Genre: Fiction

Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey, a new documentary directed by Pippa Ehrlich, who won an Oscar for My Octopus Teacher, chronicles the rescue of a pangolin from wildlife traffickers in South Africa. In one sense, the film is about the progression of a baby pangolin named Kulu who learns skills such as foraging, gains a healthy amount of weight, and heals from his trauma before being set free in the wild. But another rescue enters the story as Gareth Thomas, a middle-aged man with a troubled past, volunteers for a nonprofit pangolin center and finds meaning in his life after spending over a year rehabilitating and eventually letting go of Kulu. Write a short story in which your main character is on a rescue mission and ends up being healed or redeemed in an unexpected way. What are the obstacles along the way that provide moments of comedy, suspense, or pathos?

In his introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2019, guest editor Anthony Doerr lists several dos and don’ts one often hears about writing short stories and describes his love for reading and writing stories that break those very rules. Some of the rules Doerr mentions are: “Don’t start with a character waking up. Jump right into the action. Exposition is boring. Backstory slows you down. Stick with a single protagonist. Make sure he or she is likable. Don’t break up chronology.” This week, think carefully about the reasoning behind one of these oft-cited rules, then write a story that explicitly goes against it. How can the incorporation of an aspect of experimentation or innovation effectively push against the possibly clichéd rationale behind the original rule?