Class experience impact on writing, creativity, and more..

So far I am really enjoying the class and everyone commitment to being open, Sharing opinions, view points, and emotions towards the writing we go over in class. The group experience gives me something new every time. It's amazing to read your piece over and see were it might take someone else, or even if your message i being said they way you thought it was. Or what feels even crazy is when the same confusion, journey, emotions you encountered during the writing process someone else can feel. Observing how someone else would approach writing a story, or how they use certain tools has been probably one of the best experiences so far, Not just looking at the stories were given to in class but also the things my classmates write have been great for helping me become a better writer. Hard to explain but basically I just felt like sharing how much the class experience has been an amazing journey thus far.

In the short fiction You Will Excuse Me, it was apparent to me that an illness had returned.  It was saddening to hear how he was regretful to hear about his becoming ill again.  He flashed to happier times when he was with his partner and connections that they had made.  It shows the struggle that people have trying to continue as life as they know it during their fight against their diagnosis.  It was a story most of us could relate to because at one point or another we have had to support someone who was ill or persevere through an illness ourselves. 

It will never be deep enough

In this short story, the last paragraph really caught my attention. "I think the most romantic way to be loved is to death. I want someone to love me with so much of their heart that their heart stops.-"  This sentence in the last paragraph really grabbed my attention. I agree, I think that the most romatic way to be loved is to be loved to death. However, not literally like the author meant. I mean hypothetically. Being loved by your significant other so much that its indescriable, so much that words can't even be put into sentences to describe your love for them, you feel as if your on another world with this person. Thats what I mean by being loved to "Death".

Tomorrow's Class

Hi all:

I've got the flu, so I'm canceling my classes tomorrow. Just do your entries on the blog, keep writing, and I'll see you next week.

best,

jt

AT HOME WITH RAPPER'S DELIGHT

Coming from the generation before technology took its giant leap.  I relate to RD.  trying to find your place in this world isn't as easy as it once was.  The world now is defined by likes, views and comments.  Your place isn't confirmed until you have a following.  Even sitcoms are different.  Most family sitcoms are replaced by reality T.V.  Conversations are replaced with text messages.  Familiar visits from friends and families are replace with face time and Skype.  Sure enough the world that RD & I grew up in is diminishing.

Lithopedion

  The first thing that caught my attention with this short story is the Title. What is a lithopedion was the the question I asked myself AFTER reading the story. Well according to the dictionary definition a lithopedion is a dead fetus that has been calcified and is usually grown extraunterine (outside the uterus).
  The first sentence of the story "she delivered her baby 20 years too late" also rose some questions marks for me as well. How can you deliver a baby 20 years late and not know you were ever pregnant. Further on in the story I got my answer, the protagonist met with her ex-boyfriend of hers who was also the father of the dead baby at a park. It seems to me that they both are not in the best of shape mentally or physically. The ex-boyfriend or husband whose name is Chaz doesn't say exactly their relationship together asked her how did she know ? In this moment of the story I learned that she went to the doctor and they thought they saw cancer and suggested a hysterectomy but she suggested more test and they saw the baby there the lithopedion. All those years she avoided her excruciating stomach pains because of her boyfriend that told her it was just her imagination that she was feeding off to make them real. Now hearing this I now felt the confusion and the numbness she must felt knowing that all those years of pain was because she was holding life in a awkward way and   the pain she felt was not her imagination.
   After they chatted awhile about the past, she questioned Chas about what they should do and he asked her "what do you think we should do ?". Now here is where I get confused in the story as if this her thought of imagination or did this really happen. After Chas ask that question the protagonist seems to go into either a thought about a couple with a better life who has cookie-cutter like relationship and home, who planned their Childs arrival or maybe adoption of a child great.
  However there is other details in this story that also makes me think a whole other scenario or outcome of the question Chas ask "what do you think we should do?". I honestly fell that the couple went to another persons house and swapped babies with a couple who seems to have a great life with their new born baby. The reason why I say this is because of the feelings and emotions the main character may have felt after finding her baby she carried for 20 years is dead, also after suffering multiple miscarriages the sense of never bearing a child, herself and Chas could have developed the feeling that they deserved this baby especially from a newly-wed couple who can conceive again. Aside from the emotions the story points to this suggestion as well for example the couple both leaving out the back door heading towards the river and now the baby having a name "jasper" and in the beginning of the story she did not have a name to give the taxi driver when he asked. So this new name for the baby after leaving a new couple house has raised confusion in me. Why she kept the dead baby for so long still suggest that there is something mentally wrong with her as well. This story was good, kept me on edge and at the end a mind twister.

