Choose any topic from those Awful, Baldy, Biggo-Ego, Burpy, Daffy, Dippy, Dirty, Dizzy, Doleful, Gabby, Hoppy, Hotsy, Hungry, Jaunty, Jumpy, Lazy, Nifty, Sappy, Scrappy, Shifty, Snappy, Strutty, Stuffy, Swift, Tearful, Weepy, Wistful, Woeful
Paper details:
We are going to write a piece of microfiction! Let’s get our inspiration from Disney’s 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Did you know that there were a lot of dwarf names that ended up not being chosen for one of the seven dwarfs in the movie? Here are just some of the names that didn’t make the cut:
Awful, Baldy, Biggo-Ego, Burpy, Daffy, Dippy, Dirty, Dizzy, Doleful, Gabby, Hoppy, Hotsy, Hungry, Jaunty, Jumpy, Lazy, Nifty, Sappy, Scrappy, Shifty, Snappy, Strutty, Stuffy, Swift, Tearful, Weepy, Wistful, Woeful
Now you may be wondering why we’re starting with Snow White. I do not want you to write a fairy tale, nor do I want you to write about dwarfs. But this is a good way to start with short story because we can start thinking of character: who the character is, what their motivation is, why they act and speak the way they do, and so forth. In addition, we can work on making sure that we start thinking about our story projectory. To make this go quickly, you can take your character and place them into a typical story arc, such as Freytag’s Pyramid.
Kurt Vonnegut, well-known author, also spoke about mapping stories. You may have read his most famous work Slaughterhouse-Five. He talked about how all stories can be shown in a graph based on a y-axis of fortune and an x-axis of time (see, math is everywhere):
What are the Requirements?
For this challenge, you are going to aim to do these things:
Develop a character from the Dwarfs list above, and place them into a plot, one that has a clear trajectory despite the length of the piece. The character doesn’t have to have the same name as on the list above.
Organize your microfiction in a traceable way, i.e. so a reader can follow. (Make the reader work, but don’t make the reader frustrated.)
Establish a consistent voice through the use of language that works well together.
Incorporate sensory, descriptive images that work to establish a clear mood/tone, while still attempting to create “surprising” or “unexpected” images.
No dialogue! Yes, you read that correctly. There should not be any dialogue in this piece.
Include a title, but not the title “Microfiction Piece” or any version of that. Once again, avoid the titles “Untitled,” “I’m Not Good with Titles,” or “Still Thinking About a Title.” Make an attempt even if it’s difficult.
Use a block style font (Arial, Verdana, Calibri, Times) in a reasonabcgole size (10-12) in black
