the story
3. Revising: developing meaning, Rereading your work to look for a deeper meaning, Sharing your work in a readers’ circle/workshop, Getting feedback and response, Revision: transforming, rearranging, expanding, cutting
4. Editing: Fine cutting (cutting unnecessary words and paragraphs), Line by line editing, Reviewing word choice, Proofreading for errors
5. Publication: Preparing the manuscript for public perusal, Sending your manuscript out to publishers, The rejection letter/the acceptance letter, working with an editor/agent/publisher, Publication
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