Short story suggestions for Creative writing class?

[RobinL in Canada]

I'll be teaching a CW class in our high school co-op this fall (starting in a few weeks). Due to persnoal issues this summer, I have not been able to prepare ahead as I normally would and am still trying to pull together age-appropriate example stories for the course--ie, preferably "classic" short stories which would illustrate well key aspects of the short story writing process, such as characterization, point of view, tone, etc. Last year I taught Literary Analysis using primarily Windows to the World and will have some of the same students in this class, so I can't reuse stories (and I added in quite a few more, so have used up some favourites). If anyone has any suggestions which would work well to exemplify some of these lessons, please let me know. Thank you.

[shanvan]

One of my favorite short stories is Willa Cather's "Neighbor Rosicky". It fits all of your criteria and is a truly beautiful exploration of a man's life. Read it for yourself and decide what you think. Here is the full text.

 

http://pages.central.edu/emp/dolezalj/neighbour_rosicky.htm

 

[PeterPan]

One of my favorite short stories is Willa Cather's "Neighbor Rosicky". It fits all of your criteria and is a truly beautiful exploration of a man's life. Read it for yourself and decide what you think. Here is the full text.

 

http://pages.central.edu/emp/dolezalj/neighbour_rosicky.htm

 

 

Just for your trivia, did you know this is covered in the BJU lit 9? I only know because I was looking at the toc today for it. :)

 

Actually, that lit 9 text does what Robin is describing, and it lists the focus for each unit and the stories they use in the toc. Might give her some more ideas.

[Carol in Cal.]

The Cask of Amontillado

Bliss

Rain

The Most Dangerous Game

The 80 Yard Run

[JohnC3]

I taught creative writing at the college level, and here are some classic stories that they will probably encounter at the university (at least in America) in no particular order:

 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The Enormous Radio by John Cheever

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

To Build a Fire by Jack London

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston (creative non-fiction)

 

Ideally, you should teach the modern writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. I would also make sure to address Flannery O’Connor and Joyce Carol Oates as exemplars. For examples of current short stories check out the “Best American Short Stories†series.

 

And as an aside, check out John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. It has a long list of fun writing assignments at the end. Another classic creative writing text is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird (although may not be appropriate for high school if memory serves).

 

I hope this helps.:001_smile:

[jhschool]

The Lady or the Tiger?

I hated it, but it was taught to us in school.

 

The Gift of the Magi.

I never knew whether it was a good ending (each willing to sacrifice for the other) or a horrible ending (they each ruined their one valuable with no use for the other gift).

 

The Magic Shop

[RobinL in Canada]

I taught creative writing at the college level, and here are some classic stories that they will probably encounter at the university (at least in America) in no particular order:

 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The Enormous Radio by John Cheever

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

To Build a Fire by Jack London

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston (creative non-fiction)

 

Ideally, you should teach the modern writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. I would also make sure to address Flannery O’Connor and Joyce Carol Oates as exemplars. For examples of current short stories check out the “Best American Short Stories†series.

 

And as an aside, check out John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. It has a long list of fun writing assignments at the end. Another classic creative writing text is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird (although may not be appropriate for high school if memory serves).

 

I hope this helps.:001_smile:

 

Thanks--the focus of the course is on writing, though, not on analyzing many short stories, and a number of these I used last year in our Literary Analysis class. Thanks for the suggestions,though. Do you have any thoughts on specifics about running the actual classes--what exercises/ activities to do, etc? I think I have it planned out to some degree but could always use more ideas of what has worked well in a class.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I'd start out with activities encouraging creative expression outside of actual writing.

 

Maybe have a set of line drawings, have one person describe it then have the others draw it.

 

Start with a story premise and go around the class asking for a sentence to complete the story.

 

Go through the top components that make a good creative story. Things like surprise, suspense, "showing" not "telling". etc.

 

As for specific stories it really depends on what kind of examples you want to show, are you focusing on mechanics or the creative process of writing?

[Wildiris]

• Cover the basic of what makes a story and not just a telling. Use the short stories to emphasize the structure of story. The shorter the story the better. Hemingway's famous six words "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."
  
  
• Pick a random word out of the dictionary and use it as a writing prompt. Give a word count. 300-500 words.
  
• Make lists.
  
• Plotto might be helpful to students that struggle with ideas.
  
• Cover the mechanics of dialog
  
• Assign eavesdropping on conversations. Write the conversations out and ask, "what if..." or "what's it all about?"
  
  

[JohnC3]

Thanks--the focus of the course is on writing, though, not on analyzing many short stories, and a number of these I used last year in our Literary Analysis class. Thanks for the suggestions,though. Do you have any thoughts on specifics about running the actual classes--what exercises/ activities to do, etc? I think I have it planned out to some degree but could always use more ideas of what has worked well in a class.

 

A fairly standard creative writing course would go something like this: the entire first half of the semester would be devoted to reading example short stories like the ones listed on this thread. Normally, creative writing instructors spend more time on contemporary literature (post 1950’s) than on the classics. Analysis of the stories is important because students need to begin to think like writers. What are the different parts to a short story? How do these parts relate? What kind of effect does the writer want to have on the reader by utilizing these various parts? During this part of the semester, you might start with short writing exercises that develop one aspect of story telling, whether it be plot, setting, character, description, etc. The last half of the course normally would be devoted to a workshop where different students critique each other’s work. That’s harder to pull off for homeschooling.

