SOME NOTES FOR WRITING STORIES
Above all: SHOW, DON’T TELL. PLEASE BE Descriptive WITH IMAGERY SHOW AND DO NOT TELL THE STORY.
Stories are expected to have correct punctuation and grammar. This is a 200-level college writing workshop. I should not be seeing papers which switch back and forth from the past to the present tense, choose one tense and stick with it. And you should know how to properly punctuate and capitalize dialogue attributions (he said, she said, et al)
The stories you submit to class should not be:
–fantasy stories;
–YA stories;
–stories that at the end are revealed to have been a dream (it’s never a surprise, it never works, don’t try to make it work).
It is best to avoid the following subjects:
–the death of family members, particularly parents and grandparents;
–the death of a pet;
–disease or handicap
— no abuse related stories