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Fictional Narrative Basics - Beginning
Completion Date: End of Week 1
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Both series editor Katrina Kenison, who wrote the forward, and Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote the introduction, make statements about the criteria they use in deciding whether a story is good enough to make their collection, and how they try to decide between two stories, to determine which is "better." On page xv of the introduction for instance, Kingsolver says, "What makes writing good? That's easy: the lyrical description, the arresting metaphor, the dialogue that falls so true on the ear it breaks the heart, the plot that winds up exactly where it should." Many other attempts to say what makes a story good appear in both the forward and introduction.
Select one of these statements that interests you, a statement other than the two quoted so far, that speaks to what you believe makes a short story good. In a two page critical reflection, do two things:
First, apply that statement to your selected story. How does the selected story fit or not fit the statement? Do you think Kenison or Kingsolver had this particular story in mind when making the statement? Why or why not?
Second, tell how the statement fits or does not fit with your idea of what makes a short story good? What are the kinds of things you look for in your own stories or the stories of others that tell you what you are reading is good fiction? What of these things do you feel you have done well before as a writer? Which do you feel you are not as successful with?
In addition to e-mailing your response, please post it to the class craftbook.
Beginning Exercise 1 (Req.) - Submit Response
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