Station Eleven - Sequel Project Proposal

thinking like a novelist

Before you do this step: be sure that you fully understand the entire project. In this step you are going to show that you read those instructions carefully, and to show that you reallly thought about what sort of scene or short chapter would make a compelling sequel or prequel or paraquel (happens at the same time as Mandel's book but to different characters in a different place with a different situation) you imagine. You need to understand the limitations of the assignment, and you need to make sure you have a very tight focus and a sense of some very specific situation or activity or place.

If you are at all unsure, then you want to go back and review The Sequel Project and then return here.

ok, so you're back and ready to go

In addition to having carefully explored the assignment requirements, you should also have looked over any random five-page section of Mandel's book to see just how little can actually be narrated in that short space. You should have thought of what the overall sequel would be about and what the specific scene (imagine a very tense scene or an action-packed scene) is that you want to develop and why. Remember you will start in the middle of some action and end with some sort of cliffhanger. Also you need to have thought about how you will do a very focused research project that relates to the scene, and decided what format (Blogsite? Paper? Something else?) you want to work with to present the sequel.

what you will turn in (and how)

Before you spend a great deal of time on the research, the invention, the writing, you will need to get a Project Proposal APPROVED by me (yes, I will actually write you back "APPROVED" or not; if not, then you will need to revise it until it is APPROVED. Be sure you check the due date on the Class Schedule.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: I will not accept your final project if you have not had the Project Proposal approved. Then things roll down hill in a very unfortunate way--you will not get a score for this 200-point paper; you will not pass the class.

The proposal itself is not hard, but it does require you to have considered your options, to have thoroughly read and understood the project choices. The (short) proposal will be typed in MLA format, and it will include:

• A project title (it can certainly change)

• An overview of your project as you envision it and whether you will be doing this in story form or in comic book form. The final project will only be eight-to-ten pages, so you cannot write more than a short chapter from your sequel. Where will this be set? Will it be happening before the events of Station Eleven? in a different location at the same time? after the events of the first novel? What will the situation be? What characters do you imagine? Really, anything you imagine you can pack into this very short chapter you can mention here (and you can certainly change that as you go along).

• Thoughts on what research you will be doing to help make this story feel real. Novelists do research to "get it right," to make the novel feel authentic. For example, if your story takes place in an old civil defense bunker, what is life like in a bunker? That is what you would have to research. If your characters are afraid they are going to starve because they can't properly maintain their hydroponic garden, well, what really is required to maintain a hydroponic garden? That is what you would have to research.

  IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though you may have to do some research for more than one aspect of your story, your rsearch paper must be on just one of those subjects.

• The last page of your proposal will be an initial Works Cited page (in current MLA format, so you must use the MLA Works Cited Information file on Canvas) showing sources that relate to a situation or a setting you will draw on to make your scene feel real. You need at least three sources for your research paper, and AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE SOURCES MUST BE A BOOK.

  REMEMBER: short sources are not useful; Wikipedia-type sources are not acceptable; if you can get more than one book on your topic, that's even better.

You will e-mail the Project Proposal as an attched Word (.doc, .docx or .rtf) or .pdf file. Once it is APPROVED! you can go on to the next step.

do not rush this and have it returned to you unapproved; that wastes time

Really think thoroughly about the assignment, the requirements of the whole project that this is a proposal for. Be creative, yes, but also be practical. Do not make this huge; be sure it has a point; be sure you can come up with a research paper with a clear/pointed thesis; be sure you develop an exciting (or at least thought-provoking) part of a story that draws readers in and makes them want to read more. It really is a lot to think about.

if i am doing this as a comic book, is there any difference?

Well, not really. The only difference (aside from the method of storytelling) is that you can cover a lot more ground in a comic book. You could have an angry mob, a chase scene, a heroine swooping down with a blast ray (if you were doing the Dr. Eleven comic), and a happy reunion all in those eight-to-ten pages. This means the scope of your research can be larger. You might have the option to research jet packs, particle beam weapons, hull breaches on a space station--lots of things. The trick is, your research paper will be on just one of these topics, tightly focused, very detailed.

For a wholly-written narrative that is limited (for example) to someone trying to break from a quarantine zone in a hospital, the student is pretty much forced into researching quarantine protocol in a hospital. That's less to choose from (which could be a good thing or a bad thing).

you are not alone

Be sure (before you submit a proposal) that you look at the Sample Sequel Proposals in the Files section on Canvas.