9.12.13

This week we began workshopping.  Next week is our first longer assignment.  For Thursday 9.24.13 you should create a fully-fleshed out scene in 500-1000 words.  This scene could be a development of any of the small pieces you have been working on or it could be new.  It can be a story in and of itself or you could envision it as a section of a larger piece.

Limitiations:

• 500-1000 words
• At least two characters.
• All three types of dialogue.
• Something has to happen (not just memory, argument... actual physical action).

Re-read any and all of the MSF assigned to this point.  Particularly concentrate on POV, Character, Dialogue-- but all the sections should help you move forward from places where you get stuck.

Remember to OVERWRITE and only afterwards pull back. Remember that SPECIFICITY is rule #1 in this class.  

Also remember that RELATABLE means "able to be communicated" and NOT, NOT EVER "able to be related to"... the word you are searching for is SYMPATHETIC.  

Reading for Tuesday 9.22:  Re-read MSF up to this point (and some of you for the first time).  Also--read "Mirrorball" by Mary Gaitskill here: http://knopfdoubleday.com/2009/04/22/featured-short-story-mirrorball-by-mary-gaitskill/

Pay close attention to the tension between inner action and dialogue, between abstraction and the concrete, between boy and girl, real and imagined... and how she gives characters specificity without closing them off.