FSP 101-13 Short Story Assignment ASSIGNMENT

Fall 2012

Write a seven- to ten-page supernatural short story. The only major requirement for the story, besides its length, is that it contain an actual or at least potentially-real supernatural Other, power, or event. Thus, you could write either psychological horror (where one is in some doubt about the reality of the supernatural element, as in many Poe or James stories) or weird horror (wherein the supernatural is clearly in violation of natural laws, as in Lovecraft, Buffy, or Carrie). If you have a strong desire to do so, you may even use a non-realistic (horror fantasy) or futuristic (sci-fi horror) setting for your story. You are free to explore any style or theme you like. You may respond, thematically or stylistically, to some of the authors weve read this semester, or strike out on your own. Please do not write an extended sequel to or reimagining of one of the stories weve read (as youll be allowed to do in a short response exercise; see below). Some important questions you should consider when writing: What effect or feeling do I want to generate in my readers at the end of the story? What should my central conflict(s) be? How should I resolve it/them? How should I establish mood and atmosphere? To what extent do I want to utilize the traditional props and set pieces of supernatural tales? What point of view and tense do I want to use? Should I change them at any point in the story? Do I want to follow a traditional linear plot structure, or experiment with nonlinearity? To what extent should I use symbol, metaphor, and figurative language? How many and what kinds of scenes should I use in building to my climax? Should my narrator be a character in the story? Should she be reliable or unreliable? Should my supernatural element (whether an Other, power, or event) symbolize any particular fear? How can I best frighten my reader? (Consider the many possibilities weve discussed for the significance of the moment of contact with "outer, unknown forces" in a supernatural tale.) How round or flat do I want my characters to be?

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What kind of writing style (flavor, or writing personality) do I want to use? For example, should it be somewhat or very sensationalistic (pushing the boundaries of "good taste" in terms of taboo-challenging content) or more restrained and subtle (Henry James, Shirley Jackson)? Should it be deadly serious? Humorous? Hallucinatory? Suspenseful? Do I want my story's content/message/ending to be conservative (conventional) or subversive (radical)? (See Bloom 165-66.) Do I show readers events, actions, or details to suggest emotions or ideas ("the withered creature slithered across the floor, its sadistic glare simultaneously rooting me to the spot and burning away my soul"), or do I merely tell readers what to think/feel ("the mean old demon was moving to me while looking at me in a very frightening way")? Are my verbs (and, to a lesser extent, adjectives) active, vivid, and creativelychosen? Or do I merely rely on nouns and adverbs to do most of my heavy lifting? (Consider "the demon slithered" vs. "the demon walked creepily.")

PLAN OF ATTACK You may wish to answer each of the above questions tentatively before you start writing, or you may wish to dig in, full steam, and see where the writing takes you. I would, however, at least suggest that you start thinking about some of the above questions at some point during the composition process (or at least when the time has come for your first revision). You may wish, like Poe says he did when writing The Raven, to begin by writing your climax, and then work back from there. I hesitate to provide too many instructions here for getting started. If you find yourself having trouble, dont hesitate to check in with me or drop me an email. SOME GREAT ONLINE TIPS AND FORUMS Visit www.nanowrimo.org for lots of great suggestions and pep talks by professional writers; you can participate in the creative writing forums, too. You may also join that site if you'd like to chart your own progress or communicate with other writers. (If you want to set your own word goal--2500 words should get you to seven pages--and receive a certificate, you can sign up at ywp.nanowrimo.org; realize that the tips on this second site are geared for younger writers.) FORMAT Please follow correct MLA format (see syllabus and our MLA document for specifics); by now I expect everyone to have ironed out all the kinks in, for example, title page formatting and paragraph spacing. No Works Consulted is needed unless youre directly referencing another work. To protect your story, you may wish to add the following line to your header (the

