This was my final assignment for the class. I had a lot of trouble getting started with this one - I wanted my parable to be effortlessly meaningful and resonant, which is quite a standard for a rough draft. I ended up opting for a more realistic narrative. The story worked, but I'm not sure it's quite a parable. I changed the ending a bit in my final version, in the hopes to have a bit more of the moral I was hoping for (relationships between people are the bright spot in a chaotic and often difficult world)
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I loved this assignment. I was able to use a story starter I'd been sitting on for a while; it fit seamlessly into the assignment prompt. I definitely crammed my spacing to fit as many words as I could on the page, but I really appreciated how I was able to make the story build between scenes (a challenge in a one-page story) and a few of the images and metaphors I managed (my classmates and professor appreciated these as well). Though I cannot make out my professor's final comment on the sheet, I received a good grade and felt satisfied to boot. The edits to this story for my final submission were very minor (I did add a little Adam-and-Eve allusion to the start).
This was my least favorite assignment so far in this class (or close, maybe tied with Decades), and I can pinpoint why. I am a lover of fiction, and feel deeply vulnerable when asked to write about myself. Though I realize in hindsight it was possible to fictionalize this assignment, at the time I was writing it, I saw talking about myself as unavoidable. I was equal parts frustrated at how reminiscent this assignment seemed to the numerous college application essays I'd had to write, and fearful of the vulnerability of exposing myself, rather than a character, on the page. The end result was one I was only semi-satisfied with, but was ready to move forward with my life rather than fixate on it further.
When I brought my piece to class, I received quite different feedback. The guest instructor that day thought my piece perfectly demonstrated the prompt, seamlessly integrating autobiography with criticism. She did have a few recommendations about how I could further integrate the present-day narrator in my mostly reflective piece. I received a 3.9 on this assignment. This story was a blast to write. Originally, I had intended it to be my collage story, playing with form rather than substance, but swapped it out at the last minute, as mentioned in my last post. I was entirely experimenting here, and had no idea whether my story would work, both in the sense of it making sense and resonating with the reader. (This did not stop me from parading it before my roommates and family members alike. Whoever says that writers are introverts [and modest] clearly have not met me.) I'm not sure my professor entirely understood my aim for this piece - a commentary on growing up and finding your "people" - even after I explained this, and so I'll be interested to see what grade I receive on this piece. He did seem to like my creative interpretation of a 'trick story.' I received some lovely comments from an anonymous classmate (also included below), so I know that this story 'worked' for at least one person!
I will not even attempt to copy the text here, instead just including a picture of my paper with markups, as I do not think the formatting would stand a chance. Update: I got a 4.0 on this piece, my second of the quarter. I was honestly quite shocked but also thrilled. I think my creative structure made up for any cheesiness that I feared might have deterred my professor. My path to this assignment was quite a ride. The prompt was to write a collage story, split into sections without a linear narrative, bu tried together by a central argument or theme. I got really excited to write this story, and begun working on it the day after I'd turned my previous one in - before we'd even gone over the prompt in class. I took a bit of a creative approach to my collage, experimenting with form more than content, and was interested to hear what my professor would say. I had my story printed and ready to turn in - but the morning the assignment was due, as I was walking to my first class, I got another idea. I jotted it down in the minutes I had before and after class, but then had to make a decision: did I turn in the piece I had printed and ready and had been so excited about, or did I take a chance with the new story? I printed out the new one as well, just to be sure. I went to class, my mind still not made up, and our professor introduced the assignment for the following week, a 'trick story.' That made the decision for me. The first story I had written fit much better under that heading, and so I decided to save it for the next week and turn in my new story. I was excited and proud of my work, and though it wasn't quite perfect, my class liked it a lot. I even had a couple of students come up to me after class to tell me how much they enjoyed my writing overall and how they looked forward to reading my piece of the week. This was so kind and such a nice boost of my confidence!
Our third assignment was to write a story based on a decade. It was to be meandering, describing characteristics of a time period and a first person narrator in such a way that they end up describing each other, all in 250 words. This prompt was a challenge, particularly the limited word count. The piece I wound up with felt incomplete because I had to cut so much out to fit the limit, especially because I wanted to include all ten years of my chosen decade. I definitely think some revision is in order for this piece, and likely some lengthening, in order to really get a 'decades' feel and not just a personal account. Despite my doubts, this piece still got fairly positive feedback from my professor and class, although I definitely had more room for improvement here than in my previous piece.
This was the second assignment for my Prose class: write a lover's quarrel, in which two different people (not necessarily lovers, but most likely) had different characterizations/perspectives/views, and the conflict between them results in some larger insight about the nature of love. I found this assignment rather cathartic at a tumultuous personal time, and was extremely pleased with the results. I was again reaffirmed in workshop, receiving an abundance of positive feedback. I do wonder, however, whether there are areas that I could improve in this piece - the final assignment in this class is to revise our works from the quarter, and I want to have some progress to show from this. Nevertheless, I was happy and proud of this piece, and so far in the class as a whole.
UPDATE 10.16.19: I received my professor's notes on this piece in class on Monday (attached below). He had circled lots of lines, written 'good' and 'great' several times, and marked a grade at the bottom: 3.8. I went up to him after class and asked: "In both our in-class discussion and here on your notes, you had only positive comments on this story. I was wondering - what do I need to do to bring it from at 3.8 to a 4.0?" His response: "That's a fair point. You've convinced me. I'll change your grade to 4.0." This was our first assignment for my Intro to Prose / Short Stories class. We read a segment of "Life is Short, Art is Shorter - In Praise of Brevity," an anthology edited in part by my professor, David Shields. We then were told to write a 250 word story with an object at the center, in which a prevalent image moves from a physical object within the piece to a metaphorical one, just as the book's examples demonstrated. We then brought our stories into class for a group workshopping session. I was very nervous leading up to this first workshop, namely because I'd heard that this professor had very high standards, and I was very concerned my work would be ripped apart in front of the class. Instead, this turned out to be a very positive experience. My professor and classmates had many kind things to say about my work, and the changes they suggested I agreed with and had mostly anticipated. I've included below the text of my first draft of this story (the version I had workshopped) and the comments that I had written down during our workshop session, as well as my professor's notes. This experience revitalized me, and left me excited to write more, and eager for our next assignment.
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