Kathleen Jennings has the MOST extraordinary mind! I love her observation posts about story structure. I mean, I love everything about her, really. Read her books. Buy her art. But also, THIS POST!
This observation journal page continues a previous activity, playing with story structures.
I read through a few more short stories and made notes of the big segment-moods through which the stories moved. I was trying to think of these shapes separate from those stories, but I do wish I’d made a note of what stories they were! One of them was an M.R. James.
(The page number at the top right should refer to p115 instead of 111 — this system is useful but not infallible).
If this approach to thinking about stories (written or drawn!) resonates with you, I encourage you to make your own list based on short stories you like. But for completeness, here are all the short story shapes from this page and the previous one:
- Ordinary — inkling — confirmation
- Reluctance — engagement — deepening
- Humorous sketch…
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C.S.E. Cooney 