English 221: Intro to Creative Writing
Agenda:  April 22, 2008

In Class Writing: A Summary & The First Line

“No story is really a story until it can be retold.  Paraphrase is one of the most potent instruments of understanding.  What cannot be paraphrased has probably not been understood at all.”   Stephen Koch

• Summarize in five sentences or less, your story. Try to include in your summary, the ground situation, the new conflict arising out of the ground situation, the rising action, and the turning point.

John Updike has a short story with the title: "The Astronomer". The first line of the story is: "I feared his visit." Updike once said, "I try to instantly set in motion a certain forward tilt of suspense or curiosity, and at the end of the story, rectify the tilt, to complete the motion."

• Of all the beginnings you might have chosen for your story, is this the right beginning? Does it instantly set in motion a suspense or curiosity? If so, good. If not, is there a better first line somewhere in the first few paragraphs? Find it. Rewrite this first line at the top of the draft, right beneath the title.  

SWAP: your summary AND your draft

Read your partners draft, making notes to yourself and to the author in the margin.

1. Does the short summary accurately portray what you read and experienced on the page? Do you have a different sense of what the story is about and what it means? How so?

2. Identify, in your partners draft, the following elements:

• the ground situation
• the steps in the rising action sequence
• the turning point

3. Do you have all the information you need to understand the story? What else do you need to know or understand? Where should this exposition go in the draft (be specific)?

4. Do the steps in the rising action sequence prepare you enough for the turning point? Which step is most thoroughly developed? Which step needs more development? What kind of development? Find one scene that needs development and suggest how to develop this scene. Suggest a new scene that is only implied or mentioned in the draft.

5. Does the beginning of the story hook the reader and draw them into the story? Does the beginning of the story create the right set of expectations? What suggestions do you have to make the beginning stronger?

Share and compare your findings with your partner and be prepared to share these findings/comparisons with the class.

FOR NEXT TIME: 4/24: Story Drafts DUE. Good Luck!