In this project, we were asked to write a science-fiction short story that would be compiled into a book. This project was really open ended. There were no restrictions as to what we could write about or how we would incorporate the science. Many people, including myself, had no idea where to start. At the beginning of the project, we had a guest speaker come in to help us brainstorm ideas and to show us the "World Building" technique. "World Building" is when you start with one simple idea and branch off into several different ideas. |
Since I was having trouble coming up with a science topic, I went to my dad for help. As soon as I told him the assignment he already knew exactly what to say. It was like he made it up years ago and finally had the person to tell it to. My dad is the person who gave me the idea for the father to be a scientist who's daughter had a disease. From this, we started to "World Build" without even knowing it. "The mother had this disease as well but past away." "The father isn't actually a scientist yet but rather a student at a university." "Father does some type of procedure." "The daughter starts mutating," I would say, "World Building" is one of the easiest parts because if you can't articulate your thoughts and get your point across, your "World Building" is pointless. |
We had several graphic organizers and brainstorming sessions that helped to get you thinking about your story. Without the feedback from my peers, my story would have no plot. I think that it is very important to not only refine it yourself but to get other people to critique your work because sometimes you get so caught up in the writing that you notice yourself My story didn't drastically change throughout the process, but I did need a lot of refining to get it to the point it is today. It was hard for me to write this piece mostly because a lot of the details about the events that happened were not set in stone. I couldn't decided where I wanted to go with the story. Was it going to have a sad ending? Happy ending? Where is Marcus going to keep her? Is this important?
Below are the files with all the work I have done throughout this project.
Short Story Research |
"Big Idea" |
Logical Leaps |
Down Draft |
Final Draft |
Four Weeks Later...
If I could do anything differently, I would probably change my scientific leap. It was really hard for me to include the science in my story because I couldn't create a procedure that I could write about for a long time. I think if I had something more believable or based off of a real procedure I could have included more details.
For future writing, I want to think about my audience more. Who will be reading this? What will their background be on this topic? Will they understand it? I also plan to incorporate "World Building" in future writing. It helps you see all the options your story can take based off of one main idea.
For future writing, I want to think about my audience more. Who will be reading this? What will their background be on this topic? Will they understand it? I also plan to incorporate "World Building" in future writing. It helps you see all the options your story can take based off of one main idea.