1. What is your inquiry question? What initially drew you to this question? Did your question stay the same, or did it change over time? Why?
My question is “To what extent does the point of view of a story affect the emotion it induces?” It has stayed almost the same from the very beginning. I explored which point of view is most effective, which is a bit of a side path from my original question. It is however still a part of my original question and helped me answer it in the end. I think I formulated my original question quite well and it was specific enough that I got straight into making my artifact/evidence to answer the question. I was drawn to this question because I wanted to do creative story writing and I wanted to find out what makes an effective short story. Simply asking “What makes an effective short story?” seemed too broad so I narrowed it down to a specific aspect of the story.
2. What skills have you expanded on / learned during the inquiry process? How are these skills applicable to your success as a student?
I think I have become a better writer and I’ve improved on making more emotional stories. I did this through descriptive writing and good editing. Editing will be useful in any type of writing, not only creative/fictional. Overall, it also helped me with time management and taught me how the general process of completing any project works (how to plan, carry out, assess, then revise). All the skills I have mentioned will mainly benefit me in the writing area (again, not only creative), but I can also apply them to my other work.
3. What did you learn about / what is your answer to this inquiry question? Remember to be specific and provide direct evidence from your research.
I’ve discovered that for my story, a third-person perspective worked better. This is because “The advantage of the third-person viewpoint is that the author can write from a broader perspective,” even though “the advantage of the first-person point of view is that you can immediately connect with the reader” (Weihardt, 2018). Writing in third-person omniscient was more descriptive and therefore made more sense and gave the reader a better feel for the story. I was able to describe the feelings of several characters and show some aspects of the story from different views. I really think it depends on the reader’s perception of the story, as everyone will read the story just a bit differently. As well, it didn’t make it more emotional specifically, but it let the reader understand and connect with the story more throughout. In short, the answer to my question is: The perspective of a story makes an impact on the clarity and detail, which in turn affects the emotion induced.
4. In what ways does your final learning artifact demonstrate your learning/answer to your inquiry question? How does it connect to your chosen curricular competencies? Consider listing your competencies and including images, links, or excerpts from your work to demonstrate this.
My final learning artifact is the two versions of the story that I wrote. My artifact is how I found the answer to my question. After writing the two versions of the story, I compared them and found my answer. My chosen core competencies were:
-‘Explain how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning.’ My learning related to this competency because I discovered how the point of view shapes meaning. Point of view could be considered a ‘literary element, technique, or device.’ My artifact is how I learned this and how I will demonstrate it.
-‘Assess and refine texts to improve their clarity, effectiveness, and impact according to purpose, audience, and message.’ I have been assessing and refining from the very beginning. Even when I was planning, I went through several ideas, but I only wrote down the ones I thought were worth considering.
I thought about each idea and chose the best one. Then, after writing my stories, I refined them and edited them to make them the best they could be. I did this based on the feeling/message I was trying to give. Since short stories are short, I tried to make each word meaningful and useful.
-‘Recognize an increasing range of text structures and how they contribute to meaning.’ My story, as well as most creative writing, follows Freytag’s Pyramid as a structure. Here is my original plot-line:
However, it is missing the last bit. I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger-type note, without a true resolution. My story explores a variation to the Pyramid structure so that it leaves readers with an impactful ending. It was good for the type of story I was writing because I wanted to leave the ending a little up to the readers’ interpretation.
5. What resources did you find useful during your inquiry and why were they useful? (Cite at least four resources you consulted, with links, and write a brief 25-50 response as to was important to your learning).
I referred to this page for writing tips and do’s and don’ts. It also helped me start writing and have a structured story. This was helpful for my artifact overall.
This was a reminder of the different points of view and how they work best. It helped me pick the points of view I was going to write in and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
This website went into more detail about each of the three different third-person perspectives. After I decided I wanted to write in first- and third-person, I had to choose which third-person.
I wanted to write in the third-person omniscient to make sure I had the most contrast between stories. I haven’t written very much in third-person omniscient before, so this clearly outlined the mistakes that beginning authors make and how to avoid them, as well as other helpful writing tips.
6. What new questions do you have about your inquiry? What motivates you or excites you about these questions?
These are some of the new questions I have:
- What else contributed to the effectiveness of the story? (e.g. length, structure, etc.)
- When I wrote the second story, I already knew exactly where the plot was going and all the little details. Did this affect the final product?
- How would writing the first-person version of the story from Mara’s perspective change the story?
- Since this is a short story, I didn’t include too much about the characters’ backstories. Would it make it better if I went into more detail about the death of their parents?
These questions motivate me because I can see so many ways that I can take my learning further and keep improving the story and my writing overall. I might keep writing and improving the third-person story after ZIP.
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