Putting it All Together

It’s our last week of workshop, and for all intents and purposes, our last week of class. It’s time to put all the elements together now; everything you’ve learned up until this point—character, scene, dialogue, setting, as well as careful attention to language and image—work together with a deliberate structure to complete a short story.

Again, this can be either fiction or nonfiction, meaning you can make up all these elements, drawn from what you know, of course; or you can draw more deliberately from memory, shaping your first-hand experience through structure.

What am I talking about with structure? Plot. Though it may not always need to be mapped out as perfectly and painstakingly as you may have learned in your middle school English classes.

Anne Lamott tells us that “plot grows out of character,” and that “the development of relationship creates plot.” She argues that the “process of discovering the story will often take place in fits and starts,” which is why we’ve been taking time to explore the elements of story without deliberately putting it all together until now.

It can be helpful to think of plot in a more formulaic way. A very basic formula for drama includes setup, buildup, and payoff, and it always includes movement (59). There is change, there is motion.

A more involved formula is one Alice Adams offers, and she calls it the ABDCE formula, for Action, Background, Development, Climax, and Ending (62). A formula can be a great place to start, because it offers a gentle guide. But no matter what, the story is still about characters, and they drive plot.

You’ll see what I mean when you delve into the reading for this week, which draws exclusively from Bird by Bird:

Plot (54-63)
False Starts (80-84)
Plot Treatment (85-92)

Your writing assignment for workshop next week is to write a complete story, with beginning, middle, and end. It should focus on character, include a conflict and a resolution, and make use of scene, dialogue, and setting. You’re more than welcome to try out a formula. Due Tuesday at noon to your workshop group, and please do offer each other feedback by Thursday at noon so you have plenty of time to take comments into consideration for revision due in your final portfolio which you’ll turn in no later than exam week Tuesday.

What’s included in your final portfolio? I’ll give you a more formal assignment next week, but you might appreciate having a heads up.

Much like your midterm portfolio, you’ll include your journal with observations and meditations and exercises. In addition, you’ll include (revisions of) the assignments you workshopped—the flash essay, character description, scene with dialogue, as well as your complete story revised. That story is where I’d like you to focus your energy, as I imagine at this point in the quarter your energy is waning. It’s been a tough one, and you’ve done a great job. So, just plan on putting all those pieces together, work on the story, and I’ll ask you to do some informal reflection on your writing process and writing this term. If you need an extension, just ask. And, again, I’ll put it more formally in its own blog post next week. This is your advance notice.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I hope you got a chance to relax over the long weekend.