Writing Assignment:Short and Sweet To escape unjust imprisonment, you have become Scheherazade of the detention hall.

Writing Assignment: Short and Sweet

To escape unjust imprisonment, you have become Scheherazade of the detention hall. You have written a flash fiction story and posted it for peer review to the Discussion: Share and Share Alike link. Now you must consider the feedback you received carefully and rework your story following these guidelines and questions to focus your revision work:

Length

Is my story short enough What else can I remove?
Remove anything that is not important to creating the characters, moving the plot forward, or setting up the surprise ending
Remove any extra wordiness or repetition that is not purposeful

Language

Are the words chosen carefully for connotation (tone)?
Are your phrases/images unexpected, memorable, or clever? (Remove clichés)
Are active verbs used consistently?
Is the last sentence your strongest? (Make it so!)

Imagery/Symbolism

What is the controlling image/symbol? Is this the best choice you could make?
Which adjective could be used to "push" the meaning of that image?
Have you used the image to your advantage every time it appears? Could it be used in other places or in better ways?

Surprise (Ironic/Humorous/Twist Ending)

How is your story surprising (but still focused)?
Do you telegraph your twist? (If so, rewrite it.)
Is the audience going to get it? (If not, figure out a way to make it clearer.)

* Be sure to edit carefully when you think you are through! See the punctuation, capitalization, and usage PowerPoint presentations available in the resources section of the course to brush up on your editing skills.

* To ensure the greatest success possible, before you submit your story, be sure to click on the link to view the grading criteria.

Please view the writing rubric for information on how this assignment will be graded.

For help with editing and revising, go to the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing rubric.