Magical realism is often perceived as
an unconventional genre because it “messes” with traditional storytelling
structure. For example, oftentimes characters will acknowledge they are being
written and authors will constantly remind their readers that they are merely
reading a story, purposely exposing the illusion of fiction. Literature that
incessantly pulls the reader out of the story is called metafiction. Magical
realists employ metafictional techniques to draw attention to the “truth”
embedded in their art—to keep readers from getting too absorbed in the plot,
and thus miss the point of the art form.
In this class, we’re going to take
magical realism to an even weirder place! Over the next couple of classes, you
are going to brainstorm on and eventually compose a short collection of magical
realism stories in the form of hint fiction. Hint fiction is a
story that suggests complexity, yet is no longer than 25 words! You may have
heard of flash fiction or micro fiction, which ranges anywhere
from around 10 to 1000 words. All three genres are relatively new (hint fiction
is reaching its 3rd birthday) and fairly experimental, which will
naturally give your magical realism pieces a hint of abstraction. For our
intents and purposes, your hint fiction pieces should be no longer than 50
words because writing strong, sophisticated hint fiction is challenging, and
having an extra 25 words to play with will still give you the opportunity to
write with extreme brevity, while giving you a greater chance to succeed.
The nitty gritty:
-You are to write a collection of at least 5 pieces of magical realism in the form of hint fiction.
-Because these stories are part of a
collection, you need to establish an overarching theme or aspect of culture
that you wish to focus on. This focus will provide unity among your pieces.
-Each story should have a title, as
well as the collection as a whole.
-Write a 2+ page reflection on the
following:
a. How
you incorporated characteristics of magical realism into each of your stories
b. The
theme or aspect of culture that unifies the collection
c. How
your theme is explored in each story (explaining your symbols, metaphors, setting, images, etc.)
Brainstorming for this project is of
utmost importance. I would start with the theme you are going to focus on.
Write about what you believe in. Take the time to visit the provided links and learn some
tricks of the extremely short fiction trade.
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