English 9, Friday, Feb. 25

We added words, 23 and 24 to our list: imminent and compelling.

Big test Monday on 1 to 24.

We practiced creative writing and I assigned the short story which is due Monday, March 7. See below for ideas and the criteria. Monday: Bring the first 250 words of your short story to class, typed and double spaced.

MONDAY IS FEB. 28TH. THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH MEANS:
It's time to submit your USSR forms to demonstrate all of the books you have read for USSR this month. We won't be continuing with 750 words.com during class for March but you are welcome to continue it at home as it is such good practice and a lovely way to express your feelings in a private forum.

Call your homework buddy to find out the creative writing prompts that we did today.
Here is the short story handout:

English 9 Short Story Writing Assignment

Due Date:___________Mon. March 7. ___________

Criteria

1. Length—900 to 1500 words, typed, titled, double spaced
2. Style—literary, similar to the stories studied in class
3. Character—dynamic protagonist that encounters a conflict
4. Elements—setting, description, dialogue all contribute to theme
5. Theme—show us something you have felt or wondered about the world
6. Detail—show don’t tell as much as possible, be unique, keep it real
7. Conflict—needs to be a problem that is somehow resolved (think of stories we read this year. What was the conflict? How did the story end?).
8. Style—proofread and proofread and proofread. It must be error free. Explore a style that suits the topic—short choppy sentences, fragments or long, intellectual phrasings. Point of view is key. Who is telling the story? Why?
9. Show Don’t Tell—be sure to have your characters doing and saying things. Let your reader infer. Don’t tell us everything.
10. Dialogue—you must have characters speaking. Remember: new paragraph for each new speaker.

Use your own ideas or one from the list below:

1.       Start the story with You don’t have to be good all the time. End the story with, The geese never returned to that lake and come to think of it, neither did I.

2.       Write a story about a piano teacher that really wants to be a flight attendant.

3.       Use a road trip as the setting. Take two characters heading somewhere but don’t let them get there. Each stop on the way symbolizes something about the relationship. Could be two friends, a married couple, a mother/daughter, father/son etc.

4.       Make your character a child. Have the child experience Sunday school with a family from across the street since the child’s parents don’t go to church. Explore the family, the church, the car ride etc. as symbols for whatever discoveries you make. 

5.       Make your character a child who lives on a cul-de-sac. Have a few kids meet to plan an adventure. Make one kid stand out. The narrator suspects something is wrong but is too young to figure it out but you hint at the problem throughout.

6.      Try a story that’s completely written in the second person. It will be weird. It could be funny. Ex., You start the new job tomorrow. The job that will last the rest of your life. You will have an office, maybe. A sign on the outside of the door with your name on it, Frank or Hilda, Mary Lou. (Eerie, isn’t it?).

7.       Set the story in another time period (past or future) or in another culture yet make the conflict be something readers today would be interested in—an arranged marriage, emigrating to a new country, dealing with economic hardship, fear of technology.

8.       Start with the line: Yvonne’s dog never knew what hit him. End with The summer really started that winter when we finally cried.

9.       Place your story at a baseball or hockey event. Have two characters in the stands who don’t get along, a dad/son, a boss/employee, two rookies, etc. As you describe the game and use dialogue, show but don’t tell what’s really going on between them. 

10.   Start the story with a theft. Don’t let us know what was stolen, by whom or why until right near the end. Write it from the point of view of the victims or two crows on a branch outside the door.

11.   Write a story about a character from one culture having to deal with another culture. Maybe in a family setting, the Croatian grandma moves in or the character goes to another country to visit family for the summer holidays. Use a lot of concrete detail to make it seem exotic. Have fun with dialogue, here.

12.   Write a story with a protagonist that you do not like but somehow you have to make the reader like him or her. A parolee, a bully, a mean girl, a coach, etc.