"HOW TO DISASSEMBLE YOUR FATHER'S GHOST(WINTER) it seems like the character in

story manifested his father from within his mind. The father is telling the character to forget him and

live his life I'm getting this vibe. Example of this are when his so called father's ghost appears "

takes his pocketknife out, sits down to tells his son to cut the apparitions of his ears. Maybe it could

be the father witnessing his own future murder by the character. Example of this is the sentence" his

heart will be easily retrieved from the cloud chest. it must be fed to the dog. Wake the dog and feed it

heartily''. The dog could mean a way to get rid of the body by having the dog eat the body parts. My

question is this a confession or son trying to forget his father.

Had I known from the beginning that we would be doing so much writing, I think I would have steered away from this course but now being in it and directed by the Professor, he has made it so interesting and inspiring and the words just seem to pour out!!! Glad I have taken the course.

In the short story "Mama says" the title sets the tone for the entire short story. Immediatley after reading the title, you can already tell what the short story is going to be about. In this short story, the mom was talking about herself. Most likely, to her daughter.
"I'll teach you how to posion a man before I let that happen to you." After reading this sentence its almost as you can sense the anger of the women behind it. She was hit by a man, clearly. She is trying to teach her daughter to never let a man hit you, or degrade her in any way shape or form.
"One day the doctor tells her she is going to have a baby-" That baby is the little girl that she is talking to and teaching her was that baby. The mother is trying to teach her and show her to never let what happened to the mother happen to the daughter!

Mama Says

Page 29

The title is simple and clear. Sounds like the little girl mama was talking about was herself, goowing up in a "dark home" and whenever daddy came home everyone hid. She is telling the story to a little girl, telling her enough to inform her about abuse. From what i understand she wanted to escape her dark home and fell into the arms of a man and became pregnant, but unfortunately he was abusive as well and mama left him because she was concerned about her unborn daughter having to grow up in the same condition as she did. 

It was important that the writer mentioned in the 2nd paragraph the mama was able to have a a better home for her little one despite going though 2 abusive men. Mama was so sure her daughter will NOT suffer like she did. 

Chicken Dance p63


What a whore!  She just met this guy?!?!?  She used him for a ride, he used her back...
How could she get wet?  There was NOTHING romantic or even erotic about their encounter.

Responding Small Fictions "Reason For Elevators"

first introduction, The narrator is talking about a pregnant patient how she delivery baby and she takes the dead baby out of womb. the elevator is symbols and the word used in an imaginative  of her that day gets her to where she wanted to and had to go. this story makes me very confusing who is me, who is she, and who is we. this story brings pregnant patient's experience, expectation and resentment. 

Second paragraph, the narrator described her mother gets depressed, angry and resentful for loss baby. and  talking about how was that day feeling. the story goes near future, present, and past.

final paragraph was described who lost her baby, one year later, she feels victim to loss baby. this story was metafiction story.

The elephant in the room

The introduction for reasons for elevators is kind of all over the place i believe its not just about elevators maybe the elevator is an metaphor leading up to something more. The introduction is letting you know that something is going to be happening that's going to reference about things that happen in an elevator or the idea an use of one.
the second paragraph kind of clear things up with the direction of the story the elevator is the symbol of her getting to where she wants to go to finally take the dead baby out of her womb. she is miserable with the fact that her child has past and that its still inside of her like the coffin that keeps the dead. the character is trying to get to the elevator to go take the baby out so in a way the elevator is to highlight to her day cause it gets her to where she wants to go.
the rest of the starts to gets more confusing who is "me" "us" and they are old, I'm starting to think that these figures are either her family that's accompanying her to the doctor or strangers that's in the elevator but how would they know her business. and they are uncomfortable with her facial expressions because they know she is probably deeply sadden by her loss.
there's a lot of depression in this story the mother is bitter about what if this child was born what if this child would have been amazing. she is also resentful to her child that she has now. the story is twisted with the past the present and the future. and everyone in the room feels awkward around her because they know whats going to happen when she gets off the elevator and they aren't talking about it.
 The ending is the anniversary of the loss of the child and shes back in this elevator and its probably giving her flash backs to the loss so it stir up emotions that are hurtful for her and her only way to express that hurt is to lash out at someone else because she thinks her loss it extreme and no other loss can be greater.

