“Almost Astronauts”: Short Stories

"ALMOST ASTRONAUTS": SHORT STORIES Laura I. Miller, B.A.

Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2012

APPROVED: Barbara Rodman, Major Professor Ann McCutchan, Committee Member Bonnie Friedman, Committee Member David Holdeman, Chair of the

Department of English James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the

Toulouse Graduate School

Miller, Laura I. "Almost Astronauts": Short Stories. Master of Arts (English - Creative Writing), May 2012, 65 pp., works cited, 11 titles.

In this collection of short stories, I abduct experiences from my own life and take them on an imaginative journey. I experiment with elements of structure and point of view, often incorporating the magical or surreal to amplify the narrator's internal landscape. As demonstrated in the title story, "Almost Astronauts," these stories all deal with a sudden and sometimes destructive shift in the narrator's perspective.

Copyright 2012 by

Laura I. Miller

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

PART I: METHODS OF DETACHMENT IN THE WRITING PROCESS Method 1: The Counterpoint Character ................................................................ 5 Method 2: Imposed Structure ............................................................................... 8 Method 3: Magical Objects ................................................................................. 11 Method 4: The Grand Metaphor ......................................................................... 13 Works Cited ........................................................................................................ 18

PART II: ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: SHORT STORIES Perspective, Inc .................................................................................................. 20 Almost Astronauts .............................................................................................. 28 Sleep Walking..................................................................................................... 45 Locust St. Circus ................................................................................................ 53

iii

PART I METHODS OF DETACHMENT IN THE WRITING PROCESS

1

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download