CYBER STORIES
WELCOME TO OUR SHORT STORY UNIT!
As a result of this unit, you will be able to
- identify and define the elements of a short story;
- evaluate a short story's effectiveness through analysis of its elements;
- improve reading proficiency;
- expand vocabulary;
- gain exposure to notable authors and their works;
- practice critical thinking and writing skills such as summarizing a plot,
explaining the function of setting, or analyzing a character;
- write a five-paragraph essay analyzing conflict in three short
stories;
- construct a 55-word short story with setting, character(s), conflict,
and resolution.
DIRECTIONS:
Connect to the short stories by using the following web sites. Simply copy
and paste the internet addresses into your web browser.
Print out each story for your CYBER STORIES BINDER.
CYBER STORIES
“The Interlopers” by Saki
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Inte.shtml
“Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” by Jack Finney
http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/20302005/Deadman.htm
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html
“The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” by Stephen Crane
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/crane/bride.htm
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/mnkyspaw.htm
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London
http://www.online-literature.com/london/101/
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html
“The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams
www.classicshorts.com/stories/force.html
“Antaeus” by Borden Deal
TBA
"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/146/
“The Last Leaf” by O. Henry
http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1303/
“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1014/
“The Diamond Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
http://www.online-literature.com/maupassant/206/
“The Piece of String” by Guy de Maupassant
www.online-literature.com/maupassant/270/
“The Moustache” by Robert Cormier
TBA
“A & P” by John Updike
http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/
“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
www.online-literature.com/poe/36/
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/31/
“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
http://www.calapitter.net/dead/39/scarlet_ibis.html
“Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing
http://blog.educastur.es/argente/files/2007/10/throughthetunnel.pdf
"The Rich Brother" by Tobias Wolff
TBA
RULES FOR 55-WORD FICTION
Courtesy of New Times:
The first rule we always tell 55 Fiction writers may seem obvious, but it's
broken more often than you might think. We tell them to remember that we're
talking about fiction, not essays or poems or errant thoughts.
A lot of people have a hard time getting that straight, no doubt because they
have a hard time believing that writing something so short is really
possible. They usually end up with only part of a story, often with their
character stranded in a situation going nowhere.
So although some may have a more complex definition of just what constitutes
a "story," for our purposes, a story is a story only if it contains the
following four elements: 1) a setting; 2) a character or characters; 3)
conflict; and 4) resolution.
For those who think this is limiting their creativity, consider for a moment
that:
All stories have to be happening someplace, which means they have to have a
setting of some kind, even if it's the other side of the universe, the inner
reaches of someone's mind, or just the house next-door.
Characters can have infinite variations. People, animals, clouds, microbes.
Anything.
By conflict, we merely mean that in the course of the story, something has to
happen. The lovers argue. The deer flees. The astronauts wait in
anticipation. Even in this last example, something is happening, even though
no one is moving or talking. There is conflict, which leads us to:
The outcome of the story, known also as the resolution. This doesn't
necessarily mean that there's a moral ("Justice is its own reward," "In the
end, love triumphs"), or even that the conflict itself is resolved. It may or
may not be.
But what it does mean is that when the story ends, someone has to have
learned something. Tony found out his wife wanted to kill him after all; the
soldiers successfully eluded the enemy when they thought they'd been
discovered; Barbara was shown to be as much of a liar as her father. It's
even possible to have none of the characters learn anything. But if that's
the case, then we, the reader, must.
A few other important points to keep in mind:
You can write about anything you like, but you can't use more than 55 words.
Yes, you can use fewer if you'd like to, but we don't know why anyone would?
Don't shortchange yourself even more than we already have.
And what, exactly, is a word? Simple. If it's in the dictionary, it's a word.
Hyphenated words can't count as single words. For example, "blue-green dress"
is three words, not two. Exceptions to this are any words that don't become
two complete free-standing words when the hyphen is removed, like "re-entry."
Also, please note that your story's title isn't included in the word count.
But remember that it can't be more than seven words long.
Contractions count as single words, so if you're really seeking word economy
(as you should be), keep this in mind. If you write, "He will jump," it's
three words. But if you write, "He'll jump," it's only two. Very economical.
By the same token, any contraction that's a shortened form of a word is also
counted as a full word. Like using "'em" for "them."
An initial also counts as a word (L.L. Bean, e.e. cummings, etc.) since it's
basically an abbreviation of a full word. The only exception is when it's
part of an acronym like MGM, NASA, or IBM. The reasoning here is that the
wide use of these acronyms has in effect made them into single words.
Remember that numbers count as words, too, expressed as either numerals (8,
28, 500, or 1984), or as words (eight, twenty-eight, etc.). But keep in mind
our hyphenated-word rule. "Twenty-eight" is two words when written out, but
only one when expressed as 28. Don't cheat yourself out of an extra word that
you may need.
Any punctuation is allowed, and no punctuation marks count as words, so don't
worry about being miserly with them if they work to some effect.