The Elevator Story

     This introduction is describing physical objects and comparing them with the feeling he/ she gets on how that day felt. The way it was described was not in a good light. Objects like elevator, umbrella, and hospital were used. It sounded a bit off and depressing. It would take a couple of times to read and to really see what it is that the narrator is doing with the descriptions of these objects. But I see now that what the narrator is doing is talking about how useful an elevator actually is.
     In the second paragraph, the narrator is talking about how the elevator brought a pregnant patient to the first floor that was about to give birth. The narrator was saying how the mother to be wanted the fetus out of her body already and that she wanted her own body to herself; basically her own body back to normal. I was wondering why a mother would think that way but then the narrator said that the fetus was already dead to begin with.
     I found the third paragraph a little confusing when the narrator says that he cannot blame that woman. I would really like to know what the narrator meant when he/she said that it was said that this patient wasn't always the way she is now. So how was she before she got pregnant? I'm starting to think that the narrator is an older person because he/she says that the woman was looking at him/ her and at someone else that the narrator was with in a very serious way. According to the narrator, the patient somehow found him looking guilty of something like maybe for being an old person, and that he/she has no regret for being old?
     The last paragraph was relatively short, but from what I understood or thought I understood, the narrator was asking the woman who lost her child one year later of when was the last time she fell victim to something. I'm guessing that the narrator asked the woman this because she probably wanted to know her story at first hand by having the woman tell her tragedy herself instead of staying with the roomers she have heard from other people.
   

Response to Reasons for Elevators

The introduction of "Reasons for Elevators" by Lindsey Drager supplies the reader with a story with motion first with the up and down. Then it goes to use emblems for umbrellas and the ringing of the elevator. This set up puts the reader in an 3rd person point of view over the elevator. It gives rise to a voyeuristic feeling. A sense of alienation from the normal is presented by having the umbrellas discarded. To have this take place in a hospital brings out ones fear that one would be discarded or disposed of in the trash just like the umbrellas. There is a sense of urgency due to the shuffling of the people from section to section.
The second paragraph explains the death of the child being born in the hospital and the suffering that the mother must have had when she was notified that she was giving birth to a dead child. the author leave a lot to the imagination because she informs the reader that the mother has never told her the story. Perhaps the mother of the child is in a catatonic state suffering for the death of her child and can no longer think about anything besides the loss of her baby. There is a lot of things unsaid in the story such as the reaction of the husband, the cause of death, and the fallout of such an event.
In the rest of the story the author bridges the past with the present. By having the memory of the baby become a deep and heavy monument that drags the mother down. The depression of having to have your joy turned to sorrow and the pressure of knowing that the death of the child would one day be forgotten.
The conclusion wraps the depression and the sorrow that the mother is experiences by uttering the words "Tell about the last time you were a victim." It implies that the mother will never forgive the world for taking her child away. The author uses the finality of the death of the baby as a way to connect the pain of the past and uses that pain to express a moment of utter understanding between the narrator and the mother. It shows that the mother is not ready to move on and that the author has a connection to the mother.

"Reasons For Elevators" response

My initial reaction is that of confusion, but the more I think about I guess it makes sense. Almost every family takes this journey to bring new life in to the world. My family certainly did. My mother and grandmother watching the number go up beside the one you love. Squeezing each other's hand my mom crushes my grandmother's beyond compare. From the outside You look at them and then to the other people in this small cube around you. They're just passing by but you wonder where their days are headed. If they're making legends of their own. But then as the final ding of the elevator sounds, you know that your story is the one that matters in the moment.

My reaction to that second paragraph kind of makes me sad, it takes the excitement from the first and replaces it with this dread. This happy moment of continuous life is instantly snuffed out. Replaced by this race to erase the pain that's been latent inside of this women's core. It's a story where "THE END" is the first two words. But for the mother it's a sprint to an entirely new chapter, or heck, maybe even a new book. The pain of wanting it out of her bring a new light to the first paragraph.The ride isn't eustress, it's distress.

It seems that as the story continues to build, we get to understand who's telling the story. It's the child that did make, maybe after a second... maybe even a third try. The description of the fetus being really jarring as it rhymed/flowed together. Giving this almost jovial mood to a somber circumstance. Then to see the mother act like that to her children, it makes me wonder what they could of done to warrant that anger. To be compared to the "What if" of the first child. To incur the wrath of a mother's eyes as they stare into you.

