Fiction is story-telling. To write fiction then means to be a storyteller. Fiction is interested in language in the same way poetry is; however, fiction is driven by action. This action can come from character development: A young man starts a story naive and without self control but ends that same story hardened and stuck in a routine. Action can also come from conflict: What gets in the way of the “goal” of the story? How does the story try to fight this obstacle and ultimately get what it wants anyway?
In this unit, we are going to be talking about:
- Point of View
- Voice
- Character
- Setting
- Story vs. Plot
- Scene vs. summary
- Backstory vs. flashback
Find details about all of these terms here.
We will also be reading the following short stories:
+ “Drown” and “The Pura Principal” by Diaz
+“The Man on the Stairs” by Miranda July
+“Bettering Myself” by Moshfegh
+“Safari” by Egan
+“Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Packer
+”Tiny Smiling Daddy” by Gaitskill
+“Italy” by Elefano
+”Book of Martha” by Butler
+”What you left in the ditch” by Bender
+ “100% Perfect Girl” by Murakami
+ “The Arrangement” by Lin
