How You “See” the Picture

1) Who do you think the two characters are? What do they do in life?

2) What is each of them thinking about? What can you learn about their relationship and their personality from what they are thinking?

3) Make full use of all the information in the picture, and more importantly, your imagination and creativity to make up a story.

Describing Feelings

When writing or telling stories, it is important to be able to describe the feelings of the characters so that they seem lifelike. Read the following situation in which Emma is dumped by her boyfriend and then write 3 or 4 complete sentences describing how the girlfriend felt. The result could be as dramatic as possible.

Sample WritingHeartbreak and weariness sweeping over her, she dropped

her head in her hands and tears welled up and overflowed. She sobbed uncontrollably, finding herself invaded by a bitter flood of emotion, engulfed by a cloud of uncertainty, and defeated by her wild dream. Everything seemed so fragile that it might be ripped away from her in a split second. She felt as if the world was crumbling into pieces right before her eyes. Grief-stricken, Emma got to her feet and walked away without uttering a word.

Describing a Person’s Appearance Using Similes

Sample

Her long black hair is as soft and glossy as lustrous silk. Her almond-shaped eyes are as deep as a limpid lake. Her curved eyebrows are like crescents hanging over two bottomless lakes. Her white face is like flawless and exquisite porcelain. Her red lips are like freshly-picked cherries. Her curvaceous figure is as slender and slim as a spring willow.

The Open Window

What is a short story?A short story, first and foremost, must be

concise from every point of view. The shorter the story, the more economical with words the writer must be. There can be no superfluous or irrelevant information. Every word counts. A short story can only have one plot or one main theme. It can have a number of characters, but only one or two of them can be developed in depth. The time span of a good short story is usually limited to a few hours or a few days.

Virtually all short stories are composed of a plot that develop chronologically and that comes to a definite conclusion. The ending is often referred to as a “denouement”, from the French word meaning the unraveling or untying of a knot. Ideally, a short story has a surprise ending that can be humorous, ironical or even moralistic.

The introduction, the development of the plot and the denouement form the backbone of a short story. Descriptions and character portrayal form the flesh and bones, so to speak. Therefore, analyzing the structure, plot and character portrayal of a good short story is one of the first steps to understanding the process of fiction writing.

A good short story should entail the following points:1. Have a clear theme. What is the story about? That

doesn't mean what is the plot line, the sequence of events or the character's actions, it means what is the underlying message or statement behind the words. Get this right and your story will have more resonance in the minds of your readers.

2. An effective short story covers a very short time span. It may be one single event that proves pivotal in the life of the character, and that event will illustrate the theme.

3. Don't have too many characters. Each new character will bring a new dimension to the story, and for an effective short story too many diverse dimensions (or directions) will dilute the theme. Have only enough characters to effectively illustrate the theme.

4. Make every word count. There is no room for unnecessary expansion in a short story. If each word is not working towards putting across the theme, delete it.

5. Focus. The best stories are the ones that follow a narrow subject line. What is the point of your story? Its point is its theme. It's tempting to digress, but in a 'short' you have to follow the straight and narrow otherwise you end up with either a novel beginning or a hodgepodge of ideas that add up to nothing.

Hector Hugh Munro was at various stages in his life a colonial policeman, a political satirist, a journalist, a historian, an author of novels, short stories and plays, and a soldier. He is however best remembered for his fiction, for which he adopted the pen-name 'Saki' - selected from the Rubaiyat (600 short four line poems) of Omar Khayyam, in which several sections were addressed to a 'Saki' - Farsi for 'cup-bearer'.

Munro was born in Akyab, Burma on 18th December 1870. He enjoyed his childhood in Burma (even raising a tiger-cub) until his father, a Scottish military

policeman, sent Hector, his sister Ethel and brother Charlie back to Scotland to be raised by their two aunts Tom and Augusta. Hector regarded the aunts as tyrants and many believe that he later took his acerbic revenge on them in his fiction.

Back in England, he began to write for a variety of publications, including The Westminster Gazette, The Daily Express, Bystander, The Morning Post and Outlook. Of these writings, the most notable were perhaps his Carrollesque "Alice in Westminster" political sketches for the Westminster Gazette.

He later became a foreign correspondent in Russia and the Balkans, which is when he wrote many of the humorous short stories for which he is best remembered – although his first book was a historical treatise.

He enlisted in the 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers at the start of the Great War at the age of 44. He refused several offers of a commission, claiming that he could not expect soldiers to follow him unless he had experience of battle. He wrote throughout his time in the trenches and was promoted to Lance Sergeant in September 1916. On the 16th of November 1916, while serving near the French town of Beaumount-Hamel, he was shot by a German sniper and killed.

