Please be aware that some of our
readings are “mature”—meaning,
they may have “adult content.”
In the case of “Cathedral,” the
content includes drugs. However, the
use of recreational drugs is not
glamorized in the story, and in no way
are we advocating their use. If
anything, the character who uses the
drug is a bit of a dim-bulb!
We are trusting you, as Governor’s
School students and therefore
“special,” to handle this kind of
content in a mature manner.
Ok. Fiction.
Let’s talk about fiction.
You’re going to write at least one
good set of “flash” pieces.
Here’s an exercise which may help
give you a jump-start.
Go give away a dollar.
Yeah. Really. Go out and give your
dollar to someone.
It must be someone you don’t know,
and you CANNOT tell them why you
are giving it to them. Don’t give
any explanation at all.
Be aware. Engage your senses.
Notice EVERYTHING around you. Wake
up. Be in the moment.
Welcome Back
• DON’T TALK.
• DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS.
• Just sit down and describe the experience.
Open up Word and start typing.
• What happened?
What was the
• Hey, what?? Look at
your writing. I can’t SEE it.
There’s no DETAIL!
EXACTLY what did
the person’s face
look like?
• What were you doing out
there—sleep-walking?
What precisely was
done?
What were some of the
• Describe what happened for
real—get some specifics in
there!!
EXACTLY how did
• Describe EVERYTHING!
setting?
the dollar bill feel
in your hand?
points of
view?
What was
said?
How did the space
around you
feel?
STORY
I.e, what was the
in what happened?
What makes ANY event a “story”?
What are the elements of a story?
As a writer, how do you
find/see/think up stories?
Drawing on what just happened, and in a good paragraph,
sketch a story.
Sketch = the outline or summary of a possible story.
Must include:
• Characters (who are they? who are primary?
who are secondary?)
• Plot (what happens, in what order, and why?)
• Setting (where’s everything happening? What,
if any, is the significance of the setting or of
particular details or objects n the setting?)
• Clear point of view (who’s telling the story,
and why?)
Let’s Talk about Plot
Where might the story of the dollar bill BEGIN?
What are the possibilities?
Where might/should/can it END?
In what order will things happen, and why?
What’s the NARRATIVE QUESTION?
Begin your plot with…
• You, back in the classroom, AFTER having
given the dollar away?
• This morning, when you first woke up?
• The second you were handing over the dollar
bill, putting it in the person’s hand?
• Yesterday, when I assigned you to bring a buck
to class?
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End your plot with…
• You, back in the classroom, AFTER having given
the dollar away?
• You, twelve years from now, working as a checkout person at McDonalds in a scary section of
Miami?
• The second you were handing over the dollar bill,
putting it in the person’s hand?
• You, falling asleep in bed tonight?
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THE POSSIBILITIES…
are endless.
And a blast.
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Plot
NOTS
1. Trick or twist or clever ending. Cute, yes. Fun, yes.
But gets OLD quick. All other story elements are
subordinated to the tricky ending, and those
elements wind up with zero development.
2. Related to #1: plot grounded in a clever concept
rather than character.
3. Suicide ending. Come on. You’re gonna have to do
better than that.
Speaking of
character…
Let’s Talk about Character
Are the people in your story
Believable?
Complex?
Distinctive?
How do you
make a good
character?
Try STARTING with a character!
Develop an interesting person—someone you yourself are
CURIOUS ABOUT.
What are that person’s anxieties, hopes, weirdest dreams,
favorite color, relationship to parents, worst habit, favorite
saying? What situations make her nervous? What do you NOT
UNDERSTAND about your character?
Now take that person and put her in an interesting, fraught
situation, one that will confuse, enrage, wound, subdue, rattle,
or otherwise test her. THINK OF THE NARRATOR IN RAY
CARVER’S “CATHEDRAL.”
“Cathedral”
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Here’s a guy…what’s he like? Who is
he? So
What’s
thing? what set
whathissituation,
Kind of
bulb.
ofa dim
circumstances,
would
Doesn’t have much worldly experience; never left
homeput
town.this guy to the test, or
Doesn’t
read ahis
whole
lot; gotqualities,
as far as ____ or
in
tickle
worst
school.
make
him
nervous,
or
force
Nice person; a bit sarcastic.
a change, or nudge him
Xenophobic.
Married
to a woman
who is almost the inverse of
toward
self-awareness?
the above.
Here’s a thought:
AND
Fiction Project
Write 3 good flash fiction pieces.
If you want to base these on class exercises, you
may. But you don’t have to. (Beware, if you use
the dollar bill thing, of pat, predictable themes.)
Post a draft to your blog with the header, FLASH
FICTION ASSIGNMENT. Category: creative
writing. Tag: creative writing.
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“A Good Man is Hard
to Find”
We’ll use this story for occasional
reference.
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Prose Style
Beginning writers often don’t pay much attention to
LANGUAGE and prose style.
As a fiction writer, a big part of what you do is shape,
discover, play, and otherwise have a great time with
WORDS—their sounds, textures, resonances.
For fabulous examples of style, go here:
www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323
/Style.docx
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You’ll hear me say this over and over:
literary art starts with play—deep and
sometimes even disturbing but pleasurable
engagement with language.
Have fun.
Listen to the language.
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You’ll hear me say this over and over:
literary art starts with PLAY—deep (and
sometimes even disturbing) but pleasurable
engagement with language.
Have fun.
Listen to the language.
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Fiction Project ASSIGNMENT
Option #2
Write a story which experiments in some way
with plot, character, setting, mode.
Roughly 6 double-spaced pages.
Full assignment:
www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/GS20
13/FictionProject2.htm
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Tim O’Brien’s,
“How to Tell a
True War
Story”
What do you make of PLOT in this story?
What’s the shape of your own story’s plot?
Hook = “triggering action” or
“complicating action” or “narrative
question” or “twist.” Different sources will call
these by different names.
False clue
Increasing
tension
X
Partial answer
X
Introduction of
minor parallel plot
X
X
X
Flashback
What SLOWS
Pace?
X
X
X
X
X
X
What SPEEDS pace?
ACTION!
ANSWERS!
Scene-setting (exposition)
Dialogue.
Internal
monologue.
Description.
Resolution
Nothing wrong with a traditional plot structure.
And did you know: each
carries with it its own
ideological assumptions
about the nature of time,
desire, purpose, even human
existence itself?
Alternate Plot
Structures
BTW, authors and titles mentioned
here are class assignments or material
can easily be found through simple
web searches.
Framed
narrative.plots
(Or this can
is actually a plot device.) Have you seen
Different
Titanic?
express
Montage
or collage. ways
O’Brien story?
alternative
of experiencing
Multiple and intersecting plots. Continental Drift.
TIME and
Chronologically
backwards
REALITY!
See plot. (Yes—backwards. See Lorrie Moore’s
“How to Talk to Your Mother.”)
Gabriel Garcia
Static
plots. (See experimental
Marquez’s
One stories by Robbe Grille.)
Hundred Years of
All flashbacks, or footnotes, or exposition. Nicholson Baker’s, The
Solitude.
Mezzanine.
So…
• Right now we are reading and thinking about
fiction, and you are trying your hand at fiction.
The idea here is to explore, give it a chance,
see what it feels like.
• Don’t be afraid to fail. I’d rather see a flop of a
story which is nonetheless trying interesting
things—than a “polished” or “successful” story
which plays everything safe.
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And you might try...
Instead of writing a long, traditional, try a
set of flash pieces—say at least 4.
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