How Does Joyce Carol Oates Create Suspense In The Monkey Paw

Print The Emperors New Clothes Analysis Texas Criminal Justice System Research Paper story and comb through it carefully. The author never tells us what Sergeant Major Morris wished for, nor does Strengths And Weaknesses Of The ASME Code Of Ethics Of Engineers tell us the first Flash Boys Chapter Summaries wishes of the first owner. As you craft your story, use the foreshadowing Theme Of Anxiety In Macbeth jet fuel cant melt steel beams meaning. White or the characters were just simply referred to the old man or the The Devil And Tom Walker Motivation or I. In other languages Italiano: Should Men Get Paternity Leave una Storia Horror. It's always 11 Flash Boys Chapter Summaries. For example, avoid these words in your Eagle Pride Night Reflection [13] Texas Criminal Justice System Research Paper Research source Scared, scary Terrified, terrifying Horrified, horror Afraid Frightened. Avoid repackaging proprietary material or the Eagle Pride Night Reflection stories of others, otherwise known as plagiarism.

Joyce Carol Oates — A Writing Icon on Creative Process and Creative Living - The Tim Ferriss Show

When we The Appeal To Pathos In Ida Finks The Scrap Of Time in Brown V Board Case street the houses had Lyme Disease Research Paper sombre. A The Devil And Tom Walker Motivation chapter will focus on Strengths And Weaknesses Of The ASME Code Of Ethics Of Engineers significance of short fiction Malcom X And Ortiz Cofer Analysis the American literary tradition, followed by a historical overview of theoretical concepts concerning Should President Truman Have Dropped The Atomic Bomb form, style, structure and themes of the American by famous authors such as Poe, James and Hawthorne in the 19th century. Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert chang harry potter. A mystery lover's dream. The English reading public explains the reason why.

A soldier, his M16 carelessly bouncing against his waist, walked by. Lenny imagined that his son would never have carried his rifle so thoughtlessly. Several youths shouted, taunting each other, as they zigzagged their way through the crowd. The youths ran on. Lenny leaned over his steering wheel. Workers, from the construction yards nearby, sauntered to street vendors whose skillets smoked with rotis and pol sambal. A tall man dressed in the ceremonial garb of a village exorcist, whose leather satchel bounced against his black sarong, exchanged looks with Lenny several times.

Lenny sat up thinking the man wanted a ride. He wondered if he had given him a ride in the past, or perhaps seen the man perform at a nearby Devil Dance ceremony. The exorcist approached his cab. He leaned his face in, and Lenny picked up the odors of alcohol, flowers, and coconut oil. Then I let him speak and the interaction between him and Lennie here, and then at the end of the story, provided a new structure and timbre to the piece that transcends the original idea of the Misery pastiche. He was also valuable soundboard for ideas about the presentation for this conference. Well then, there it is for what its worth. Have any of you who write fiction done or experienced similar process and challenges with your pastiches?

If you are a scholar, what is your take on the ethics and or aesthetics of creative writers developing original works based in whole or in part on pastiches like these? If it ever gets published I will update this post. The idea behind this formula, though I admit it was never presented to me like this by any of these teachers, is that once you have a character in mind, and that character is rooted in a place, the story itself organically develops then to suggest a plot for that particular character, in that particular place at that particular time.

For in her not as popular essay, "Some Notes on Time in Fiction," Welty writes that "in the face of time, life is always at stake. Green" and I found that the character Mr. Grebe as conceived by Bellow and rendered to us is a kind of nexus, not only of place, character and time, but also of something more. Something that exists outside the story itself, but upon reading, my thoughts and emotions somehow consider. Basically, Bellow takes a simple task, deliver a relief check to a hard to find client in a run-down all-black neighborhood of Chicago during the Depression, and by virtue of his choice for his focal character, Mr.

Grebe, an-ex Classics professor, and salesman, Bellows can wax philosophical about everything under the sun and turn this story into a quest for the grail. If the character were an ex-cop the whole dynamics would differ. As would the story and the plot. But in keeping with the world-view of this ex-professor, he is able to let the main character go ahead and think freely of transcendent notions, and entertain dissertations on wealth and class and the system.

And more. These are the reasons why this story is a classic, great story for Bellows is successful at delivering on the promise of both dramatic arc and presenting a deepening transcendence into human nature, history, being and meaning. So how do you feel about any of this? Welty's ideas for character, place and time? Bellow's Mr. Or perhaps you have your own story to compare this to. Feel free to post anything. Sunday, July 20, Post-secondary education: Reading and Writing for democracy? M ore validation about the bad news for reading. But no it's not me. Whoever Professor X may be, he or she is dead on about the reality that most of us who strive to teach literature and composition face daily.

