Writing Assignment 3:
Creative Writing
Short Story
When someone says, “I want to be a writer,” the first thing that usually pops into our heads is a fairy tale book with beautiful pictures or that book about the boy who lived during the Revolutionary War that we read when we were younger. Creative writing is the opportunity for us to utilize our creative ingenuity to express our ideas about “the way things were or are” through a fictional situation and characters born out of our own imagination and fashioned by our own design. There are no guidelines for creative writing. You are the author, you are the creator, you decide, well, everything.
For this assignment, we will be discussing the techniques of creative writing, including character development, plot development, conflict and resolution. We will also discuss how to use different styles of writing to send different messages and convey different emotions to your reader. To begin, you will choose your favorite era from American History and create a fictional character to represent the time period. You may choose the Colonial era, Revolutionary War, Western expansion, or the Great Depression or any era you find interesting. You may use a major conflict of the time period, for example a war or economic crisis, or you may create a personal conflict between characters. Please try to keep your fictional situations based in reality because we are attempting to bring to life as accurately as possible a real time in history that affected the lives of real people.
Useful Terms:
Character Development: Refers to the process of revealing to your reader different aspects of a character’s personality throughout the different circumstances of the story. There must be strong character development in each story to avoid creating shallow meaningless characters. You may find it helpful to create a character based off of the personality and characteristics of someone you know or perhaps combine different personalities to create a completely unique and new character.
Plot Development: Refers to the development of the storyline itself as it unfolds. This is done simply through the different circumstances presented in the story. This refers in part to the development of some sort of conflict that is then resolved.
Conflict/Resolution: This refers to the fictional (or non-fictional) conflict that is presented in the story and then resolved in the climax (or most exciting moment) of the story (usually near the end). The conflict could be a moral challenge that causes personal growth in the main character, or it could be outside circumstances. Usually the conflict will provoke some sort of change (personality, or moral) in the main character.
Assignment Details:
Length: At least 4 pages (the more the merrier)
Format: Double spaced, 1inch margins, any academic font. (feel free to use different fonts as part of style as well. For example, if part of the story is a letter, use a font that looks like writing, or if it is a “wanted” poster, use a western font.)
Structure: Must display character and plot development using some form of conflict/resolution.
Due: Final day of class.
For this assignment, we will be discussing the techniques of creative writing, including character development, plot development, conflict and resolution. We will also discuss how to use different styles of writing to send different messages and convey different emotions to your reader. To begin, you will choose your favorite era from American History and create a fictional character to represent the time period. You may choose the Colonial era, Revolutionary War, Western expansion, or the Great Depression or any era you find interesting. You may use a major conflict of the time period, for example a war or economic crisis, or you may create a personal conflict between characters. Please try to keep your fictional situations based in reality because we are attempting to bring to life as accurately as possible a real time in history that affected the lives of real people.
Useful Terms:
Character Development: Refers to the process of revealing to your reader different aspects of a character’s personality throughout the different circumstances of the story. There must be strong character development in each story to avoid creating shallow meaningless characters. You may find it helpful to create a character based off of the personality and characteristics of someone you know or perhaps combine different personalities to create a completely unique and new character.
Plot Development: Refers to the development of the storyline itself as it unfolds. This is done simply through the different circumstances presented in the story. This refers in part to the development of some sort of conflict that is then resolved.
Conflict/Resolution: This refers to the fictional (or non-fictional) conflict that is presented in the story and then resolved in the climax (or most exciting moment) of the story (usually near the end). The conflict could be a moral challenge that causes personal growth in the main character, or it could be outside circumstances. Usually the conflict will provoke some sort of change (personality, or moral) in the main character.
Assignment Details:
Length: At least 4 pages (the more the merrier)
Format: Double spaced, 1inch margins, any academic font. (feel free to use different fonts as part of style as well. For example, if part of the story is a letter, use a font that looks like writing, or if it is a “wanted” poster, use a western font.)
Structure: Must display character and plot development using some form of conflict/resolution.
Due: Final day of class.