My starting point for this course is simple:

I have a story idea. The working title is 'Stealth Students'.

Origin? Some former students complained that they spent so much classroom time waiting around, doing nothing while the teacher was managing or mismanaging behaviors or completing mindless busy work.

There was also the usual time lost waiting for the rest of the class to get ready to leave for recess or lunch.

Well, you get the idea...

I launched into the ol' 'what if?' mode…What if students took it upon themselves to fill that lost time with their own activities they were actually interested in? And what if their initiative attracted allies [adults!] throughout the school?

Well, the plot will proceed from there.

So I'll be referring to Stealth Students throughout this course.

I hope you bring to this course your own notion of a story you want to pursue.

And, with that initial idea, you will use this course to develop it into a set of scenes, characters, and, (if you follow the 'foolscap method' [Lecture #2]) a theme that will launch you into a more fulfilling first draft.

Good luck and, by all means, add comments and questions at the end of each lecture.