Suspenseful Scene

  It was dark now. The moon glowed immensely over the water of the lake. I just stared at that moon, tracing the outline of old forgotten craters with my finger as it pressed against the glass of driver side window. I was waiting for Her to come sit down and talk to me about what was just said. Words I never wanted to hear. Words I thought that mean the end so much more than a relationship for me. I sat, staring and waiting.

 "You know what's funny?"

  "What?" she asked

  "This record you gave me", I paused. I was caught in the motions of saying the words I had dreaded about saying this entire conversation but I realized I had to say. Maybe this'll make her rethink things. Maybe this mend things. "This record you gave me, the second track is called 'The Summer's End'. I just thought that was funny." I couldn't hold back anymore. I began to cry.
  "I don't understand"
  "I'm so sorry."
  "Don't tell me you're fucking sorry, tell me why you want to take a fucking break!"
  "I just..." She couldn't finish her sentence. I felt like an asshole. I nevered yelled at her and the few time I did in our long relationship, it changed me. One thing people don't realize when they are in the process of breaking up, especially if the reasons aren't that bad, is that when people look back on that relationship, all they see is the good stuff. I was in the same boat.
  "I'm sorry please don't cry anymore." That was the one thing I hated about myself and this relationship. I made her cry so easily.

Story One (Alternate Opening)

  The sky is so blue today. It is so clear. Much clearer than the water of this murky old lake. I sat at the one of the picnic tables under the large, long pavillion. I've never been to this part of the lake before. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've been to this lake at all. I drive through here at least twice a month and look at it everytime but I guess I never really tried to come here. It's one of those things that it's nice to look at and gaze upon because you know it'll always be there.
  The sun was shining on the soft, green water. Little ripples here and there from boats driving around in the distance. I sat there thinking about what I was going to do this summer. My birthday was in six days. I'll be 21. I think I'm was more nervous than scared, more so in the amount of money I was going to spend on alcohol.
  I picked up a leaf I saw on the ground and started to play with it, twisting it in my hand, tearing little bits off at a time. She loves me, She loves me not , She loves me, She l.." My train of thought was cut off by the boat that drove up to the part of shore where we were. It was small. Really only big enough to hold maybe four or five people other than the driver. Jackson's dad was driving it. All the kids that were closer to the shore were eagerly wait to get in. I sat and watched as about ten or so of them swam frantically to get to the boat. On the back was a rope tied to it holding an inner tube.
  I continued to sit there. I rubbed my hands on the table and ran my fingers through the grooves that had formed from all the summers before and all the people who sat here before me. I felt the dirt that had gathered there over the years. Each groove told a story of some person, some memories. Whether it was good or bad, it was marked here. I sat there lost in those grooves.
  "Hey! Sorry, I didn't see you pull in. How are you?"

Reading Response to Antonya Nelson's "Lost in the Woods"

  From the title of the essay to the first line, Nelson sets up what this essay is going to be about. She is writing about the cliche story premise of being lost in the woods and it is talking more about the children story aspect. Most people know about this premise or if not I guarantee you've read one before. It is the notion that our protagonist is on a journey and for some reason or another gets lost in the woods. Now this premise is basic and everyone gets the point: protagonist is faced with is first or ultimate struggle.
  Nelson takes that notion and tell us that is it simple, or at least it is to a quick glance. She spends a lot of time in this essay explaining that this "lost in the woods" idea is, yes simple but, tells the audience the ultimate reason behind why the protagonist is struggling and what their background problems were. She goes from kid's story to kid's story explaining a much more complex idea of why they are lost and what the story is trying to show us, the reader.
  Another big thing is that she gets into is the set up for a story with this premise. She says that people think a "happy ending is requirment". She disagrees with that and I disagree with that. The idea of happy endings is nice but it gets boring. The big key point in this article is that these stories are great for kids at a very young age because they don't want to think about plot and character development they want to be happy. But for older individuals, Nelson doesn't believe in happy endings. I don't blame her. Happy endings are a cop out for stories who are afraid to get in someones face and make them see the real side of things. I feel as though her argument for all of this is her going into detail of the story "Folie a Deux".
  All in all Nelson brought up major points on why a cliche premise can be great and brought to light some reasons why novels and stories go for that happy ending.

Reading Response to Ann Hood's "Beginnings"

  Ann Hood breaks down how to start a story in the best way possible in many different forms and fashions. She starts off with the simple introduction. In this section she explains how the first sentence is tells what the story is going to be about and basically sets up everything you need to know. Or a good one will do that. She quotes a variety of different novels backing her argument. This is a common theme Hood uses in the different sections.
  The following sections really just reiterate the importance of the opening sentence but in these following sections she categorizes them more specifically. These include: the "Old Saw" which is the classic sometimes cliche sometimes its not, opening with character description which is exactly as it sounds, setting, and facts.  Some others one are more specific like media res which is one that I more relate to because it is the one I relate to more because I use it in my writings. It is where you start the story off in the after effects of some plot point. Her best example was Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
  But the thing I like most about this essay is before she does into any of this, the very first paragraph, she starts it off by being a little personal. She says how she cannot write anything until she knows her first line. I love this because he levels down to the beginner level writer and shows us how hard and important the beginning is. And also sets up what she is going to write about. Finally she explain the the beginning paragraph that why the beginning of a story is important, it shouldn't overshadow the rest of the story.

Story One Opening

  I sat in my car waiting for time to stop and reverse itself. My eyes started to turn red as I waiting for their cars to leave but they waited as well. I guess they were waiting for me. Finally I put my car in reverse and started to drive. I drove with no music playing, no radio, no sound at all. I wanted complete silence so I can try to process the words that began to echo in my head.
  "What do you think?"
  What did I think? I love you. I had a ring. I had plans. I had time.
  I rounded the to turn which lead onto the main highway. We live in two parts of the state now but we met in college. She was two years older than me so naturally she graduated much earlier than I did. However, we were from the same town. I was suppose to head back to Auburn and she to go back to Dothan, where we're from. She lives with her parents while she works for a year. She's in Med School now.
  As I waited at that stop sign, I decided to turn to Dothan. She wanted to wait and talk about this later but I couldn't wait. I had to know what was going on. Is she cheating on me? Am I not attractive to her anymore? Does she still love me? I kept asking myself all these questions in my head and it really only seemed to make everything worse. So finally, I broke the silence, I turned on the radio and forgot everything that had just happened and just focused on driving. I thought live in peace for one hour would be nice. I couldn't admit it them but I knew. I didn't want to be with me anymore.