Please answer the following questions for your peer, about your peer's work, in complete sentences, providing plenty of examples from their work in your response. You will give this to them so they can use it to make revisions; they will then hand it in to me for credit on the final day of class.
I do not want to see yes or no answers, unless the question specifies it. Yes or no answers-unless specified-will receive no credit.
1) In your own words, and without asking the creator to help you, write three sentences summarizing the horror at the heart of their story. What is it? Then do your best to get to the fear behind the fear. (Example: fear of the witch, which is really fear of women's power or fear of family members being left alone in old folk's homes which is really fear of dying alone).
2) In the same manner, write what cultural conditions or problems (horrors) created the horror that the story deals with. Do not ask the creator what these are, but use the proposal to see what you can ascertain. Be as specific as possible. These should connect to real issues in the world today. For example, technological problems like increasing reliance on devices, economic disparity based on unfair tax laws, natural disasters due to climate change, etc. The story can absolutely have supernatural or fantastical elements to it, but these should still connect to conditions in our world. (If you are struggling with this, let Prof D know. I am good at brainstorming this stuff!)
3) Make any suggestions for how the connection to the cultural conditions can be clearer or more well-developed. Do not skip this if you think they are "good enough"--I promise they can be better (ask me if you need help).
4) What horror sub-genres does the story fit into? List them. (This can be in list form, no paragraph required).
5) Is the story contemporary? It must be. (This can be a yes or no answer, however, if it's not contemporary, brainstorm contemporary ideas bc this is a requirement of the assignment).
6) What is the setting? Can it be more specific? Ex. instead of "a corporation," what corporation? Ex. instead of "in the internet," where in the internet? Tumblr? Reddit? If the setting needs more development, now is the time to do that.
7) How might the setting contribute to the choices the character can make in the story? For example, if the setting is a cave, the character could choose to go into different chambers in the cave. If it's a haunted house, they can go into different rooms. If it's a corporation, there could be levels to the office. If it's more of a quest, or a journey, then consider "stops" along the way.
8) What is the POV, and does that POV work well? Is it too complicated? Usually a straightforward "you" works.
9) Discuss the issue of agency and free will in the story. Will the character have choices that are limited in some way? What are they limited by? Is it reasonable that these choices are offered to the character, given what the horror is? For example, if your character is a Japanese woman who works in a box lunch factory to pay her family's bills in an economically unfair soceity, it may not be reasonable that she can make choices that will lead her to becoming a millionaire or a famous actress on television.
10) Brainstorm additional choices the character/reader might have, or different ways of looking at those choices.
11) Discuss the idea of endings in the story. Are the endings reasonable, given the nature of the horror that is being dealt with? Will all paths lead to the same ending, or to different endings?
12) Who are the characters in the story? Are there too many characters? I recommend keeping it simple.
No comments:
Post a Comment