Background for Folder Fodder

Read this article.

Now. Write a fictional letter in the persona of John McCain or Barack Obama. Address the letter to his opponent in the current presidential election. Set it ten years in the future. Whomever you choose has lost the election. Have him express a revealing, private anecdote about his childhood. The closing salutation should be "With warm personal regards and admiration, ..."

Mary Robison

A little info on Mary Robison, whose story "Pretty Ice" we'll discuss at some point. (Probably this Friday? Maybe next week?) Robison has been called a "minimalist." We'll talk about that concept when we talk about the story.

Programming Note

On the column to the right, you will find the conference and critique schedule for the remainder of the semester. I've adjusted things a little: we'll critique two stories a week and I'll conference with two of you each week. That means two-thirds of you will have some form of draft due on Friday mornings.

Here's how the week will look:

Monday -- Conferences/Receive critique drafts
Tuesday -- Talk about published story
Wednesday -- Critique
Thursday -- Critique
Friday -- Receive reading assignment/Conference & Critique drafts due

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Shirley Jackson

The next famous American short story we'll read is "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. You may have come across it before; you may come across it in the future. That's because it's famous. But I already said that. We'll talk about it on Tuesday. I want to think about it in terms of Plot and in terms of so-called Realism. Should be a hoot.

James Baldwin

Here's a little bit about James Baldwin. He's, like, a famous writer and stuff. And his "Sonny's Blues" is one of his particularly famous stories. Read it and we'll talk about it on Wednesday and/or Thursday. Think of it in terms of our essential elements of fiction. Jot notes in the margin. We'll go through each element and see what you've observed. Sounds like fun, yes?

Story Idea #2: Images

Write a page or so on each of the images below. Don't worry about all the elements of story just yet. Simply describe what you see for a while and see if that leads anywhere. When you've done that for each image, pick the one that seems the most promising and make a full-fledged story out of it. Of course, print out all you write and turn it in. I'll start keeping a file of all the stuff you do this semester.