HPA and GSMS Grade Eight LA

Postcard Stories: What students need to know

 

The postcard story is a part of an emerging genre of short fiction that challenges the writer to recreate or imagine an experience.  As with any good story, the reader must be engaged immediately.  The story should include action, characters and tension - implied or stated.  This very compressed form of writing relies heavily on implication and innuendo to convey its storyline and its message or “so what.”  It calls for very selective use of detail to sketch the situation and develop the characters and context and their interaction.  It captures a moment out of time, and engages the reader in imagining what preceded the scene and what followed it.  The focus of the story is more important than the length of the writing.

 

The inspirations for postcard fiction come from a host of different source: photographs, chance encounters or remarks, newspaper items, heirlooms, embarrassing or poignant experiences, and a thousand other everyday experiences that leave an impression on a receptive and creative mind.

 

Postcard Story Unit Starter

 

What is a postcard story?  Ideas?  Brainstorm.

• A story that could fit on the back of a postcard

• An intense story that captures a brief moment in time

• …

 

What’s important to remember?

1. It takes time to create a believable character in your own mind. (See: Creating a Character sheet.)

2. Create your situation/scenario.

 3.  Give your character a name. (Did you know that character names can reveal information about the character? J.K. Rowling… ”is known as a name master because she will match the word to the character’s personality. She named Dumbledore, Harry’s headmaster, after a bumblebee because she imagined him walking through Hogwarts and humming to himself. Dumbledore means “bumblebee” in Old English.” (OWL Mag. November, 2010)