Project by: Cosima Dovan (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Calvin Walds
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Ann Carroll

I’ve always enjoyed the nature of personal short stories and have grown a craving to write some of my own. In this project I intended to write a collection of short stories that explored my own variety of perspectives and selves, characters and genres. I hoped to learn more about myself and my voice as a writer, and how I can write a compelling story. I wanted to experiment with different styles and topics in short story format while I read various works as inspiration. I sought to learn from other writers, Calvin, and myself as I searched for answers to the question: what makes a compelling story?

Updated Project/How “Short Story Exploration” turned out:

As I reflect on this project as of now with a full document of work, I feel I did not fulfill my original intention of “short story writing.” What has accumulated out of this project could be characterized as poetry, prose, memoir, fiction, fantasy, and I suppose even short stories with hidden arcs, but none of these categories seem to embrace my collection of finished work. Calvin put it best, “cross-genre.” I think that makes the most sense too. Towards the end of this trimester, I read several books on and off, two including Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado and Patti Smith’s Woolgathering. When I first picked up Machado’s book, I read the review on the cover by Parul Sehgal from The New York Times which reads, “A love letter to an obstinate genre that won’t be gentrified. It’s a wild thing, this book, covered in sequins and scales.” As I began reading, I found this observation to be extremely accurate and it became vital to my own writing. It helped me realize I was restricting myself to a genre that didn’t feel totally natural or all-encompassing to me, I had more things to say and write that didn’t fit in the short story genre. By the end of this project, I am so relieved I had this revelation, as I think my work became much stronger and more meaningful once I let it be “a wild thing.”

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Reflection/Update (End of Trimester 2)

As the trimester simmered to its end, I found myself in somewhat of a pit, devoid of creativity and inspiration. Leaving me unsatisfied and irritable, this dry feeling has evaporated a lot of my confidence in writing. To be completely transparent, I half intended to upload some feeble, lukewarm work and desert the whole project all together. Then, I was thinking to myself, what is it that feels so threatening to me about writing now? Is it because someone else is reading it? Is it because I don’t actually like it at all? I was not quite sure how to answer this yet, so I wanted to indulge this feeling of inadequacy. I will continue this project into trimester 3. It will be a time to embrace these feelings I am having and try my best to understand and acquaint myself with the things I feel threatened by.

Anyways, here’s the 411 on the project so far. Originally I had proposed writing autobiographical short stories for my project, because I had made the assumption that it would be easiest to write about myself. I was very, very wrong. So Calvin and I decided we would let the topics of stories come as they would, about whoever or whatever. Calvin provided some inspiration by introducing me to some creative writing magazines, The Offing and Guernica. When we reconnected, I showed him some of the pieces I liked, one being a flash fiction. So I wrote my own flash fiction (still a work in progress) about a supernatural romance occurring over a text conversation. The project prevailed as I began reading other works by authors, one being Miranda July’s collection of short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You. I was particularly taken by her pieces “Majesty” and “The Sister,” but I haven’t yet finished the book, so more remarkable work awaits. Her style and characters fascinated me and I was eager to replicate and expand on aspects of her work. I wrote my own piece in a similar style about the relationship between an older and a younger woman as it interweaved dreams and reality. That is also a work in progress. Calvin and I met over both of these pieces and I am still in the process of revision and generating more material.

This trimester, I aim to take more risks creatively to further enrich this experience. I recently, randomly began reading pieces of Karl Ove Knaussgard’s Winter, and I have been inspired by his philosophy on writing about “the small things.” In his collection of work he turns himself into a child, as if he is seeing the world for the first time as he documents it in preparation for the arrival of his unborn daughter. Using pieces like “Christina” and “Toothbrushes” as loose guidelines, I want to start with the small things and see where they take me creatively. In addition to that, I have begun constructing skeletons for stories I’ve had in my head for a while. Since I don’t necessarily have any finished work, or work that I am ready to share yet, I am going to post a couple samples of my journal entries/thoughts that I’ve recorded over the course of my exploration.

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T3 PROJECT PROPOSAL

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

I will be continuing my original project into trimester 3 as I continue to explore literature and creative writing. I want to experiment with different styles and topics in short story format while I read various works as inspiration. I hope to learn from other writers, Calvin, and myself as I continue this project, to find the many answers to this question: what makes a compelling story?

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

I will draw on creativity and courage as I step out of my comfort zone by sharing my writing and experimenting with different techniques, genres, and topics.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

My proposed outcome is to compose a collection of work into a PDF document on this website so others can view my pieces.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

Calvin and I have discussed and decided it would be satisfying to put all of my work into a little “book” as an end result. I deduce it would make the most sense to finish and edit all of my work by June.

When do you plan on meeting?
Wednesday x-block/Thursday lunch (depending on the week).

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TRIMESTER 2 PROJECT PROPOSAL

Project by: Cosima Dovan (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Calvin Walds
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Ann Carroll

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

I’ve always enjoyed the nature of personal short stories and have grown a craving to write some of my own. In this project I intend to write a collection of short stories, exploring my own variety of perspectives and selves, characters and genres. I hope to learn more about myself and my voice as a writer, and how I can write a compelling story.

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

The values that I will be employ to complete this project would be creativity and courage. Creativity, because I will definitely get creative in my writing and experiment with the writing process. Courage, because I will be challenging myself to write using my voice and sharing my writing with others in this space.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

As a finalized project, I would like to have an assortment of completed short stories. I may present some of my more favored pieces of writing in a PDF version so the larger LREI community can have a look if they’d like. I also want to write a reflection on how this project has helped me grow as a writer and an individual.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

My work plan is to produce new writing every week and review it and my ideas with Calvin.

When do you plan on meeting?
Monday x-block