Name

Anna Mueller

 

Project Name

An Exercise in Storytelling

 

Essential Question

How are stories changed based on the perspectives from which they are told?

 

Statement of Definition

For my Senior Project, I will work with Hanna Provost to tell the story of two individuals living in quarantine during a global pandemic. The characters will be living in different places which will highlight the role of setting and they will be communicating back-and-forth and recording their experiences.

 

Overview: Describe your topic and project to the committee.

This project has so many layers to it which will really allow us to branch out and explore our essential question. While most of the project will be written, we are also interested in incorporating some photography. Since we are, for the most part, stuck in our homes, this would require us to think about how we can find good photo opportunities in the mundane. There would also be the layer of the unusual format of the writing. We will have to learn how to tell our story through letters/other forms of written communication, rather than a standard narrative. This, as well as the other aspects of the project, will require Hanna and I to cooperate. However, we also wanted a part of the project to be individual work so, in addition to the character back-and-forth, we will keep journals as our characters. This will also help us write the actual letters because it will be a sort of fictional reflection/brainstorm of our character’s lives that will really allow us to get into their heads. Finally, to enrich the uniqueness of our character’s experiences in quarantine, the difference in the setting will come into play as Hanna will set her story in New York, and mine will be set in Palm Springs.

 

How will you measure your success?

First of all, we can make our pieces stand together successfully as well as apart. We will know we were successful if we learn about the role of setting in the story; how it changes the photography and feel of the story, and how it changes the circumstances of our characters. If we accomplish both of these things, we will have learned some of the key aspects of storytelling we wanted to examine.

Resource List 

 

• Book resources:

 

1. Sorcery and Cecelia by Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede
2. The Secret Life of It Girls by Chloe Thurlow
3. Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks by Kate Klise
4. The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
5. Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me by Broody McHottiepants & Carrie DiRisio

 

• Professional resources:

 

1. (possibly) Matt Gilbert, a chief copy editor at Critical mass – this would give us a marketing angle to our exploration of storytelling
2. CJ Bernstein (an author who came to our school last year)

 

Daily Plan & Schedule

Every day we will journal as our characters. This will be backlogged. We will start at the beginning of the pandemic and continue from that point. We will also be writing letters to each other. We will include photography. We will also do research which would include reading examples of writing, articles relating to the content of our piece, and information on photography

Documentation Plan

We can keep a journal that reflects on the work we do each day and make conclusions about our essential question. We can also record the results of our research here. This could be digital (google doc) or not, in which case we could send pictures of the entries to the Senior Project Committee.

Material Needs

We will need paper, pens, our laptops, our phones, and possibly a journal for our project. None of these things need to be purchased by the school.

Backup Plan

If we have too much time on our hands, we can create some social media accounts for our characters to add another level of communication. Otherwise, there aren’t really any circumstances that could interfere with our project now, since we are basing the content on the real events of Covid-19, we can easily write any problems into our story.