A couple of days ago I reported that my teacher returned writing assignment #1 with her comments and suggestions. I think I've calmed down enough to talk about it without gushing. But first, I must say how impressed I am with this course so far and with my instructor, who is a real, live published author--and she's reading my stories! How great is that?! (Am I gushing?) Second, even though I've been writing every day since late December 2008, it hasn't always been structured writing. I've done what I call "trance writing," (more about that later), journal entries, freewrites, essays, etc., as well as a few stories, and about 500 edits of the first chapter of a novel! However, in less than three weeks of this course, I have written two complete stories and begun a third!
Now, to my teacher's critique. She pretty much said everything I did in my recent post, "The Elephant Bites Back," except that when she said it, it was encouraging. She offered a lot of additional suggestions on the old "plot" monster that will be helpful to me when I expand this story beyond 750 words. I wrote the story for the adolescent/teen market (the protagonist is 14), which routinely expects 1,200- to 2,000-words, so I have a lot of room to create some gripping conflict.
One thing my teacher said, and I didn't, was that the protagonist seemed too cerebral and not emotionally involved enough in the situation. I agree. I'll work on that.
YAAAAAAY!!!!!!
I love that post title, "The Elephant Bites Back!" I laugh every time I read it. You have a good sense of humor.
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