Martian Chronicles: Usher II; Portfolio & Revision Work

This morning let's take a look at the short story "Usher II" from the Martian Chronicles. The story alludes to Edgar Allan Poe's short stories "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", among others. Check the links for details about the alluded stories and, if you wish to learn more, you can read those two stories here:

• The Fall of the House of Usher
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (the first detective story!)

After reading, please use your time in the lab/class to revise and prepare your portfolio. To revise:

• Get together with a classmate or two for feedback.
• Read your poem/short story/essay/play together.
• Look for typos and grammar mistakes as you read. 
• Improve your setting and characterization through additional details (add diction)
• Get inside the mind of your narrator when you can (stream of consciousness)
• Improve your imagery by using metaphors, allusions, or similes. 
• Improve your story by turning vague or inactive verbs and nouns into specific and active ones.
• Include specific details to create tone and evoke a sense of mood in the reader.
• Consider structure and flow of action in your poetry and fiction. Answer: does your story have a beginning, middle, and appropriate or interesting ending?
• Improve your sentence structure by reducing wordiness and awkward sentences.
• Rewrite important scenes to include necessary details (or complete a hastily written ending or scene in your story/poem).
• Cut scenes or paragraphs or sentences that are redundant or do not progress the story forward.
• Cut dialogue that is obvious or unnecessary.

HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories through "The Long Years" (pg. 166). Look for effective story telling and writing techniques that we have covered this year. Read as a writer reads.