Story #1: 1-3 page story that describes one thing as another

Story #1: 1-3 page story that describes one thing as another. Read Dino Buzzati’s “The Falling Girl” in handout. The story starts within the conventions of realism: setting, character, description, action, but then shifts into the fantastic. This shift happens because of a central, controlling metaphor that is never explicitly acknowledged in the story. Notice how falling girl’s life is described as a fall from high up on a building. It is an extended metaphor, so she ages as she falls, will die when she hits. The exercise is to take a metaphor (“life is like falling from a building to your death”) and then to literalize it into fiction. As you write, think of how to map this point by point onto that, so that the attributes, characteristics, and connotations of one thing transfer from one to the other. Decide how realistic you want your story to be. You might have to move into the realm of fantasy, fairy tale, dreams, surrealism, and/or magic realism to make this work. Remember that if you use apt metaphors, the story will be serious. If you use inapt metaphors the story will be parodic, strange, and humorous.