Photo Credit: PJ O’Dwyer

Fiction in 10 Episodes

Each of our stem units gives HWOC students the opportunity to write one episode of a long story you will work on all year. Use Medium to write each segment of your story, and include at least one picture with each episode. (Don’t forget to provide photo credits if you use a photo you did not take yourself.)

Your story can be about anything you’d like, but give special thought to your first episode because it will set up your writing project for the rest of the year.

Here are your requirements:

  • Each episode should be 300–600 words long. Use any online word count site to count your words. If you are like most students, the hard part here will be not going OVER your word limit. When you find yourself writing too much, remember that you can use some of your ideas in your NEXT episode.
  • Each episode should include 10 words using stems from the list correlating to each episode, and these words should be typed in all caps so they can be easily identified. (Don’t worry; you can change this at the end of the semester if you are writing for a more public audience.)
  • Each episode should include a photograph. Be sure to provide photo credits for pictures you do not take yourself. (If you’ve forgotten how to do this, just look at the photo credit with the picture at the top of this post.)
  • Each episode should include a hook and a scene that shows an action. Dialogue is highly suggested. When you use dialogue, remember that each time your focus shifts to a different character, you need to start a new paragraph. If the conversation goes back and forth between two characters, you will have a lot of paragraphs.

Here are your suggestions:

  • Hook your reader by starting in the middle of action and hinting at secrets that will unfold as the story goes on. Keep your reader hooked by leaving an important question unanswered at the end of each episode (except the last).
  • Show, don’t tell. People read fiction because they want to experience what it’s like to be a different person in a different situation. Use dialogue and action rather than describing a situation. One way to imagine your story is to think of it as a movie with 10 scenes. What will you film in each scene? Show your scene rather than telling ABOUT it.
  • Go from bad to worse. Put your character in a horrible situation and then make it worse and worse until you reach the climax and resolution of your story.
  • Have a loose plan for how your story will develop and end, but don’t be afraid to vary your plan if you get a brainstorm halfway through.

A note about editing. I STRONGLY suggest that you use our Grammarly site to help you with your editing, but you will also be trusting to the editing help your list group will give you. Although we will all be helping each other with editorial suggestions using the comments on Medium, your editing grade will be a group grade. That is, each list group will earn a grade in common for the editing work they do on their posts. If the people in your group all post their final work with a minimum of editing errors, each person in the list group will receive a high score for editing. You will receive one editing grade for your fiction writing each semester.

A note about audience. You are welcome to make your Medium post public. If this interests you, consider following a few Medium publications like, “Human Parts,” “The Nib,” or “Two Thousand Words.” If your story is especially good, one of these publications may ask to publish your work within its publication.

Medium also has some excellent publications that focus on writing skills. Consider following “Writers and Writing,” or “The Writer’s Cooperative.” If you prefer NOT to make your work public, that is also fine. You will remain anonymous on Medium simply by not tagging your posts. You can remain even more anonymous by publishing your posts as “unlisted.” In that case, only those with whom you share your link will be able to read your story.

The one audience you cannot avoid, however, is the audience of HWOC students and families. At the end of each semester, I will share with our families a Medium post that links to your stories, and I will invite your readers to respond to your work. Please keep your audience in mind as you write!