Creative writing #2

Fiction Option A story is an invitation to construct explanations…about causality, connections, motives. -John Gerlach Exercise: Write the opening scene (the first few paragraphs?) of a story. Whether you intend to finish this story or not, isnt important. Shoot for 300-500 words. This scene should focus on two primary craft elements: setting and character. You might introduce some form of conflict, but are not required to. Place a character in a setting, performing some kind of action. Describe the place, and what this character might be doing in this place: e.g., an old woman on her porch, watching the sun go down; a man in a motel, drinking a beer and staring out the window; someone cooking in their kitchen, a kid on a playground. Choose your details wisely. Criteria It must be written in third-person (no personal “I”), No more than two characters. 300-500 words, single-spaced. Make sure you have your name, our class, my name, and the date in the upper lefthand corner of the first page. Use active verbs, concrete nouns, sensory details, and descriptive/figurative language. Proofread: your scene should be written in complete sentences and divided into appropriate paragraphs. Nothing deliberately and/or fragrantly offensive or graphic. Be creative. Mess around. Make it weird(er). Remember, you dont want to hold the readers hand in a story. You want to begin in media res: throw your reader in the fire and force them to catch up. I recommend using places and people from your life as prototypes for your setting and character(s). Look to your freewrites for ideas. Some questions you might consider: What is setting? When and where are your characters? And what does that have to do with the story you want to tell? -How can it help your story take place? Country? Past or future? Year? Season? Holiday? Weekday? Weekend? Is it hot or cold out that day? (Normal or not? How hot? How cold?)… Are your characters in a building or outside? Are there any objects, obstacles, or structures nearby? Anything that might occupy a character’s hands?