This Week's Practice Exercise~
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Exercise: In 300 words or less, set the scene for a story or memoir. Let your characters begin to live out their drama in a place readers can visualize. Use whatever sensual clues you need to provide a realistic space in which your story can develop.
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Readers may not think they pay much attention to the details of the setting, but they are influenced by the location of the drama, for it gives them clues about the story. People behave differently in different settings. In a church they may be solemn, at a football game noisy, in a gentleman's club formal and polite.
Some writers start their stories by simply describing the setting. Others reveal the scenery as the narrative moves along, but usually readers know where they are fairly soon after the piece begins.
Just writing that we're in a barn doesn't cut it. Is it light or dark? Mice rustling around? Horses in their stalls? Hay in racks above? Or is it completely deserted, with cobwebs in the corners and old tools rusting on the ground? How does it smell? Is it dry or damp? Barns differ, and so do the stories they house.
You must include enough setting to let it provide a stage for the characters, but not so much that it overwhelms the story. There's no "right" way to do it, but if your way works, it's right.
If you're looking for models, consider Shirley Jackson's "The
Lottery"; Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher"; or Irwin Shaw's "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses." All of those and a hundred more are online at Classic Short Stories.
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Exercise: In 300 words or less, set the scene for a story or memoir. Let your characters begin to live out their drama in a place readers can visualize. Use whatever sensual clues you need to provide a realistic space in which your story can develop.
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In your critique, tell the writer whether you can visualize the setting. Does it hint at what might be coming? What role does the setting play in the story? What other details could have been added to improve the story? And, as always, critique the writing.
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These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop
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