Fiction: Endings

1. What is the plot?

            The plot for my story is a senior in high school commits suicide after discovering his girlfriend lying to him. After his suicide, Ben comes back as a Shade – a ghostlike figure – who cannot speak, or be seen, but can explore the world. He uses his new form to follow his girlfriend, until she sees his reflection.

2. What are the major scenes? For each scene, what is the vital question posed?

            Major Scene 1: Ben is in a car underwater, drowning. The reader, at this moment, is not sure what is going on, what happened, or why he is drowning. Was it purposeful?

            Major Scene 2: Ben sees his girlfriend hugging his dead body, but he doesn’t seem upset to have left her. What happened to the pair?

            Major Scene 3: Victoria is chased from her school because of un-wanted comments, and a seen of aggression. Does she regret her choices?

            Major Scene 4: Victoria sees Ben’s reflection. Will Ben accept her being able to see him?

3. What scene is missing from the story or what scene has been under-explored?

            There are a few scenes missing from the story, but none that are overly important to the plot that it would change the outcome. One scene that is missing is a flashback to a few days prior to Ben’s accident. This flashback would reveal more to the reader and why Ben chose what he did.

            As far as a scene that has been under-explored, it would have to be the scene when Victoria and Ben meet each other for the second time. The story skips to how Victoria discovers to communicate with Ben, leaving the reader wondering how she came up with the idea so quickly.

4. How could you rearrange the sequence of events and still focus on the character's struggle?

            Rather than starting with Ben’s accident, the story could start with the scene that I originally had planned as a flashback. This wouldn’t confuse the story, and it would still focus on Ben’s struggle with Victoria.

5. What external forces stand in the way of your character getting what he/she wants?

            Throughout the story, there are a few things that are in the way of Ben’s desires. One is A.J. Ben ultimately wants Victoria, but A.J. gets in the way of that, which brings Ben to his accident. Ben’s accident is also a force that stands in the way of Victoria, until he discovers how he can still be near her at the end.

1. What is the internal conflict?

            Ben struggles to grasp why Victoria would hurt him. But he also struggles with the concept of her weeping over him. He wants to see her fail, but at the same time, feels guilty for thinking in that way.

2. What is at stake for your character in terms of the conflict?

            My character is in search of an eternity. He wants to belong to someone, but when he discovers that his girlfriend doesn’t want just him, he decides that there is nothing else he wants more and sees no end, but his own.

3. What type of decision does the character have to make at the crisis point?

            After being seen by Victoria, Ben must decide whether to face her, or to leave for good.

4. Why is the character ambivalent about this decision?

            Victoria is the cause of his accident, the reason for his demise. He is skeptical in allowing her back in, but he wants answers. He is not sure how to get them.

5. What action shows your character's change at the end of the story?

            Ben changes throughout the story, starting off as an angered, hateful person who wants to see the people who caused hurt to him, suffer; he then begins to feel guilty and wants to punish those who are punishing Victoria. At the end of the story, however, Ben no longer struggles with his decision, he doesn’t regret it. All he wants is for Victoria to be happy, whereas at the beginning of the story, he wanted her to live without happiness.

6.  Fiction Reflection: Now that you have finished the fiction section, reflect on how it went for you.  You might respond to such questions as What do you know now that you didn't know before starting the fiction section? What do you still want to learn? What are your strengths and weaknesses in story writing.

            While I’m not sure what my strengths and weaknesses are in story writing, I do feel I have learned a great deal from this fiction section. One major aspect to story writing I have learned is how to start a story. I never realized that creating the first few sentences of a story was so vital, and such an art form, that the writer must get it writer if they wish to hold the readers’ attention. I’ve known that the introduction to a story was important, and that it was the section that kept the reader interested in the story, but I never thought about, or learned how to go about writing an introductory.

            An aspect to writing that I still need to work on would be developing my characters’ background. At times, I can be too quick to place a character into a story, I forget to design the character. I also need to work more on the dialogue to my story. I feel that, especially with my short story assignment, my dialogue lacks a certain attention concept, which I am trying to incorporate how I want the reader to feel.