During the short story module, I created a fantasy story. The synopsis of the story is that Dahlia, a sixteen year old princess attending a royal boarding school, starts being tormented by a mysterious force. A curse has been placed on her and she has to find out to reverse it or her life might end. She has to rely on others to help her defeat the curse but has a hard time accepting help. The intended purpose of my story was to elaborate on a story idea that I had years ago but was too scared to ever develop it. The purpose and message of the story was that it’s okay to ask for help, fighting your battles alone is hard, don’t push people away that have your best interest at heart. My intended audience was middle school age girls. The genre of fantasy-princess with a female main character and friend group would attract that audience and is similar to content they already consume. The dialogue was formulated to be similar to their patterned speech. An example of this would be “Yeah, we’re both smarter than you, so you should’ve told us immediately.” and “Are you sure this is going to work, Bri? Do you think my mother would have let me borrow the most precious magic object in my family if she didn’t trust me?”. The story features strong female characters both good and evil and life lessons that they might not have learned yet. Another way I tailored my writing towards this audience was by giving the characters nicknames. Based on my personal experience, when characters had nicknames, it was cool and made the friend group seem close knit and I wanted to copy that feeling into the story. Having characters older than the target demographic, specifically being in boarding high school, allows them to envision themselves in a fun fantasy world that is less childish than elementary books but not overly mature like some young adult stories are.

Meaningful insights about storytelling that I gained during this module were being okay with story changes. The original plans and scenes for the story ended up not being in the final version and that’s okay. As I was writing, I was able to come up with better ways to tell the story I wanted. Getting feedback from my peers also allowed me to reevaluate the trajectory of the story and how to improve it to be within the word count and not sacrifice key elements. Being able to use a concept idea that I had created back in 2019 and bring it to life in some capacity was very fulfilling and taught me that there is not being ready, you just need to jump in and do and improve along the way.

The course learning outcomes I achieved were 2, 4, and 8. I composed and developed writing created in class from prompt to publication, using the writing process by drafting, editing, revising, and publication, to achieve your best work. I took the writing activities we worked on in class and elaborated on them by editing and revising. I created multiple drafts in the process of completing the final version of the story to create my best version of the story. I experimented with narrative techniques within the three major categories of Creative Writing: poetry, prose, and non-fiction through original writing. I juggled with which pov I wanted to write my story in. I practiced and drafted in the beginning through first person but I found my story would benefit through the view of a limited third person perspective. I produced the major aspects of storytelling: characterization, setting, voice, tone, and plot, in their own finished work to grow in confidence as writers. I worked heavily on the background of the characters present in the story and what the inner conflict would be for the main character. For the setting, I wanted to describe something familiar but with a twist of magic and royalty to have the reader’s imagination blend what they already know to the descriptions in the story. I wanted the voice of Dahlia to be present throughout the story even though it is not told through her. Her dialogue and her actions set her voice. The narrator’s voice is very descriptive and is able to tell the audience about the inner feelings of Dahlia that she wouldn’t tell herself. The tone is a mix of dark elements like the nightmare Dahlia has and the effects of the curse, with magical elements like the potions store and the artifact used at the end of the story to save Dahlia from her impending doom. The plot follows the story in chronological order and starts with the issue of the nightmare and introducing all three friends to follow Dahlia’s journey to getting cursed and finding the cure. I used all major elements of storytelling that I perfected by practicing with in class assignments and homework to be confident in my final product.