Collection 3
Expect the Unexpected
It ain’t over till it’s over.
—Yogi Berra, speaking of a ballgame
Things don’t always turn out the way we plan them. Sometimes, just when we think that we have taken charge of our lives, we are thrown yet another curveball. Some of us love these surprises; others of us prefer to plan our lives and predict what’s going to happen next.
In some ways fiction is just like real life. Fiction is also full of surprises—twists and turns that catch characters unawares and turn their expectations upside down.
The writers of the stories in this collection are not afraid of surprising you with characters whose behavior is unusual, whose motives are sometimes not the best, and whose problems are resolved in ways you least expect.
Writing Focus: Evaluation
Writer’s Notebook
Every time we read a story (or see a movie) we evaluate it: It was good. It was slow. It was hard to understand. In the Writer’s Workshop in this collection, you’ll be making judgments like these in order to write an evaluation of a short story. Get started early by thinking of the stories you have read. What did you like about some of them? What did you dislike about others? Exactly what makes an exciting plot or an interesting setting or unforgettable characters? In a cluster diagram, gather your ideas about what makes a good story. Keep your notes, and add to them as you read the stories that follow.
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