Short Story Unit

          One of the units I was most looking forward to in this course was the short story one. I find short stories extremely captivating because of their intensity and intriguing story lines as they are condensed into a few pages. Before this course, I read a couple of scary short stories which I really enjoyed because it captivated me with the characters, plot, setting, etc. as well as leaving my heart pounding. Even while reading a few disturbing stories, I found myself completely entranced.
          The characters that I really enjoyed from the stories that we looked at in class were the man from the short story Identities and the old man from the short story Imagine a Day at the End of Your Life. I believe that I found them extremely memorable because they weren't given a name. I had never read a story (from what I can recall) in which the main character wasn't named. I found it interesting that by not giving the character a name I was able to visualize the story a lot easier. Another reason as to why I liked these characters was that both were struggling about some aspect of their life. This gave me a sense of reality because everyone in the world struggles with something or the other; it helped make the story more real for me.

          I think the most challenging part of writing a short story was the page restraint. I felt that I wasn't able to say all that I had wanted to and couldn't describe the important parts of my story. One of my biggest problems is shortening things. I tend to get a little (okay, maybe a lot) carried away. But I'm hoping to change that. 

          I don't really have a specific type of short story that I like. I like everything that has an interesting and different plot and characters that you can connect to. I feel like if you're able to connect with the character, it gives you a different perspective on the story and makes you enjoy it a lot more. 

         

          The thing that I liked most about my short story was its plot. I thought it was an interesting situation though it was hard for me to write exactly what I meant. The hardest part to deal with had to have been the page limit. I think I could have lessened the description a little bit in order to concentrate more on the plot itself. That would have improved my story in my opinion.