At School: Read "Hills like White Elephants" and "Indian Camp." Discuss dialogue.

We're going to try to read two stories: "Hills like White Elephants" together, and "Indian Camp" individually to explore one of America's most famous postmodern writers, Ernest Hemingway.

The reason for this is that while you're learning to write a better story (for your Oct. 16 (this week) due-date for your first story), it's important to see how much can be condensed into prose. Think back to the way Cisneros showed us so much conflict and story in "Linoleum Roses," and know that she's borrowing from a rich tradition of writers cramming a lot into a little space. Hemingway is key to understanding how to do it with:

1) Specific "telling" dialogue

2) Key details that give us "just right" information, as long as we pay attention.

The stories we look at today will hopefully help you write dialogue as only fiction can (because the way we speak just doesn't work on paper), and also it'll maybe help you understand how powerful a vehicle your protagonist can actually be when used as a lens through which to view powerful moments in life.

We'll talk briefly about how dialogue works well (and doesn't, via Hemingway), and we'll also discuss how to keep your story lively by limiting extraneous details, keeping conflict small, and focusing on the specific resolution.

This should put you in a good place for your homework, to read Diaz' excellent story, "No Face," and to finish your story so we can workshop it next week!