Week 1: Introduction to this Course and More Story Ideas

Weeks 2 and 3: Dialogue - Characters Come Alive

How to make characters come alive through dialogue

Why dialogue charges a story

Dialogue to show emotion and mood

Dialogue to convey character and information dynamically

Dialogue as humor

Dialogue as conflict

What a character does NOT say can be important

Revising your dialogue to sharpness

Write an interesting story with some dialogue

Revise your story to enhance the dialogue and make the story sharp

Weeks 4 and 5: Setting - Make the Reader Enter the Story World

Setting makes the world real

Using Setting to create the mood

Create a vivid setting using descriptive sensory details

Setting and character development

Create the setting for a futuristic world

Avoiding Setting clichés

Don't overcomplicate setting

Revising your story's setting

Write and then enhance a story using an evocative setting

Weeks 6 and 7: Giving and Receiving Feedback

Take the Giving and Receiving Feedback course

Write a story to post for feedback

Evaluate the feedback for your story

Revise your story based on feedback

Week 8: Showing and Telling

Show, don't tell (well, mostly)

Balancing showing and telling

Practical applications of showing and telling

Enhance a story by showing instead of telling

Weeks 9 and 10: Internal and External Conflict

External conflicts

Internal conflicts

Matching internal and external conflicts into a story

Write a story with an internal and external conflict

Week 11: Sensory Descriptions

Make your stories deeper by adding sensory information

Adding sounds

Adding smells, tastes, aromas, and touch

Use balance for your sensory descriptions

Write a story with multiple senses

Week 12: Deepening Your Story with a Theme

What is a theme

Themes don't have to be original

Deepen your story with a theme

Revising your characters and actions to reflect the story's theme

Revising the story to make the theme clearer

Write and revise a story with a strong theme

Week 13: Make Your Reader Care

Your story must be compelling

The power of the unknown

Make your characters even more complex

Add unpredictability

Avoiding sentimentality and melodrama

Get rid of boring words

Get rid of distractions

Make your characters internal struggles compelling

Edit and correct stories using proper grammar rules

Edit and correct stories using proper punctuation

Write and revise a story

Week 14: Create a Story to Share

Week 15: Collect and Publish Your Stories

Themes don’t have to be original

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Writing Fiction Stories - Semester 2

Themes don’t have to be original