Saki's best fables are often more macabre than Kipling's. In his early stories Saki often portrayed eccentric characters, familiar from Oscar Wilde's plays. Among Saki's most frequently anthologized short stories is 'Tobermory', in which a cat, who has seen too much scandal through country house windows, learns to talk and starts to repeat the guests' vicious comments about each other. 'The Open Window' was a tale-within-a-tale. In the short story 'Sredni Vashtar' from The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) a young boy makes an idol of his illicit pet ferret. It kills his oppressive cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp, modelled on Saki's aunt Agnes. "Sredni Vashtar went forth, / His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth / white were. / His enemies called to peace, but he brought / them death. / Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful."

1. put up with (l.2): to be willing to accept (sth. that is

unpleasant or not desirable) e.g. I can put up with the house being untidy, but I hate it

if it’s not clean. He’s finding it difficult to put up with the pain.

2. Privately he doubted more than ever whether those formal visits with a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing. (l.3)

endeavor: vi. try (fml) e.g. They endeavored to make her happy but in vain. endeavor: n. attempt or effort e.g. Please make every endeavor to arrive punctually.

3. His sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat. (l.7)

in his headlong retreat (l.77)migrate1) ( 候鸟等 ) 定期移栖 , 鱼群洄游 e.g. Many birds migrate south for the winter.2) 迁移 , 移居e.g. The workers migrate from farm to farm.migrating: adj.e.g. Migrating swallows return to the same place each spring.migration: The biologists studied the route of the birds’

migration.emigrate: 移居国外 emigrante.g. Mary emigrated from Germany to France during the

second World War .immigrate: 移居入境 immigrante.g. My parents immigrated to the U.S from Hungry in 1956.

4. You will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul. (l.8)

bury oneself in a particular place: go and spend time there, usually alone

e.g. He would voluntarily bury himself in these desert regions.

bury yourself in your work/studies:

e.g. You will have to bury yourself in your studies if you are to pass the exam.

bury your head in the sand

e.g. We can’t continue to bury our heads in the sand – we must learn to face facts.

5. He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret. (l.16)

distinct: easily heard, seen, felt or understood, noticeable; clearly different

e.g. The footprints are quite distinct; they must be fresh.

Those two ideas are distinct from each other.

distinctive: distinguishing sth. by making it different from others

e.g. Long complex sentences are distinctive of Henry James’s later style.

6. “Then you know practically nothing of my aunt?” pursued the self-processed young lady. (l.18)

pursue:

1) pursue an activity/ a policy/ a career

2) pursue economic reform/ new business

3) pursue a person/ a vehicle

4) If you pursue a particular topic, you try to find out more by asking questions.

If your original answer is denied, don’t be afraid to pursue the matter.

7. An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation. (l.21)

8. somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place. (l.25)

I felt out of place in my suit and tie.

I was dreadfully out of my element.

He is out of tune/step with the times.

That color is out of keeping with the rest of your decorative scheme.

Rest now is out of the question.

Loud talk is out of keeping/line in the library.

The juggler is out of the ordinary because he could juggle with his feet.

9. three years ago to a day (l.30)

e.g. Twenty-five years ago, to the day, England reached the sport’s pinnacle by winning the World Cup.

10. …places that had been safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning. (l.34)

11. get on one’s nerves (l.41)

lose one’s nerve (l.88)

12. She broke off with a little shudder. (l.44): She stopped talking with a little tremble.

13. make a fine mess of (l.50)

in a mess/ mess up/ Your report is a real mess.

14. She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and she scarcity of birds, and the prospects of duck in the winter. (l.52)

15. He made a desperate but only partially effort to turn the talk to a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess gave him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. (l.53-55)

16. It certainly was an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary. (l.57)

18. The doctors agree in ordering me a complete rest, an absence of mental excitement and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise. (l.58)

It is in her nature to be jealous of other people’s good fortune.

His request was in the nature of a command.

19. … who labored under the tolerably widespread delusion (acted on a false belief) that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for details of one’s ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure. (l.60)

19. She brightened into alert attention. (l.64)

20. Just in time for tea, and they don’t look as if they were muddy up to the eyes. (l.66)

up to the eyes: utterly, extremely

I am up to my eyes in work./ He is up to his eyes in debt.

21. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung around in the seat. (l.69)

22. in the deepening twilight (l.71)

in the twilight of my career/ in the twilight of my age

a twilight zone ( 边缘地带）

23. Romance at short notice was her specialty. (l.89): She was good at improvising a story.

There is no one available at such short notice to take her class.

All our things stayed in our suitcase, as if we had to leave at a moment’s notice.

The landlord should inform the tenant at a month’s notice if he doesn’t rent the house any more.

Can you be ready at ten minutes’ notice?