Short stories have an added attraction – you don’t have to spend a long time reading! So if you are one of these very busy people who claim you have no time to read, here is your next challenge. We have read Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter in class and at present we are reading Hey You down there! by Harold Rolseth.
The publishing company Bloomsbury runs a website called 247tales.com
The name plays with the term 24/7. Each month they ask an author to write a short story of 247 words. The title is the theme for that particular month and they invite young people to write stories, 247 words in length, to submit in that particular month’s competition.
If you go to 247tales.com you will be able to read the September story winner, Thomas, who wrote a story called Plant in 247 words. I would like you to read his story and to answer the following questions for next week. This will give you the opportunity to see if you can apply what we have been doing in class to another short story.
The exact web address for his story is:
http://247tales.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/the-joke-winning-story/
The questions to answer:
1. What do you find out about Zimfa and what can you infer (read between the lines) about his character?
2. What do we find out about the plant?
3. Pick three examples of word choices or how the writer has used language that makes his story interesting. Say why you like the examples you have chosen.
4. What do you think about the story’s ending? Is it what you expected or did you expect something different? Do you think there is a twist to the story’s ending? Is there a lesson or moral to this story?
Feel free to look at this month’s story – called Water – as we will have a go at writing our own 247 word story and enter it in the competition. More about this later!
React!