Adventures in MFA Land

Questions for the author: Answer these questions in general: How do you make yourself want to write? How do you create authentic characters instead of generic ones? How do you keep readers reading? Answer this specifically in regard to the workshop manuscript: What are you looking for feedback/help on? What story/message/etc are you trying to tell? What are you hoping the reader gets from your story? Who do you think your audience would be? Questions for the reader: Overall story experience: How does the title contribute to the story experience? Does the movement of the story feel organic? How does the transformation depict the 5 story elements? Is the story being told or revealed? How does the setting contribute to the overall experience? Character: What do the characters in this story want? Does the story have life such as a transformation in the life of the character? What makes the characters relatable? If not relatable, how does that impact the story? W...

A last blast of summer heat floats in through the open windows, ruffling the multi-colored papers scattered across the narrow conference table. Outside, fire-red leaves rustle. One floats downward. Farther away, students amble past, their chatter slow and quiet because for them the workday is over. Professor New Hire leans forward and pulls their papers closer in, taking another look at the essay printed on green, Essay #3. They’ve already read the piece at least five times, but the grade calibration discussion has stalled so another look is warranted. Directly across the table, Professor X sets an unbitten chocolate cookie on a napkin, taps the table, and glances around. “Would you pass it? Or not?” His question is for everyone. There are seven people around the table. No one replies. Outside a car horn blasts, distant yells and laughter follow. Inside, there are no smiles or laughter, just the click of keyboards and the whisper of pages turning. At the end of the table, Prof ...

corruption and conflict Veronica Lodge, in her Riverdale comic universe, is an easy to anger, spoiled, competitive, ‘daddy’s girl.’ Many Archie comic stories feature her wealthy lifestyle, showing her shopping compulsively or buying her way to success. Her wealth comes through her father, and she does not hesitate to use her charms to get material possessions or access to privilege. In her depiction in the show Riverdale, this dependency on her father forces her to operate within his criminal world. Repeatedly, she attempts to use her understanding of the corrupt world to thwart her father. This cycle can be seen in the manipulations she performs to gain control of businesses such as Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe and La Bonne Nuit. Veronica’s father, Hiram, is an ambitious criminal. Using his money, connections with the local government, and his ties to the mafia, he strives to control Riverdale. His ultimate goal is to monopolize the entire town by purchasing and closing key businesses, such...

confinement, abuse, escape Betty Cooper, in the earlier Riverdale comic universe, is characterized as the sweet, hard-working, girl next door. Many Archie comic stories feature her “tom-boy” side, showing her to be a talented athlete or skilled car mechanic, but most often the circumstances reveal that she is a compassionate girl who puts the needs of others before her own. In her depiction on the show Riverdale, this caring side, a personality trait that is typically admired, is exploited, transformed into a weakness, and used to cause her downfall. This exploitation is emphasized through The Sisters of Quiet Mercy plotline. Until its closure in the middle of Season 3, The Sisters of Quiet Mercy was a residential institution dedicated to reforming the troubled youths of Riverdale. While claiming to aspire to honest and good values, such as hard-work and spiritual devotion, the so-called ‘Sisters’ ran an illegal distillery, used conversion therapy, and gave the resident teens Fizzle Ro...

Research and source use: Research assignments and citations start early in the semester. These assignments include source location and evaluation, summary and response. We write annotations (works cited entry, summary, response). In text citations are introduced before attempting integration. We don’t integrate the sources until the middle of the semester. Work on effective research, source evaluation, and integration continues throughout the semester. For sources, we begin with peer-reviewed and other traditional sources then move to non-traditional sources. Writings: First essay is personal in nature and does not require sources. Skill focus: audience and rhetoric situation.  Topic focus: subculture or social issue. Second requires source use, databases, and scholarly articles. Skill focus: audience rhetoric situation, structure, and thesis. Topic focus: local, state or regional issue. Third requires sources both databases and “non-traditional” sources. New emphasis on Skill focu...