I think the term "unbirthday" is an almost sick thing to say. The "un" in front of the word acting as a blocking force for the baby that never stood a true chance, the one taken away by circumstance. it also makes me wonder who would wish a Happy Unbirthday to someone? Is it the elevator? Is the mother? The unborn child? The Narrator thinking about the story she was told before?  It makes it seem like it's the same elevator her mother took all those years ago, taunting them both, teasing one, putting fear into the other. And now with the theory of twins in the picture, it makes me wonder about who the "unbirthday" applies to truly

Life and Death.  I believe that the author has a deep message of life and death and having gratitude and emotions that he/she portrays through symbolism such as objects like an elevator, casket, umbrella, etc...  Each item representing an experience and realm of emotions.  Elevators go unappreciated, however here we can clearly see that it can be used to help properly deliver life to this world, easily lifting a woman in labor.  A body compared to a casket represents the frustration and passion in her desire to rid her body of her dead child.

The story is now cleverly being told from the dead fetuses perspective as if to say it has a voice too.  We often forget about how a dead child feels in its loss of life before it even began.  Here we can see a dead baby's spirit looking for empathy and compassion unhappy that its mother has such disgust with its mere presence. The fetus has no issues moving on into the next life.  The mother is hurting but her own pride is what is causing the excess pain.  Gratitude is too much of a stranger.

The mother is now in a heap of negative thoughts and depression dwelling on the fact that she doesn't have what she wants.  She wants to be so proud of her potential kid overlooking the meaning of what happened and growing from her loss as result, misunderstanding how precious life is and to live it to the fullest rather than being so bitter.  She even goes as far to mock the child's death by wishing it an unborn birthday.  The mother is too caught in her own sorrow.  She represents the life condition of hell of the average human being of the latter day of planet Earth.

The Reasons for Elevators:

The Reasons for Elevators:

   The introduction plays a part of doing a description of the duties of elevators specifically in a hospital. It gives the elevator and an umbrella also the hospital a non-living object a sense of being alive especially when the author ends the paragraph with the statement "having outlived the child scheduled to be born that day"
  As we find out that in the story that she has to give birth to a still born baby it actually cast a whole new emotion played out. It went from questioning the journey in the elevator to the panic and uprising of emotions a mother-to-be may feel with finding out bad news. When the mother in the story made the comment "that her body will no be a coffin" the picture of that came quickly in my head of that.
I feel as if the mother who has given birth to the stillborn baby, very own child is telling the story. The reason why I came up with that thought is because of how the person says she looks at them as she wont forgive them for living.
 This story gives off the feeling of a fight between a mother and daughter. The untold stories of their inner thoughts. The mother still suffering from her thoughts of losing her child and suffering from "the potential child" syndrome and not tending to the need of her living child. Also the thoughts of a daughter who is suffering from the thought of having to compete with her mothers attention from that unborn child. I feel the tug and the tension in the daughters narrating between her mothers depression and reliving this story every anniversary of the "un-birthday" of that child" which can cause awkward elevator rides.

Reasons for Elevators

A great introduction to the title of the story, the elevators shuffling people around. A start to a great story the elevator is what carries the people to the floor it plays a big part and is very symbolic. The mention of umbrellas was irrelevant but yet useful to create a vision. The

For many going into labor should be a joyous occasion, but that isn't the case in the 2nd paragraph, the mother already knew that her unborn baby was dead. In the 1st paragraph it was mentioned family legends starts with the motion of the elevators, her legend will be of a horrific memory. She wanted her body back, yes this baby had used it to house him/herself and for some reason did not survive, seems as though she just wanted to be somewhat normal again.

The writer becomes familiar with her own body, and knew that her inside would turn "into a fleshy brick" if that had happened to her. The mother never recovered the loss of her baby and seemed as though she despised children around her unborn child''s age, as though why were they allowed to live and not her baby.

The write shows empathy by excusing the mother for asking that question but I am confused why would the mother turn to her and ask her when was the last time she was a victim?

In the first second I was pretty confused about the correlation the writer was trying to make between elevators and birth. Then he/she starts to talk umbrellas, took me for another spin.

Whoa! she giving birth to the dead! The way the writer explains the way she feels with her dead baby inside her was great. The use of the wording to describe her skin between the living and the dead.

This makes me feel sad for the pregnant women and wonder why the narrator sounds bitter. The narrator doesn't seem to moved toward sadness but being angry about the entire situation.

No remorse from the narrator about the ordeal.

Reasons for Elevator;

The introduction of the short story reminds me of my experiences with elevators. Elevators becomes a symbolism that refers to meeting grounds for strangers to have a moment of silence. Within the moment of silence where no one isn't speaking to one another, lies a lot of thoughts and questions you ask yourself about the person standing next to you.

