Upon reading The Modern Library Writer's Workshop by Stephen Koch, I immediately became inspired to begin writing a short story. The first line stated, "The only way to begin is to begin, and begin right now" (Koch 3). Reading this made me want to stop everything else, and start working on the short story I have mapped out in my brain. Alas, though this thought sounds beautiful and I would love to begin writing a short story, I really do not have time at the moment. Though I am short for time, if it were the summer, reading that statement would have definitely caused me to stop doing absolutely nothing and start writing my story. From even the very beginning, Koch gave the reader insight into the craft of writing exceptional fictional stories.
A chapter I found interesting was "Chapter 4: Making Characters Live." A line that stuck with me was the quote, " In the end, stories are what their characters do, and characters are what they do in stories" (Koch 84). Though this may seem like a simple statement, when one thinks about it, it is true. A character is nothing without a story to tell, and a story is nothing without an interesting character. Realizing this, I will have to create a character to live out my story. In addition, Koch stated that what makes characters "live" is their actions and interactions with other characters. Basically, this means that the author of the story will have to create a mini-universe in which the author will act as God and create these human beings, also known as characters, and make them interact and do things. Koch's chapter on "Making Characters Live" definitely brought up some valuable points that will assist me in writing a fictional short story.
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I also enjoyed Chapter 4 Mary Jo. When I was working on my short story for class, I did refer to this chapter and had to ask myself, "are my characters telling a story?" I feel I was able to re-write and change parts that were doing nothing for my character or plot development because I really was able to focus on making my characters come to life. People should be able to feel like they know these characters, regardless if they are from another time period or another planet.
ReplyDeleteI think this whole book was very helpful for me in my short story writing as well!