This thesis contains five short stories, "The Playground at the End of the Neighborhood," "The Daylight Monster," "Union, Justice, and Confidence," "Traction," and "Exercise." The five stories presented here seek to utilize the freedom of the "tale." They vary in degree of employment of the fantastic, are the product of another culture and a different outlook, and utilize the freedom of the short story to operate on strengths other than reader-protagonist identification. A theme of caution serves as a unifying thread for these five tales

This thesis is composed of three original short stories and a critical analysis of them. "Tricentennial Seaweed Stories: is a comic tale of the future, set in twenty-first century America. "Cousins" is concerned with the conflicting religious views of three young adults. "A Vacation in Utah" examines the psychological and social pressures which bring the protagonist near to committing homicide. The first story is narrated in an omniscient voice, the second in an objective voice, and the last in first person. The critical analysis examines the fictional elements in the stories, including plot, character development, theme, and narrative point of view. This analysis expresses an opinion upon the degree of success achieved in each short story in terms of style and content.

Equilibrium is paramount in the crafting of a story, and for every writer this sense of balance is different. The writer must manage a balance of showing and telling, of denotation and connotation, and forever strive to find the perfect word in both the denotative and connotative sense, so that the reader and writer can meeting in a living story—both in the ink on the page and the remaining white space.

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Orra Though It Be is a short story collection which evokes the Northeast of Scotland through its setting, themes and language. In more universal terms, it depicts close-knit communities opening up to the wider world in the age of globalisation and the disenchantment felt by individuals caught up in this process. The collection's introduction outlines the linguistic and aesthetic issues of representing the region to an outside audience. After analysing the available options, my preference for skaz is explained in relation to Mikhail Bakhtin's theories on dialogism and the carnivalesque. The first chapter of the exegesis analyses some of the earliest narratives to mix vernacular with the standard at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Key works by Maria Edgeworth, Walter Scott and James Hogg are dissected in light of how each writer's social context affected their presentation of 'subversive' oralities through artifice and unreliability. The second chapter moves onto writers of the Modernist period, contrasting the oral skaz writings of Russia's Nikolai Leskov with the more linear, literary stories of his contemporary Anton Chekhov. The impact of James Joyce's work on Northeast writers is then discussed with an especial focus on Lewis Grassic Gibbon. The third chapter considers the general cultural shift beyond the Enlightenment from communality to individuality alongside the tandem transition of literature from ballad-­‐like objectivity towards modernistic subjectivity. James Kelman's experimentations with these styles are explored in order to show how they have influenced my own work. A larger concern with the expression of emotion in Scottish literature is also assessed. Tying together many of the ideas and methodological issues outlined thus far, the final chapter provides an in-depth reflection on the progression of three stories from first to final drafts and the evolution of the collection as a whole.

These are collected short stories all dealing to varying extents with the theme of being stuck or captured in an experience or in a moment gone past, often events of hardship or trauma. Some characters explore this territory in desperation, and some seem to become stoic reminders of these pasts, unable to accept the responsibility to move on and allow the experience to mature them and help them grow. I have concentrated on this theme as an aspect of suburbia, the kind of place in which I have grown up and where my characters spend the most time. This collection has been a personal journey for me as well as an exploration in character motivation through imagery depicting the key influential moments in these characters' lives. / by Kelly De Stefano. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011.

This is a collection of short stories that flirt with non-traditional forms. They are character-driven pieces, in which plot is of secondary importance to the relationships created and established. Ambiguity and abstraction are valued, as is the balance between mood and humor. Scientific principles fuel some of the pieces here, most of which do not attempt to take place in reality, but rather create their own arena to contain the events that follow. / by George A. Christakis. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. / Content restricted to abstract and citation at the authors request

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Language: the sounds of it, the richness of its rhythms, the connotative and the denotative meanings of words have all played a part in my development from a child to the adult I have become making a life for myself. Whether the words I heard flew like fiery darts, or whether they lifted my weary soul, I somehow always found they meant something to special me. Because of my love of language, I began early to read voraciously. The first novel that I read was Gone with the Wind. That story whisked my imagination to a dark and mysterious time and place that, along with the narrative powers of my mother, convinced me that Margaret Mitchell had recreated a real world from her imagination. I still have my own dream that there is a mysterious and hidden world waiting for me to recreate out of my imagination, too. / by Elisabeth S. James. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and filled out the appropriate web form. / This thesis contains two short stories and an excerpt from my novel in progress. I wrote most of it over the harsh winter of 2017-2018 in Boston, MA, as part of the creative writing MFA program of Boston University. / 2031-01-01T00:00:00Z