As
you read and discuss stories from You’ve
Got to Read This, the questions on this list may help you.
1.
What
aspects of this story would you like to adapt to your own writing? What kept your interest? Why?
2.
What
does the opening line do for the story?
3.
What
point of view (first, second or third
person) is used? How does it affect the
story?
4.
How
do we find out what the characters in the story are like? (These techniques are
known as characterization.) How are the first impressions of major
characters established? To what extent
is character more central to the story than plot? How much is what we know about the characters crucial to our
understanding of the story?
5.
Is
there any tension between the characters and the setting?
6.
How
many scenes are there? Where is action and background summarized instead of put into a
scene? Why?
7.
Is
material presented in chronological order? If not, how is the transition into and out
of the flashback (a scene presented
in the past) handled?
8.
What
was the most important event in the plot? How is what happens foreshadowed earlier in the story?
What is the main conflict?
9.
Which
scene is most important? Does it enact
the most important event in the story?
10.
What
does the dialogue accomplish? Where and why is indirect (summarized)
dialogue used? What is intermingled
with the dialogue—action, thoughts of the character, body language, meaningful
hesitations?
11.
How
would you describe the style of the
story (the way it is written)? Are long
sentences often used? Short ones? Ordinary, blunt, or literary language? What are the rhythms of the story?
12.
What’s
the story’s mood? How is it established?
13.
Is
the ending satisfying? Why? Is there any hint of a concluding moral or
truism? (Generally there isn’t, so this
is something to avoid in your own stories.)
14.
Think
of four different versions of the story you could write by changing narrative
strategies.