---side tracked.

The second paragraph correlates to the first paragraph. In the first paragraph, it was introducing the element of strangers witnessing and event. Where as the second paragraph was cosigning with a woman in the elevator, going up to a floor where she is about to deliver a child. Unfortunately a dead child.

This third paragraph is introducing all the things that could have been if this woman had not lost her baby. The author is informing us of how this woman feels towards them and how bitter she's become after dealing with such a devastating situation in her life. The author may never really know how it may feel to lose a child, but being a witness to the shame and hurt the woman feels after running into her a year later after the incident. What could it be like to be a constant reminder to someone's pain?

The last paragraph makes me wonder what changes has occur. The woman who lost her child a year earlier was currently seeing the narrator pregnant as well and feeling the jealousy stirring inside her for having the opportunity of a healthy growing baby inside her body. It was rather short and doesn't give you any more room to question anything but feel sad for the woman that felt she was a victim to something so terrible.

Reason for Elevators

The author's use of the umbrella caught my attention.  I think the author is using the umbrella  as a symbol to describe the short life span of an unborn child. Umbrellas' life span is pretty short, they break easily from harsh weather, they get lost often.

I can't help but wonder who the me is in this story.  If the me knows that the woman is caring a still born from stories told by others why is the woman reluctant to tell the me in the story.

The woman is jealous and mad at the world.  The woman made it known that she resented the living.  Here there are so many people living and breathing yet her child was taken away before ever having been born.  The woman hated the living regardless of their relationship to her, her family always felt the "elephant in the room".

The final paragraph leaves me to think that they woman birthed two children that day at the hospital.  Twins one born healthy and on still born.  The mother looks at her daughter on the child's unborn birthday and says: "tell me about the last time you were a victim".  The daughter forgives the mother but the daughter is actual just as much a victim as the mother and the dead baby.  The daughter is constantly picking up the pieces of her broken mother.  Unable to celebrate her own birthday because of the baby that never lived.  The daughter is just a reminder of the terrible event.

1.The elevators represent the time to wait .Also elevators have like kind of scary you never know who is there.

2 .She was scare of being in labor and also she says "she wants her body back" after those nine months of pregnancy every one wants to get her body to normal as soon as possible.

3.Actually this most be an abortion that she has to do it because her health must be in danger.she describe how the doctors will take the unborn baby out from her in pieces.She will never be the same because she always will have in her mind this sad and  situation.

4.The author refer to the unborn baby birthday and tell her what other sad news do you know besides my.Maybe the authors was a close friend with the person and they see ones in a while and the have close friendship and talk about their personal problems.

Reasons for elevators : Response

     the first paragraph seems very edited. as if it was meant to be a light for a very dark place.  it gives off a feeling of quietness, but too quiet.  elevators, lights, umbrellas, but then the mention of outliving the child due to be born that day.
     the part about "she has not told me" it initially makes me think it is the nurse in the elevator but then i realize its the umbrella narrating the story. it makes perf... just kidding, i feel as if the unborn child is narrating the story.  would explain why she (assuming its a girl based off of the authors name) speaks of the hotel in such a human bodily way.
     The revisiting of the hospital on every "un-birthday".  Is it the hospital it's self that is narrating at this point in time? Is the "Body of the hospital" speaking?  Is it some after death cemetery which allows us to see more than one perspective for this event ?  It seems like an interesting concept for me.

In the short fiction Reasons for Elevators, I believe the person describing situation is bogged down with too many pharmacy products.  It seems to make zero sense to me.  I do not on any level enjoy reading something that is written that seems to be incoherent.  Much like for me going to a gallery and viewing extreme abstract paintings.  My mind does not function best when I have to try to track someone else's thoughts especially if I feel they are not grounded in their thoughts.

Okay so now there is extreme clarity in the story.  For me it begins to become a dire situation with grave emotion.  It has taken full turn since the beginning and the mystery has unfolded to become the exact opposite outcome than what was initially desired.  The description begins to pull at your heart strings and you are made aware that this human is very vulnerable.

Now there is the introduction of the sibling of the child who was never allowed to be born alive.  This sibling has knowledge of some sort of a brother or sister that did not live.  This sibling seems to be experiencing guilt from the mother whether that guilt is imagined or real from the mother.  The child is not feeling well or unconditionally loved by the mother.

This statement seems to be relaying the thought that these are not thoughts that are going to go away. Every year there will be this huge unspoken wet blanket of a gloom that will fall over her.

