SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT

DUE: October 31, 2008

Over the next week, your assignment is to complete working on your short story.

Final criteria is as follows:

• Well developed, organized exposition (character, plot, conflict...)
• Intriguing/creative title
• Four typed pages (minimum)

JOHN STEINBECK

"We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it."
-John Steinbeck

After reading and analyzing the first couple of pages of John Steinbeck's novels The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden, compose a brief passage describing a familiar setting (North Salem, for example) in the style of Steinbeck's writing.

Remember, this is just a passage, a beginning if you will, not a complete story.

October 20

"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon? And the day after that, and the next thirty years?"-Scott Fitzgerald

After reading and analyzing the passages of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Winter Dreams, and This Side of Paradise, compose a brief passage characterizing someone you know in the style of Fitzgerald's writing:

Be sure to use physical features, particularly his/her clothing, build, gait, facial features/expressions, skin tone, hair or speech to
convey some intangible characteristics.
Place your subject in a familiar setting, engaged in a predictable activity.
Remember, this is just a passage, a beginning, if you will, not a complete story.

KAFKA

"Theoretically there is a perfect possibility of happiness: believing in the indestructible element in oneself and not striving towards it."

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works -- short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse -- exemplify the American imagination at its most creative. Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century -- and the 21st. In recognition of his stature in the world of literature and the impact he has had on so many for so many years, Bradbury was awarded the National Book Foundation's 2000 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, an the National Medal of Arts in 2004.

VIDEOS: http://www.raybradbury.com/about.html

October 6-10

Monday 10/5 - Tuesday 10/7

Assignment: Write a story with the character, setting, time period, and situation that you've chosen. The character that you've chosen should be the main character in the story, but isn't necessarily the ONLY character in the story. Likewise, most of the story will take place in the setting that you've chosen, but you can include other settings or elaborate on the setting that you have chosen (breaking it into several smaller settings, for example). The situation or challenge that you've chosen may involve the main character or your main character may observe someone else who must deal with the situation or challenge. In other words, you can combine these elements anyway that you desire, so long as all four are included in your story.

Character
a new mother
a photographer
a recent high school graduate
a restaurant owner or manager
an alien from outer space
a homeless child
a 93-year-old woman
an environmentalist
a college student
a jazz musician

Setting
near a National Forest
a wedding reception
a celebration party
an expensive restaurant
a shopping mall
a city park
the porch of an old farmhouse
a polluted stream
a college library
a concert hall

Time
during a forest fire
after a fight
the night of high school graduation
after a big meal
sometime in December
late at night
after a big thunderstorm has passed
in early spring
first week of the school year
during a concert

Situation/Challenge
an important decision needs to be made
a secret needs to be confessed to someone else
someone's pride has been injured
a death has occurred
someone has found or lost something
someone has accused someone else of doing something wrong
reminiscing on how things have changed
someone feels like giving up
something embarrassing has just happened
someone has just reached an important goal

Wednesday 10/8

Clutter, Clutter Everywhere
Develop a scene full of clutter. Feet shuffling through discarded containers, papers, garbage or clothes. Sinks piled with dirty dishes or laundry heaping on the bedroom floor. Add some smells for fun.

Thursday 10/9

School closed for religious observance

Friday 10/10