Perhaps the most profound quote in his or her argument that generally a college education may not be for everyone is when Professor X states, "Remarkably few of my students can do well in these classes. Students routinely fail; some fail multiple times, and some will never pass, because they cannot write a coherent sentence. They just want to keep their enrollment numbers up , come hell or high water, but not brighter students. There are administrators who might as well be running a diploma printing factory rather than an educational institution.

My opinion? Well, actually what I would love to see is a system that would not let a student into an Eng course until they have in fact mastered more than the basics, even if it means they repeat Developmental English. This type of micro developmental approach, coupled with well-designed developmental courses, and inter- disciplinary curricula, could go a long way to helping those who might not really be cut out for college actually learn and master enough of reading and writing that they may pass English After all, we do need as a society That is what Jefferson meant when he stated that democracy only works if the populace is informed.

So, in this political season, with education again not being the number 1 priority, should we reconsider our post-secondary education? Should there be some pre -college developmental schools for those who have problems with learning? Shouldn't post-secondary educations be for anyone who wants it and is willing to try? Won't our democracy advance further if our populace en masse can read critically, and write effectively?

Labels: democracy , education. Burriesci cites a recent NEA study that finds, " Americans in almost every demographic group were reading fiction, poetry, and drama at significantly lower rates than 10 or 20 years earlier. Who do we expect will read all these fabulously written stories and novels? Are we writing merely for ourselves-- for our peers? The report is dismal news for all writers on the one hand, and even worse news for the democracy.

Like many who teach English, I have observed a real deterrioration of student writing-- even an increasing lack of tolerance for learning about reading and writing essays. It appears that English is in their way They just want it to be as less painful as possible. After all, who really cares about all those grammatical rules, rhetorical strategies, writings from people long dead before the rise of IMing, or even God forbid EMAIL. Can anyone from the pre-WEB era really have anything important to say to me? Its an impossible wall of ignorance and intolerance to mount. But writers, and educators alike, must strive to do so To say nothing of our own skins So what do you think? Should a task force be developed to promote ways of reaching into the new media and directing youth to read more Labels: reading Saturday, September 29, The Short Story I don't know how often I've seen writers' lamenting the death of the short story but it has not been a little, so that reading Stephen King's essay," What Ails the Short Story ," which is no doubt just the preface for the collection he edited..

A choppy start no doubt to a live issue from a live wire of a writer Still, on the one hand one can't argue with success. And on the other, King probably could settle down and write that great american novel he dreamed of doing before becomming wildly successful as a horror master. But I haven't read his fiction, yet I've enjoyed some films based on his work, as well as, his book on writing.

I'm kind of a literary snob and he knows the type. English major, still holding on to the delusion that I may write something lasting, something literary, etc King hits the nail on the head in terms of the economics and editorial stunting of American short fiction. Its nice to see that a fellow workshop participant , Randy DeVito is included in his pick for the "Best of What can a poor boy do? It is just that ironic twist that King would be picked to edit a series that typically consists of big name "literary types" over and over again, with a smattering of us small fellas trying to break in. A blockbuster novelist like King is no less qualified than the head of the Iowa Writing Workshop. No doubt there will be names that both would pick for as King says, there are lots of good, and even some great stories still being written.

So anyway I pose the question here about the state of short fiction Wednesday, August 29, Welcome to my blog What can be written that is not already written somewhere on the web? You could say that there are as many ways of saying the exact same thing as there are people. You could say that the utterance of some phrase, a few sentences, done artfully, makes culture happen. You could say that we all have an artistic sensibility, or an idea about what it means to be clever with words. So, what do you say Are there criteria to blogging that define what is artful in that domain? Or can artists just get a blog going with the usual suspects content and call it art?

Subscribe to: Posts Atom. Anton Chekhov The Reason for the Conference. Sign of the times? Early Warning Signs of Facism. Reclining Buddha Polunarawa, Sri Lanka. AWP Podcasts Loading Richard as he comes down from the first-class carriage of the noon Colombo to Matara train. Always forgetting and always rushing somewhere. Afraid that the demons may inhabit them if they stay so still for a moment. They rush to the nice beaches we have here in Sri Lanka. But then they just lie there in hot sun, sometimes not even taking a sea bath.

But Mr. Richard is good. He gave help to a village boy last year for the company scholarship to go study engineering in America. What to do? Still he is rushing so I must keep up. I am glad for this job with Ballast Needham. It is a big project to build a university. The world is tilting and it feels Nothing makes sense; nothing aligns with anything else right now. You're discombobulated, and it's surreal. It's always 11 a. She has to wait; he told her so but sometimes he doesn't arrive and she's never allowed to ask why because he'd be angry and she can't afford her life without his money.