My feeling to this short story is a introduction to life at a hospital. an example of this is when it says "the blinking of numbers as loads of strangers were shuffled from wing to wing. This quote alone gives me a pretty good idea that in this hospital is very hectic and stressful. 

the second paragraph tells me she is probably had suffered a miscarriage . where it says " she had to go into labor knowing she would give birth to the dead.

for the rest of the story, the mother is telling her unborn deceased baby that it is not your fault. Your birth was never met to be and unfortunate i wont be able to see you grow up.

for the last paragraph i get the sense she is talking to her past self from one year ago. also asking her future self what have you been doing since it happened. it has a Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol 

feeling to it .

Reasons for Elevators

1) What's up w/ this title? The opening is obviously a metafictional approach. The story is about stories. We will not come back to umbrellas; it's a red herring.

2) This is when the story starts. She's the "coffin" for a dead baby. She wants it out. We move from the general to the specific. There's a "she," there's a "me."

3) This is an angry damn narrator. She is really pissed off at her mom. But there's some compassion there too, and something that is like familiarity too. She can also think of her own baby as waste. It's chilling b/c we sentimentalize motherhood in this country (not to the point of giving national maternity leave, but that's another story...). This mother is damaged.

4) I so want to think of this as a story about twins. However, wouldn't she write "on our un-birth day"? I think the story could be a little less ambiguous. I don't feel as strongly against it as Ruth, but I wish she hadn't been quite so obscure.

Life and Death

Did a twin survive?

Life can be like a roller coaster sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes high, sometimes low.  "You gotta take the good with the bad", life has it's ups and downs.  Things in your life come and go but you keep going. As you rise and dip some things happen so fast that they are just a "blip on your radar", whether significant or not.

The "event" the death of the fetus is something that was "told" so clearly a "down" on the metaphorical ride but such a quick "blip" that the news of it is already after the fact and in the past... BUT of course that has I lasting effect emotionally not to mention the physical presence that still will need to expel itself or actually be removed medically.

Is it possible that there are twins having two different points of view in the womb?  Can one of the twins possibly be speaking as narrator while the other is unaware of the circumstances...

Clearly a victim of the loss of a child prior to birth, faced with questions of "what if", riddled with guilt and/or resentment for child that never lived as well as the ill feelings and sentiments towards the child that apparently lived.  A twin maybe?  The initial shock of the news became depression as the shock and numbness wears off.  She gets the full blast of pain as the reality sets in, that depression intensifies.  Many emotions will come and go through cycles and/or return from time to time.

Reasons for elevators

i think the writer started off by giving us a feeling of how it feels like to be in an elevator in a hospital.

Posting on the Blog

Hi all:

Don't forget to post at least once more during the week. If you only post on Tuesday nights, then the highest grade you can get on the blog is a C. (Posting more doesn't guarantee a higher grade, but you are guaranteed a C if you only post on Tuesday nights.)

"Lithopedion" (this is a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithopedion) is an interesting story. What do you think about it? What about that last section after the space break? How does it go w/ the first section?

You might check out other stories by Randall Brown. His website is completely devoted to small fictions: http://randall-brown.com/.

What is your favorite small fiction so far? Which did you struggle with the most? And why (for both questions)?

Feel free to use this space to ask questions.

The Third Time My Father Tried To Kill Me

I am responding to the small fiction, The Third Time My Father Tried to Kill Me.  I am appalled with the relationship the father has with his son.  I am fearful for the son because of his father that for some reason holds such malice for the son.  Is the son a biological son?  

Responding to "small fictions."

You may find it easier this week to respond to individual stories, rather than generally responding to the flash fictions (though you may do that too). Some things to think about as you respond to specific stories:

• How does the title work in this story? 
• What is "outside" the story? (i.e. how is negative space being used?)
• What question(s) do you have about the story?

One strategy I have: Just choose a sentence that I am intrigued by. Or it's just a killer sentence, one that I think is awesome or beautiful or puzzling. And I just write in response to that one sentence. Sometimes getting this focused is a really useful strategy.

Another strategy: Don't pick the "easiest" story or the one you think you completely understand. Choose the story that you have the most trouble w/, the story that baffles you, and write a response to it.

Remember: I'll give you points for asking good questions as well as giving good answers. Sometimes a question is better than an answer. 

Welcome!

This first week (until Sat. 2/06 11:59 pm) will be extra credit. You can use this space to write comments about Tuesday night's class, about your experiences as a reader and/or writer, about your fears and excitements about taking Fiction Writing. Please feel free to use this space to tell us anything you'd like about yourself.