  What's the story behind your latest book? One of my earliest memories is of a cereal box—Super Sugar Crisp, now called Golden Crisp—with an actual, playable cardboard ‘flexi record’ printed on the backside. My mom had just taken the box from the grocery bag, and it sat on the kitchen table, waiting to get stored. At age 4, I was already a music fan and pop culture scholar in the making, so I was both fascinated and excited. Still a preschooler, and so not great with scissors, I enlisted by big sister’s help in cutting the record from the package. I’m guessing the box, missing most of its backside, ended up in the cupboard. The small album, featuring brightly colored images of Archie and the gang, played at 33 1/3 speed and had 4 songs from cartoon band, The Archies, including one of my favorites, the mega-hit,  Sugar, Sugar . The flexi-record stayed on my family’s turntable for at least a day. Which, in little kid time, is forever. Fast forward about two decades, and I...

The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College celebrates the publication of graduate Melissa Ford Lucken's newest book, The Binge Watcher's Guide to Riverdale: An Unofficial Companion from Riverdale Avenue Books. Melissa, as her alias Isabelle Drake , has released many fiction titles, such as Everglades Wildfire, The Invitations Series, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Finally Right, Unfinished Business, and many more.  This title is her first nonfiction book. In a world where binge watching television shows is almost a cultural expectation, it can be difficult to keep track of which character did what five episodes—and seven hours—ago. The online resources don't cut it (spoiler alert!), and your viewing buddies are of no help to you; they're just as lost as you are. Never fear! The Binge Watcher's Guide has got you covered.  Enjoy the first four seasons of CW's hit gothic horror show Riverdale with this book as your unofficial compa...

  Busted families, broken hearts, secrets and corruption are the lifeblood of The CW’s gothic horror series Riverdale . The show is based on the original Archie comics, but this sinister town is a far cry from the wholesome, anyplace USA depicted in 80 years of the teen adventures featuring Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the gang. This Riverdale is an other-worldly, ominous place where enigmatic parents and cunning town leaders hide wicked secrets while teens struggle to survive. The Riverdale gang face the definitive dilemma: good vs. evil. They fight ghouls, a cult leader, a serial killer, and each other—all while sporting inspiring outfits and photo-ready hair. Great music, the occasional Vixens cheer dance-off, and too-steamy-for-high-school sex scenes add an undeniable layer of watchability to the fan-favorite show. This Binge Watcher’s Guide will get you through the first four seasons. Keep the book beside you while binge; the trivia, quotes and episod...

  This is a college text that focuses on the nuts and bolts of academic writing including research, textual analysis, narrative and other inquiry methods as well as analysis. This is an ideal text for first year composition courses. An OER, paperback 5.89, available on Lulu.com.

When a show is titled after the setting, viewers know the setting counts big time. In Riverdale, the place is everything. That wasn’t the case in the classic comic world of Riverdale. That pleasant anyplace serves mainly as a background for the antics and events of Archie and his light-hearted high school gang. It is so unimportant that the writers could create an ever-changing town with museums, airports, and other landmarks that came and went over the decades as the stories needed. As a result, there was no reason for creating a local history to impact the storylines, and the town of Riverdale did little to influence the actions of the characters.    The Riverdale of Riverdale couldn’t be more opposite. The setting of Riverdale itself is the character most changed from the classic comics. This new place is more than a backdrop, it complicates the plotline and motivates the characters. The Gothic setting gives the show a dark edge. Broken families, hearts, and spirits replace...

  Hooper and Quint are opposites of each other in all regards with one exception—their personal relationship to sharks. Both Brody and Quint have self-defining shark narratives.  Hooper’s shark story is revealed at the Brody’s dinner table when Ellen, Brody’s wife, awkwardly says to the just arrived Hooper she’s been told he’s “in sharks.” He confirms that he loves sharks then relates a childhood experience in which a baby thresher shark wrecked the boat he’d been in. He swam to shore and watched the fish finish destroying his boat (0.41.43–0.42.26). This story explains his very personal and emotional connection to sharks.  Quint’s story comes later, at night, while the three of them are aboard the Orca, preparing to face the shark. The captain tells of his time aboard the USS Indianapolis and how, after their ship was hit by a Japanese sub, sharks devoured many of his shipmates (1.29.28–1.33.15).  This famous monologue, another product of the script collaboration as...

  A book of sassy episode summaries, quizzes, trivia, fun and resources. Out April 2021.

When you ask a question, you engage the reader but you cannot control or guide their thinking. The goal of the essay is to control and guide their thinking. I suggest you not use questions. Instead, make statements expressing your points and provide evidence to  support them.