2 things

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Fiction writing ideas

Your task is to write fictional (or made-up) short story. Here are some possible writing ideas to get you started:

a) Write a story that takes place entirely in a small space (e.g. an elevator, a car, a

crowded line at the airport).

b) Write a story that starts from an interesting question (e.g. “What would happen

if…”)

c) Write a story that takes place in Chicago—but in a version of the city that is

different than now. Is your story set in the far future, the distant past?

d) Write a revised version of a true story (take something that really happened and

change it).

e) Write a story with no dialogue.

f) Write a story that uses the 2nd person (“you”) the pronoun for its narrator.

g) OR feel free to write about anything else that intrigues you!

Whatever direction you choose to explore, your story should be a complete short story

(meaning it has a beginning, a middle, and an end). You may also write a new story for

characters you have created previously (e.g. for playwriting or in a different writing

setting). If your idea for a story would be much longer than our final goal length, you can

also think of this assignment as one chapter of a longer story (thought it should still have

its own beginning, middle, and end).

As always, try to show us information about your story rather than just outright

telling us what’s going on. For example, "I felt embarrassed" is much less moving than

immersing your reader right in the details that show us how embarrassed the character

is—his sweaty palms, his face turning red, the kids around him laughing, etc. Help the

reader see the scene as you see it and feel the emotions you feel by using lots of

specifics.

Keep in mind that fiction stories, like our other genres, will often have two layers: One is

the surface-level subject (e.g. an argument with a lover). The other is the larger,

underlying idea: What is your story really about? (e.g. change, loneliness, etc). After we

read your story, we should feel interested in your plot and also have some hint towards

241/Ritt

or sense of your overall purpose: Why was this topic important for you to write

about? Why is the story important to read?

We’re back in prose formatting now, so use regular paragraph divisions (start a new

paragraph each time the speaker changes and for each major shift in action or focus).

Dialogue goes in quotation marks, and you can add descriptions and actions back in

regular sentences, as you see done in our example stories.

Example formatting:

Professor Ritt sat at her desk wondering what had happened. There she was,

just eating her yogurt and minding her own business, when suddenly she realized she

had forgotten to copy the fiction directions. Where did the time go? She wasn’t certain;

all she knew was that these copies had to be made immediately.

“Amy!” she called to her officemate. “Can you say something to me? I need some

dialogue for this story.”

“Say what? Anything? Like this?” Amy sounded confused. Small wonder, as she

didn’t know what the situation was.

“Sure! Just make sure it’s realistic,” Professor Ritt added. “It needs to sound like

real speech.”

Assignment lengths:

 SFD: 1-3 pages (double-spaced)

o Submitted for feedback; graded for completion and creativity (+10)

 Workshop draft: 1-3 revised pages (double-spaced)

o Used in class during small workshop (+5 participation points).

 2nd: 4+ revised pages (double-spaced) (You may exceed this page count!)

o Submitted for feedback and a grade (+30)