Writing the Short Story

So today was the first day of my creative writing class at the community college. I love it. It is monday nights and there are only like 8 people in the class, which makes it very comfortable when it comes to workshopping your writing. The goal of this class is to begin to develop a strong short story through a series of writing exercises and techniques. Each week we learn a new elemt to the short story. This week: brainstorming; next week: character development. I'm excited. And since all great fiction is inspired by real life events, it is very likely that all of you, my friends, will have some roll in my story. There are the sorority sisters, there are the St. Joe kids with whom I spent the better part of my formative years, and a rare few that I have known since third grade at St. Therese, and then there is Matt and the wily gang of boys I met though him and who are an entirely different breed in and of themselves. So all of you should think of what you want your character's name to be. Once this becomes a New York Times Bestseller, my publicist will probably insist that I change your names to protect the innocent...or in some cases, the not-so-innocent.


So please think long and hard and then post a comment. Now I must go to bed. Tomorrow begins AIMS testing and the second day of what promises to be one of the most grueling weeks of my life. I made a grown man cry today--but that is another story all together....