Category Archives: Assignments

If you desire, you can email to me no more than three examples of your reading the stories below as fiction writing textbooks. Each example of your reading this way can earn up to five points. Each should be no … Continue reading →

Consider these questions: What kind of story does your beginning promise readers? How do you know? Which words make the promise? Which words or phrases establish the POV in your story? How are readers introduced to characters? What are readers’ … Continue reading →

Address these prompts. You have lots of time. Do a good job. Describe the process of writing this draft. What worked well? What would you do differently if you could? While the specifics of an assignment are a factor, what … Continue reading →

Write no more than twenty words in response to these characterization prompts; then write the word “unless” and add twenty more words. What does the character think is funny? How does he or she feel about authority? Describe one meal … Continue reading →

Here is a PDF of a few pages of our English 2250 textbook. We will talk about them in class.

Identify the differences between scene and summary in “The Zebra Storyteller” by Spencer Hoist below and in Lan Samatha Chang’s “The Eve of the Spirit Festival” in the PDF that follows. The Zebra Storyteller Spencer Hoist Once upon a time … Continue reading →

Identify fiction-writing techniques by quoting two examples (if you are taking this class as 3420) or four examples (if you are taking this class as 4420) you find in the story I’ve handed out. Explain why each quotation from step … Continue reading →

Form small groups to address each of these sets of questions. What sort of “contract with the reader” is created early in each story? What expectations are likely in readers as a result of the way each story begins? Discuss … Continue reading →