Creative Writing Assignment Twitter is a place to tell stories.

Often those stories are about news, or politics, or perhaps sports or music, but it turns out Twitter is a great place for telling fictional stories, too. Tweeting can be thought of as a new literary practice. This November twitter is hosting a Twitter Fiction Festival a storytelling venue hosted entirely on Twitter. In the same way that we performed our play on Twitter we will be creating our own short story to be read on twitter. As with our performance of Shakespeare creativity and being concise are very important. Your story can be any length that you wish but must have a coherent plot, welldrawn characters and a conclusion. Use your imagination (insert Spongebob rainbow here) and write about what interests you. Your story must have the following elements: At least 2 main characters A distinct setting Remember characters dont necessarily have to be people a character on the TV series Lost is the Island itself. Think about where and when the story takes place. Let the setting help to set the overall mood of the story.

Plot - A typical story line follows a beginning, middle and end structure but there are endless variations of how a story can be configured. A strong plot usually involves some sort of conflict, crisis and climax to keep things interesting. Theme Your story must have some sort of central idea this could be considered the moral or lesson of the story if you like. This can be humorous or serious but there must be some sort of distinct main idea.

Twitter Fiction Short Story Rubric

NAME: _______________________ ____________________ Categories Knowledge & Understanding Level 1 Focus is unclear Logic of plot is faulty Logic of plot is inconsistent Level 2 Focus wavers occasionally

DATE:

Level 3 Focus is clear one main character, one main event Plot develops logically Ideas are creative and original Theme is clear Characters are fully developed

Level 4 Focus is clear one main character, one main event but these are developed fully Plot develops in a sophisticated way Ideas are creative, original and sophisticated Theme is clear and sophisticated Characters are portrayed in subtle or sophisticated ways

Total

/10

Thinking & Inquiry

Ideas are derivative or clichd Theme is unclear or lacking Characters lack development and credibility.

Ideas show some original thinking Theme is not fully developed Character development is inconsistent

/10

Communication

Use of language conventions and mechanics are limited (e.g. errors in spelling and grammar) Tweets are not creatively and succinctly written and show a limited sense of the intended audience

Use of language conventions and mechanics are inconsistent (e.g. some errors in spelling and grammar) A few Tweets are creatively and succinctly written and are appropriate for the intended audience to some degree A few original tweets provide insights into character, plot or theme and include pictures or other media.

Use of language conventions and mechanics are accurate and effective (e.g. spelling and grammar are mostly correct) Most tweets are creatively and succinctly written and are appropriate to the intended audience Most original tweets sometimes provide insights into character, plot or theme and include pictures or other media.

Use of language conventions and mechanics are accurate and effective and virtually error free (e.g. no errors in spelling and grammar) Tweets are creatively and succinctly written and are used artfully to suit the intended audience Original tweets consistently provide insights into character, plot or theme and include pictures or other media.

/10

Creativity

Tweets do not provide insights into character, plot or theme and do not include pictures or other media.

/20

Comments:

25 Prompts to Inspire Twitter Fiction 1. Write about the saddest thing that ever happened to you without using any words that describe emotion. 2. Where did the 15 high school students go when the bus disappeared? 3. Translate your favorite Shakespeare quote into a tweet. 4. Describe an unphotograpable moment. 5. Write a love letter from the future. 6. How did your first dog die? 7. You are locked inside an room in an unknown location. Tweet your way out. 8. How did the bank robbery go wrong? 9. Describe an alien invasion through a series of tweets. 10. What is the color of moonlight? 11. You have just decided to leave your lover. Write your Dear John letter on Twitter. 12. What was in the box? 13. You are the only person who knows where they left the bomb. You are miles away, but you only have five minutes to tweet the location to the authorities. 14. Why did the woman wake up screaming in the apartment below? 15. Describe your favorite song without using the name of the band or the name of the song. 16. What was the best sporting event you ever saw? 17. Describe election day from the point of view of baby in a stroller. 18. What would a superhero tweet? 19. Write a blurb describing how your favorite novel makes you feel, without using the name of the actual novel. 20. How would your favorite historical character use Twitter? 21. Imagine a narrowly avoided car accident in a series of tweets. 22. Two people fell in love on Twitterhow did it happen? 23. Write about your favorite historical event as a series of tweets.

24. What would a ghost write about on Twitter? 25. Tell your great great great grandkids the most important story that happened in your life.