 

Snag a copy of Gardner’s book next time you are in the bookstore and rob some of his ideas. Here are some from page 205:

 

--Describe and evoke a simple action (for example, sharpening a pencil, carving a tombstone, shooting a rat).

--Write an honest and sensitive description (or sketch) of (a) one of your parents, (b) a mythological beast, and © a ghost.

 

--Write a prose passage that makes effective and noticeable use of rhyme.

 

The main idea of a creative writing course is to learn to both write and analyze short fiction. These two activities can’t really be done apart since writing good fiction requires an understanding of what it is.

 

Let me know if I can help more.

[RobinL in Canada]

Thank you, everyone, for the thoughts. They are pretty similar to what I've already been planning to do. It's rather ridiculous--I actually have an MA in Creative Writing, but it's been so long since I took such a course that I can't clearly recall how they were run, and I've never taught one before, though I have taught literature, lit analysis, and expository/ essay writing. For this homeschooling class, I can't be too "advanced" or choose too many modern/ contemporary stories which may be inappropriate in theme or content, hence my preference for some "classics" (though I will also include, for eg, some Carver). I'll see if I can dig out my copy of Gardner's Art of Fiction.

[shanvan]

Just for your trivia, did you know this is covered in the BJU lit 9? I only know because I was looking at the toc today for it. :)

 

Actually, that lit 9 text does what Robin is describing, and it lists the focus for each unit and the stories they use in the toc. Might give her some more ideas.

 

Just saw this, Elizabeth. I may have noticed it in the TOC back when I was considering it. Are you using BJU Lit 9? Sorry to get off topic, OP.

[PeterPan]

Just saw this, Elizabeth. I may have noticed it in the TOC back when I was considering it. Are you using BJU Lit 9? Sorry to get off topic, OP.

 

Hehe, we rabbit trail with pleasure, don't we? :lol:

 

I'm undecided. My SIL showed me her old edition BJU 9, and dd would find it offensively young I think. Sorry I can't find a better way to put it. What I *like* about it is the idea of practicing building your arguments and taking the tests with easier material. If I can find it inexpensively, I'll probably have her go through it this semester and put her into the BJU10 in January. The BJU 11 and 12 are what amaze me, especially their tests. (I'm so cruel!) So to me the BJU 10 is preparation for the BJU 11. What I'm *concerned* about is whether the BJU 10 just fragments and dissects the lit to the point where it kills it. On the other hand, it's not like it's the ONLY stuff she'd be reading, mercy. So in that sense, to come in and do some targeted work would be good. (I'm saying I could see different reactions for different kids.)

 

The BJU 9 is just a stepping stone. It's a lot of basic stuff in the vein of what we've already done over the years. It's also a semester course, not a year. I don't think it's astounding. Check the publication date, but I think it's a 2nd edition, maybe 2005. I'll bet they update it in a couple years. The lit 10 new edition has (to me) a more interesting list of lit than the 2nd edition. I think they're making that step up with the new editions of everything they do (science, math, lit).

 

Sorry that's all wishy-washy, lol. It's just one of those things I haven't sorted out myself. When my SIL showed me her lit 9, it was really in the category of don't bother. With your boy being a year older and a strong reader, I certainly wouldn't bother with it. Go right to 10. Or maybe not? Maybe he'd love the 9? Look at the samples. It's definitely like the samples. And you know, maybe I screwed up. My SIL's version is older. Maybe I should borrow her old 9 (same lit) use it, and then go into the new 10 in January. I don't know. None of it is for her real reading anyway. To me it's more just skill reading and informative bits. For her real reading, she's on a Tolkien binge and reading all kinds of stuff to go with her history.

[JohnC3]

Thank you, everyone, for the thoughts. They are pretty similar to what I've already been planning to do. It's rather ridiculous--I actually have an MA in Creative Writing, but it's been so long since I took such a course that I can't clearly recall how they were run, and I've never taught one before, though I have taught literature, lit analysis, and expository/ essay writing. For this homeschooling class, I can't be too "advanced" or choose too many modern/ contemporary stories which may be inappropriate in theme or content, hence my preference for some "classics" (though I will also include, for eg, some Carver). I'll see if I can dig out my copy of Gardner's Art of Fiction.

 

Your comment about Carver reminds me of that story "Cathedral." I always loved that story. I'm wondering, though, if I'll chicken out and not introduce him to my kids since he can be a bit much sometimes with the presentation of all of those desperate lives. I'm worried too about some of those commonly anthologized contemporary stories that may not have great content. Off the top of my head, I don't think Cathedral was too bad, but it's been a while since I've read it.

[RobinL in Canada]

BTW, any ideas for the best way to *end* the course--ie, the last class? We do not have time in a single class to go over everyone's final short stories; I expect to do that on my own. But since whatever we cover in the last class can't be applied to the stories they will hand in that day, then what would be a worthwhile closure to the course?