As we’ve discussed, your plan should take a form that will be useful for you as you write. It might include a variety of lists, images, graphs, texts, or drafts. It should be tentative, only a guide, and will almost certainly change. Whatever form it takes, I’ll ask myself these questions as I evaluate it.
- Have direct methods of characterization like appearance, speech, and thoughts/desires/motivations been considered? Have indirect methods of characterization like relationships with other characters and immediate setting been considered?
- Is the importance of the main (and any minor) conflict/connection to the character(s) clear? Has how conflicts and characters might shape the story been explicitly considered? Has how the characters’ actions and thoughts might create/influence other characters and scenes obvious?
- What actions will be presented in scenes? Which will probably be summarized?
- Have decisions about language (particularly point of view) been thoughtfully made? What themes may develop? What is the broader setting and how might it shape the story?
- Does the plan seem to act as a resource, a pool of ideas, a springboard for writing the text?
If you have any questions about his assignment, please contact me. A rough draft is due for peer review on 27Jan and 3Feb. It should be emailed to me in class on 6Feb12.