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"c" must be circled to give yourself a level of copyright protection): Copyright 2012 by (your name). GRADING For these papers, I wont be grading you based on the choices you make in answering any of the questions above (for example, whether you use lots of metaphors, or whether you experiment with non-linearity of plot)except perhaps for the questions about parts of speech and showing vs. telling. What I will be grading is your execution: how well you seem to accomplish what you set out to do; how consistent you are in establishing what Poe terms a unity of effect (unless it seems that youre deliberately going for ambiguity or inconsistency). More concretely: An A story will be free of mechanical/grammatical flaws (not including those which are clearly intentional). It will succeed in creating a specific emotional effect in the reader. It will be consistent (again, unless clearly done intentionally otherwise) in terms of style, tone, theme, tense, point of view, and narrative voice. It will show evidence of repeated revision and polishing, and should be something youd be unafraid to submit for publication in a student journal (or other publication). A B story will meet most of the requirements of an A story but will either have a few areas that need significant improvement, or else a number of minor ones. A C story will be of average quality: The requirements of the assignment are met, but the story still needs significant revision or consistency in executing many of the above-listed areas. Grades lower than a C will be possible if the story exhibits significant mechanical errors, if it seems completely rushed or unrevised, if it still needs significant revision or consistency in most of the above-listed areas, or if it fails to meet the requirements of the assignment (page length, format, the inclusion of a supernatural element). FILM OPTION You may elect to create a short film instead of a story. In this case, you must still meet all of the written homework deadlines and requirements, but the length of the final script and the final project deadline can be adjusted somewhat to make up for the extra work you'll have to put into this; meet with me separately if you'd like to consider completing this option. You may also work in teams, but I'll have to figure out how to split up work/homework credit in this case; all team collaboration on films must be discussed with and approved by me before any deadlines occur. (In the case of teams, each member will be responsible for 7-10 pages of script which will be graded separately from others' writing.) DUE DATES: DRAFTS, HOMEWORK, AND PEER REVISION

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Each of the assignments below counts as a separate homework assignment (one "check" each). By 11:59 p.m. on Thursday 11/1, post a three-to-four-page draft in the Discussion area of our SOCS site. Important: Click post article, and entitle your posting with your own name. (Your story title can, of course, be whatever you wantthough I would save writing your title until youre done with the story; I just want to keep track of online drafts by student name.) There are no requirements for this draft other than that it be at least three full pages in length. You might, for example, write a single scene--maybe the climax--or just start "at the beginning," with perhaps no idea yet of where the story will take you (supernaturally speaking or otherwise). (Of course, this is not to say that you can't start a story in the middle of its climax, or at "the end," for that matter. This it what I mean above when I say you are free to experiment, like Lost or Pulp Fiction, with non-linearity of plot.) When you post, cut and paste your text directly into the "message" area of your post; do not attach as a separate file for this particular homework assignment. If you have questions about your draft that you'd particularly like your readers to think about, add them to your initial post as a second post. No need to submit a hard copy. By the start of class on Monday 11/5, post a creative response to one of the two stories we are to read for today ("Nona" or "Ligeia"). You response may retell (part) of the story from another character's point of view; present us with a flashback; tell us "what happens next," give us a "deleted scene"; re-write part of the story in a wildly-different style; etc. Your response need not be longer than 200-300 words; this is just a muscle-flexing exercise. You do not have to comment on another student's Nona-or-Ligeia exercise for this post. By 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday 11/6, post some reactions to at least three other student stories. MAKE SURE TO COMMENT ON A STUDENT'S "REAL" STORY BY CLICKING ON THEIR NAME, NOT (for example) THEIR LIGEIA/NONA POST. Your comments should be polite, encouraging, and constructive; please don't tear down someone elses story. Basically: what does the writer do well, and what are a few areas that might be improved? What effect did the story / scenes have on you? Do you have any suggestions for where the story might go? I will expect each student to write at least five to ten sentences worth of comments for each story using the list of questions on the first two pages of this assignment as a guideline. Dont merely use the terms good or bad, etc.be as specific as you can. No hard copies needed. On or around 11/8 I will post online some comments on each student's story so far. If you have some questions to which you would like me to respond, post them online (after the other student comments you've gotten). By the start of class on Monday 11/15, post a creative response wherein you attempt to imitate the writing style of Nicholson Baker or Stephen King (the two authors we are reading for today). The only requirement for your response (besides that it be around 200-300 words in length) is that it's content not be based on the content of the stories "The Raft" or "Subsoil." (Don't rewrite a scene; tell us what happens next; etc.) I don't even care if the content of your blurb is supernatural; if you like, you can (for example) describe what you had for breakfast in

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the style of King, or re-write the introduction to "The Fall of the House of Usher" in the style of Baker. By 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 11/20, submit your final, polished story to the appropriate SOCS dropbox. Late stories without official extensions (see syllabus) will receive the usual grade penalties. A hard copy of the story is due in class after the break (Monday 11/26). Remember, you are welcome to bring any draft(s), as many times as you wish, with specific questions ready, to the Writers Place. You can also email me with specific questions about your story, or stop by office hours with a draft and questions. You can also ask Rachel for more information about Ink, TCNJ's creative writing organization (http://inktcnj.tumblr.com/).