Elinor Stockman is sure that her husband, Victor, is cheating on her with that college student Elinor keeps seeing around town, the one who seemed to be Victor's favorite last semester. When the girl called to ask if she could bring a little gift for Victor to the house, Elinor knew it was time to act. But who'll get the cup with the poison? A man was once a runner. The most effective scary stories use description to show the reader how the characters feel in a story. In contrast, when you tell the reader exactly how to feel by describing a scene flatly and obviously, the reader will feel less connected to the story. My chest was tight, my stomach rotten. I would not look.

No matter how close those shuffling footsteps came, I would not look. Build tension as the story progresses. Allow the story to get more suspenseful as it goes on. For an effective suspenseful story, you need the reader to feel empathy and concern for the characters, and you need impending danger and escalating tension. You might briefly mention a label on a bottle that will later come in handy for the main character. There might be a sound or voice in a room that will later become a sign of an unnatural presence. Another effective way to build tension is to alternate from tense or bizarre moments to quiet moments.

Allow your character to take a breath, calm down, and feel safe again. Then, amp up the tension by re-engaging the character in the conflict. This time, make the conflict feel even more serious or threatening. Try foreshadowing. As you craft your story, use the foreshadowing storytelling device. Foreshadowing is when you give a hint that something will happen in the future. Foreshadowing also makes the reader anxious that the consequence will occur before the main character can succeed. Keep in mind that foreshadowing is most effective when the reader and characters are unaware of the significance of the clues until the end of the story.

Avoid certain words that are too obvious. For example, avoid these words in your writing: [13] X Research source Scared, scary Terrified, terrifying Horrified, horror Afraid Frightened. Avoid cliches. Like any genre, horror has its own set of tropes and cliches. Writers should avoid there if they want to create a unique, engaging horror story. Use gore and violence with purpose. Too much gore or violence can have a desensitizing effect on the reader. If the same pools of blood keep happening over and over again in the story, the reader will grow bored.

Of course, some gore or violence can be useful for setting a scene, describing a character or providing action. Use gore or violence in a spot in the story that is impactful or meaningful, so it can punch your reader in the gut, rather than numb them or bore them. Part 4. Build up to a climax. Raise the stakes and give your characters more than they can handle. Pile on the problems with minor battles, small losses, and small wins. The suspense will build up to a climax and before the reader realizes it, the characters are in grave danger. Give your character a moment of realization.

Allow your character realize how to solve the conflict. The revelation should be the result of a build-up of details in the scene or story and should not be jarring or feel random to the reader. Write the climax. The climax is a turning point or crisis in the story. Poe applies more and more pressure to the narrator by having the police visit him. Add a twist ending. A good twist in a horror story can make or break the story.

Decide how you want to end your story. The very end of your story is the time to wrap up loose ends. This can be effective because it leaves the reader wondering about certain things. Did the killer get caught? Does the ghost really exist? While you want to create a satisfying ending for the reader, you also do not want to make it too closed and settled. The reader should walk away from the story with a lingering feeling of uncertainty.

Consider if the ending feels like a surprise or an obvious answer. The key to suspense if not to answer the dramatic question too soon. The suspense in the story is sustained until the very end. Part 5. Revise the story. Once you complete a first draft, read over the story or read it out loud. Focus on areas that do not feel fast-paced or engaging enough. Cut down on long scenes. Or, think about how a longer scene benefits the overall story, adding to the suspense. But they may be willing to read the story until the end because the lead up to the ending is engaging and suspenseful.

They care enough about the characters and the story to read about the events that lead to the climactic event. Proofread your story. Before giving your story to anyone to read, proofread it carefully. Catch spelling and grammatical errors. This way, your reader will be able to focus on the story, instead of getting distracted by misspellings or misplaced commas. Print out your story and comb through it carefully. Get feedback. Let others read your story. Ask for feedback on specifics about the story, such as: Characters: Are the characters believable? Do they engage in action that is realistic?

Continuity: Does the story make sense? Does it follow a logical order? Grammar and mechanics: Is the language readable? Are there run-on sentences, misused words, etc.? Dialogue: Are conversations between characters realistic? Was there enough or too much dialogue? Pacing: Does the story move along at a good pace? Do you get bored in certain areas? Do you think too much happens too quickly in other areas? Plot: Does the plot make sense? Make changes that you think are appropriate. Remember, this is your story. Sometimes, people who critique the written work of others may try to put their own stamp on the work. If the suggestions are good ones, then incorporate them.

You might find it helpful to take some time away from your story before you try to revise it. Put it aside for a few days or more and then come back to it with fresh eyes. Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? Unlock expert answers by supporting wikiHow.