Let’s Write a Short Story: Creative Writing Lesson Plan

On Monday we will have a quiz with 50 multiple choice questions.
The quiz is found at: http://quizstar.4teachers.org/

Quiz topics will include:
The Fall of the House of Usher: See The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allen Poe.
Elements of a Short Story: See Short Story Elements.
Plot, characters, and literary devices in the movie Armageddon (1998).  Here is a refresher and plot synopsis. 
Plot, characters, and literary devices in the movie Dead Poets Society.  Here is a refresher and plot synopsis. 
What makes a Good Poem: What Makes a Good Poem? – Marilyn Singer.
Tarzan and the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Chapter XIX: See Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
END OF QUIZ MATERIAL
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Below are today’s notes:
Let’s Write a Short Story: How to Write and Submit a Short Story, by Joe Bunting  is loaded with practical advice and motivation. That is why it is today’s reccommeded reading.

Recommended Reading: Let’s Write a Short Story: How to Write and Submit a Short Story by Joe Bunting

Begin with basics of a short story. After you’ve chosen an idea, you need to remember the basics of a short story before writing one. Steps to a good short story are:
Introduction: introduces characters, setting, time,weather, etc.
Initiating action: the point of a story that starts the rising action.
Rising action: events leading up to the climax or turning point.
Climax: the most intense point or turning point of the story.
Falling action: your story begins to conclude.
Resolution: a satisfying ending to the story in which the central conflict is resolved—or not! You don’t have to write your short story in order. If you have an idea for a great conclusion, write it down. Move backward or forward from your starting idea (it may or may not be the beginning of the story), and ask “What happens next?” or “What happened before this?”
SOURCE: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Short-Story
Suggested short stories:
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen – Great Christmas story, but it’s no fairy tale!
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry – Tender and moving Christmas story with a lesson.
Thank You, M’am – A wonderful story by Langston Hughes, highly recommended!
The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allen Poe spins a classic horror story.
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs. A scary story told with mounting suspense!
A Dark Brown Dog This is a very sad story, but highly recommended.
An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge Read it! Especially if you have never heard of it.
MORE:
> Naomi Alderman ‘Jewfish’
> Naomi Alderman ‘Other People’s Gods’ shortlisted for the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award
> Trezza Azzopardi ‘Sticks and Stones’
> Richard Beard ‘Guidelines for Measures to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events’ shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award
> John Burnside ‘Something Like Happy’
> Kate Clanchy ‘The Not Dead and the Saved’ shortlisted for the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award
> David Constantine ‘Tea at the Midland’ winner of the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award
> Linda Cracknell ‘The Lost Son’
> Anne Donovan ‘But’ originally published by Artlink and Scottish Book Trust
> Anne Donovan ‘Sleepers’
> Aminatta Forna ‘Hayward’s Heath’ shortlisted for the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award
> Jane Gardam ‘The People on Privilege Hill’ shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award
> Niven Govinden ‘We Are Always At Your Service’ originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3′s The Verb

> Dominic Green ‘The Clockwork Atom Bomb’ originally published in Interzone 198
> Romesh Gunesekera ‘The Library’ originally published in Underwords: The Hidden City (MAIA press)
> Sarah Hall ‘Butcher’s Perfume’ shortlisted for the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award
> Peter Hobbs ‘Deep Blue Sea’ from I Could Ride All Day In My Cool Blue Train (Faber)
> Nicholas Hogg ‘How the Tiger Lost Its Stripes’ editor’s choice 2009 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest
> Tove Jansson ‘Snow’ from A Winter Book (Sort Of Books)
> Adam Kamiński ‘The Girl from the Train’ translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
> Jackie Kay ‘My Daughter, the Fox’ originally published in Endangered Species
> Etgar Keret ‘Magic & Childhood: three tales of innocence from Israel’
> James Lasdun ‘It’s Beginning to Hurt’ winner of the National Short Story Prize 2006
 > Alison MacLeod ‘The Will Writer’ originally published in Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction (Penguin)
> Alison MacLeod ‘Coupling’ originally published in Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction (Penguin)
> Jon McGregor ‘If It Keeps On Raining’ shortlisted for the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award
> Sara Maitland ‘Moss Witch’ shortlisted for the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award
> Katherine Mansfield ‘The Daughters of the Late Colonel’
> Patrick Ness ‘The New World’ exclusive short story from his tenure as Booktrust writer in residence
> Courttia Newland ‘Smile Mannequin, Smile‘ originally published in Music for the Off-Key (Peepal Tree Press)
> Rebecca O’Connor ‘St. John of the Miraculous Lake’
> Helen Oyeyemi ‘My Daughter, The Racist’ shortlisted for the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award
> Ian Rankin ‘An Afternoon’
> Janes Rogers ‘Hitting Trees With Sticks’ shortlisted for the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award
> Lionel Shriver ‘Exchange Rates’ shortlisted for the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award
> Erin Soros ‘Surge’ shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award
> Adam Thorpe ‘The Names’ shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award
> Ricardo Waale ‘A Special Day’ translated by Christina MacSweeney
> John Waddington-Feather ‘The High Master and Little Billy Clough’
> Jack Wallsten ‘Something Light’ originally published in Aesthetica Magazine
> Clare Wigfall ‘The Numbers’ winner the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award
> Clare Wigfall ‘Before Their Very Eyes’ written as part of her online residency
> Gerard Woodward ‘A Tray of Ice Cubes’
> Evie Wyld ‘The Whales’ exclusive short story from her tenure as Booktrust writer in residence