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ENG 131, CREATIVE WRITING
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STORY PROJECT DESCRIBED In terms of formatting, typing up, presenting a project, I suppose story writers have it easiest. Basically, you need only type a title page, contents page (if you have two or more pieces included for your project) and then present the complete body of prose fiction properly typed and of course, grammatically "perfect" (properly revised and proofread). Your project could be either: 1. A single full, approximately 20-page story. Presumably the work would be dramatically structured (beginning, middle, end) presenting characters who have a "problem" which they resolve by the end of the story. Other alternative as to structure would be: a lengthy character portrait; an episodic adventure which creates and reveals a "hero"; a chapter of a novel. 2. You may wish to "collect" several shorter prose-fiction pieces which could include your initial homework assignments for the course, revised and enlarged to a total of 20 pages (an additional ten pages of work beyond your minimum of 10 pages for the course). 3. A selection of shorter stories--perhaps three--each of which nonetheless is a complete plot. The definition of a "short-short story" tends to be anything about five typed pages. A "normal" short story might be about ten pages in length. You don't have to be dogmatic in applying a definition of "story." Rather, develop a story/plot to its completion. DON'T FORGET: You will probably write your best, most compelling fiction if you start with events which were turning points or important events in your own life! Your intention in presenting a project, or here, your prose fiction, is to show a level of excellence. Clearly, slapping together some "stuff" won't do it. If you chose to present a Story Project, read lots of short stories! Think whether you are "competitive" with what is out there. Would you be happy with your own story if you paid the price of a paperback or a magazine and the work in it was at the level you have written? Granted you aren't asked to be "professional" to get an "A" but common sense would have it that just bulking out twenty pages is not enough. Guidance is available in other links for the course, as for example: Story Exercise and the samples by Joyce and Hemingway.
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Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Dr. David B. Axelrod
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