Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

English

Additional Departmental Affiliation

School of Journalism and Broadcasting

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

According to editor Alan Rinzler, “Short story collections are big business. Thousands of anthologies are in print with many more published each year. A quick look at Amazon shows 29,000 story collections listed.” Rinzler estimates that 3,500 of these are single-author collections. (Rinzler, 2009)[1]. With all of those short stories in print, it is no wonder that short story writing remains the focus of many university-level creative writing courses. Short stories are relatively quick and easy to read, and many are filled with insight, meaning, and some thrilling twists. Over the course of my college career, I have written numerous short stories, and it is my aim to bring them together in a short story collection for my Capstone Experience/Thesis project, and to display the growth of my craft over the course of the past four years at Western Kentucky University. The stories vary in length and genre, but share the general theme of the past. These stories revolve around characters who experience varying ties of bondage to their own personal pasts, family histories, and the stories of those who have come before them. I hope to create meaningful and entertaining fiction that will challenge readers to think about issues such as family relationships, love, and friendship, while examining what it means to be tethered to the past.

[1] Rinzler, Alan. "Why book publishers love short stories." alanrinzler.com. Alan Rinzler, 12 Oct. 2009. Web.

2 Sept. 2013.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Tom Hunley

Disciplines

Creative Writing

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