Fiction Project #1

Many well-established writers have observed that "profound" writing with universal appeal is often attained only when a writer attends honestly to the simplest, nearest, and most particular details of his or her everyday life.

Develop a short story drawn from some event in your life, past or current, and possibly set in your own hometown.  This event does not have to be spectacular or sensational, and it should not be one which you necessarily or altogether understand.  Take care not to go after something too large in scope or duration.  A single brief encounter or exchange between two people can suffice.  Try to make vivid the details of place—whether a farm near Hawley or a house in the suburbs of Minneapolis—and to give the lives of people there definition.   Your characters should be at least loosely based on actual people you've known, and the narrator's voice very close to your own, everyday speaking voice.  (I.e., write the way you would talk to someone in the local market at home, or to any close acquaintance.)  Finally, take care to avoid sentimentality and stereotypes. 

Try writing this story using the 3rd person point of view, either limited or omniscient. If you decide to use 1st person, be sure you understand that the narrator is a character in the story, and that he/she is fictional, not strictly biographical. You may and should, for this assignment, draw on your personal autobiography in creating this character, but this person will not, strictly speaking, be you.

Stories from our class library which may be useful: "Sonny's Blues," "Cathedral," "How to Tell a True War Story."

You might also look up some of the stories of Sherwood Anderson, for instance, as classic examples of an unusual and very unsentimental perspective on rural life, or try Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, or Flannery O'Connor.  See also any number of contemporary writers, such as  Kate Braverman, Kathleen Norris, Joy Williams, Richard Ford, and Thomas McGuane.

Purpose

To practice finding or making stories out of your experiences with honesty and lack of sentimentality. To practice using vivid, specific, sensory detail, developing believable characters and dialogue, and structuring a well-paced plot. To understand how narrators function in fiction.

Evaluation Criteria Your story should be drawn from your own life experience. In addition to the features of any good story, it should show, in particular, 1) lots of vivid, concrete, sensory detail; 2) minimal exposition (let the details speak for themselves); 3) strongly developed, compelling, and believable characters; and 4) a well-paced plot. Avoid sentimentality, platitudes, and clever or trick endings. And be sure to edit and proofread your work for lapses in style or mechanics. NOTE: Do not confuse a story of this kind with an autobiographical essay. The first-person narrator is not yourself (at least, not the "you" of a personal essay or letter), but rather one of the story's characters in their own right.

Grading scale for all fiction projects:

Very Good = A=15-16 pts.. Meets all of the stated criteria and instructions exceptionally well. Excels in inventiveness, originality, and energy, relative to work produced generally in 323. Well-edited and proofed. Possibly publishable.

Good =B =13-14 pts. Meets all of the stated criteria and instructions, or meets several of them exceptionally well, despite a weak performance with others.. May be especially striking in spots, despite noticeable flaws. Very competent, but may lack originality or inventiveness, relative to work produced generally in 323. Good attention to style and mechanics. Clear attention to assignment.

Fair=C=11-12 pts.. Meets some of the stated criteria, or meets all of them only partially. Uninspired but minimally competent; or very inspired but lacking competence in key areas.. May show some inattention to, or misunderstanding of, instructions. Weak proofreading and editing.

Poor= D=9-10 pts. Meets few of the criteria. May not not heed or understand instructions. May be sloppy, unproofed, unedited, and/or very perfunctory and uninspired.. An unsatisfying poem, saved by at least minimal attention to at least one facet of the piece.

Unacceptable=F=0 pts. Poem either fails to meet any of the stated criteria, or demonstrates severe oversights or weaknesses in significant areas.

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