The Writer’s Craft
The Fiction Assignment
The course introduction describes the first major paper in the course as "a creative paper in which students use historical characters or events as part of a fictional story or section of a longer work." These papers will be workshopped in class—in fact they won’t be accepted unless they’re workshopped in class—and revised before they’re handed in.
In class we will have spent some time experimenting with impromptus that explore ways the fiction writers in the course—Doctorow in Ragtime, Unsworth in After Hannibal, and Giraldi in Vaporetto 13—have used nonfiction elements in their fiction. With Doctorow we will have experimented with the use of historical or contemporary real-life characters placed in a fictional situation and setting; with Unsworth we will have attempted to use historical or factual events as the catalyst or the background for fictional action or behavior; with Giraldi we will have located a fictional scene or story in a factual contemporary setting. These experiments are intended to provide a leg up on this assignment.
Imagine a circumstance in which fictional characters or events are affected by or influenced by historical or contemporary figures or factual events or placed in a factual setting, or all three, and prepare a draft of the story or the scene from the story you want to tell. Plan ahead, think through what this scene or story is for and where you could take it if it is tentatively from a longer work. Then write the story or scene and expect to read it in class during the fiction workshops on October 9, 11, and 16. These will be occasions for feedback on the stories.
Expect the story or scene to run 8-10 double spaced pages. (If it’s a scene from a longer concept, you may need a paragraph of introduction or conclusion before or after the scene.)
The final draft will be due in class on October 18.