Oh, and one more thing. It's certainly not required, but do feel free, in addition to your 3000 words, to post any writing-related stuff you think may be of interest to the class.

Vonnegut's Rules of Writing

Since we have several Vonnegut fans among us, I thought I'd post his famous rules of writing:

Eight rules for writing fiction:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

Thanks for breaking the ice, Alec. Now who's next?

"bad" ideas

“It’s graduation time again.” Vance smiled. It was a slow, unsure smile.
Maira returned his smile with a certainty she didn’t necessarily feel. “You say again as though we’ve done this before.”
“You have.” Leo pointed out—and he was right. Maira had received her bachelors degree almost a year ago, while the brothers had taken slightly longer.
“And yet it feels the same each time.”
“I don’t know...” Van’s words came slowly and deliberately again. “I didn’t care much for my middle school graduation. And high school, I was still a kid then. This graduation holds the weight of the world.”
His elder brother frowned slightly. “It’s not like you don’t have a job.”
“Not officially.” The unsure smile was back. “who really needs someone with an Asian Studies degree? I’m not a- you know?”
As a matter of fact, Maira and Leopold did know. Vance had been bothered about this for almost a year now. Part of the problem with constantly having to look into the future and the potential possibilities.
“Well, don't worry about it for now.”
Van looked up as friend spoke.
Maira continued, “Tonight, we’re just going to enjoy ourselves. The three of us. That’s what tonight is about. Family. Worries can be for tomorrow.”
“So can hangovers.” Leo eyed his third shot with a tinge of regret. “I knew this was going to be a bad idea.”
“Well, it’s not a bad idea yet,” Vance laughed. “but give it a few more drinks.”
His brother grimaced as he downed the shot, “I’ll be sure to do that.”