/lit/ - Literature

This is the anchor post for all rhino prompt stories. If you want feedback but have nothing for review then take the time to practice your writing with this prompt from a few threads back.

A big game hunter is wrapping up a tour in Africa. The hunter comes across an endangered white rhino, possibly the last rhino still living in the wild. The hunter discovers that (a) poacher/s are in the area. The hunter decides to protect the rhino. Write a short story from 500-5000 words (or more if you want) about this event.

Bonus goals:
1. Write the story in the style of Hemingway. Study his writing style and short stories and translate that into your own work.
2. Make the white rhino a symbol in the same vein as Moby Dick. It can be anything, but present this without directly telling the reader what the symbol means.
3. Humanize the poacher/s. Though it is easy to hate, it is harder to sympathize. Consider John Gardner's (who's books on writing are in the OP) critique of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath , "Witness Steinbeck's failure in The Grapes of Wrath. It should have been one of America's great books...[S]teinbeck wrote not a great and firm novel but a disappointing melodrama in which complex good is pitted against unmitigated, unbelievable evil." (You don't have to agree with Gardner, but the critique is relevant to our purpose)
4. Make this story, which easily fits the archetype of drama, thriller, or action, a comedy, satire, or romance tale (please don't romance the rhino, unless you really want to, this one is for you to practice romcom anon)
5. Have a segment of the story, a prologue or even an epilogue that is written from a perspective that does not belong to the hunter. In The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Hemingway, Ernest briefly takes the perspective of the lion being hunted, try to do something similar with any of the characters you create.
6. Play with the time period and the framing. This idea was originally a shift in perspective of a sci-fi story about the preservation of a sentient virus by a doctor brought into a quarantine environment. I retooled the narrative when I found that people couldn't show sympathy for a sci-fi virus to something that people easily express sympathy for. Take this prompt and turn it into a similar story from the future or past. A cave man finds the last dinosaur, an alien finds the last human, a true A.I is accidentally created and the scientist responsible attempts to save it from destruction. Be creative.

Has anyone made progress on their stories? Feel free ask for help or discuss difficulties you're having with the process.

Don't forget to have fun while you write anons, and good luck.

>>16810449
Alright anons, I'm back again and ready to critique. If you want dialogue check-ups, end-notes, line edits, rewrites, or narrative advice I'll be here.

If want feedback but have nothing for review then take the time to practice your writing with this prompt from a thread or two ago.

A big game hunter is wrapping up a tour in Africa. The hunter comes across an endangered white rhino, possibly the last wild one the world. The hunter discovers that (a) poacher/s are in the area. The hunter decides to protect the rhino. Write a short story from 500-5000 words (or more if you want) about this event.

Bonus goals:
1. Write the story in the style of Hemingway. Study his writing style and short stories and translate that into your own work.
2. Make the white rhino a symbol in the same vein as Moby Dick. It can be anything, but present this without directly telling the reader what the symbol means.
3. Humanize the poacher/s. Though it is easy to hate, it is harder to sympathize. Consider John Gardner's (who's books on writing are in the OP) critique of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath , "Witness Steinbeck's failure in The Grapes of Wrath. It should have been one of America's great books...[S]teinbeck wrote not a great and firm novel but a disappointing melodrama in which complex good is pitted against unmitigated, unbelievable evil." (You don't have to agree with Gardner, but the critique is relevant to our purpose)
4. Make this story, which easily fits the archetype of drama, thriller, or action, a comedy, satire, or romance tale (please don't romance the rhino, unless you really want to, this one is for you to practice romcom anon)
5. Have a segment of the story, a prologue or even an epilogue that is written from a perspective that does not belong to the hunter. In The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Hemingway, Ernest briefly takes the perspective of the lion being hunted, try to do something similar with any of the characters you create.
6. Play with the time period and the framing. This idea was originally a shift in perspective of a sci-fi story about the preservation of the life of a sentient virus by a doctor brought into a quarantine environment. I retooled the narrative when I found that people couldn't show sympathy for a sci-fi virus to something that people easily express sympathy for. Take this prompt and turn it into a similar story from the future or past. A cave man finds the last dinosaur, an alien finds the last human, a true A.I is accidentally created and the scientist responsible attempts to save it from destruction. Be creative.

Don't forget to have fun while you write anons, and good luck.