Moonstone Narrative: a creative assignment "The Supposed Gates of Somnauth, in the Arsenal of the Fort of Agra ," 1872

This Moonstone narrative assignment should grow out of the in-class sketchbook exercises. By completing the sketchbook exercises, you will have developed the writing skills that will be the basis for this longer written assignment called the Moonstone narrative.

In order to write the narrative, you will pick a minor character from the novel THE MOONSTONE and write a narrative for this character. You will decide on an appropriate format for your character's narrative (a set of letters, a diary, etc.) You will also select the place in the novel where you think that character's narrative should appear. Finally, you will include your sketchbook exercises with an appended epilogue that explains your reasoning and decisionmaking on the criteria listed below.

Ideally, you should keep your character in mind when reading the novel and discussing it in class. You should also have marked any passages that involve or relate to your character. Now is the time to start pulling together these ideas into a coherent narrative. Here are some suggestions:

1. Think about your character's perspective on the events surrounding the theft and recovery of the Diamond. Review those passages in which your character is involved.

2. Figure out the main thing your character can contribute t the solution to the mystery. Is it an important clue? Characterization of an individual closely involved in the mystery? Is it to create a mood of suspicion or suspense? Perhaps your character could supply some misleading, or red herring, clues.

3. Decide whether your character will be a reliable or unreliable narrator. Remember that an unreliable narrator may deceive or mislead the reader either purposely or unwittingly.

4. Find a voice that fits your character. If your character has any bits of dialogue in the novel, study them carefully.

5. Consider what narrative form (what kind of document) would be most appropriate for your character to use--a diary? a letter? an account book?

6. Consider where in the overall organization of the novel your character's narrative should appear. Think about the effect it would have on a reader if placed in different positions. Perhaps your narrative will supply an important clue at just the right time. Perhaps you will mislead the reader with a mistaken characterization (if your narrator is unreliable). Perhaps your character will supply some much-needed comic relief at a point of tension in the novel.

7. Try to get inside the skin and mind of your character as you write so that you can see the world--and describe it--the way that person would.

The criteria I will keep in mind when grading your Moonstone narrative are these:

• choice and development of character
  accurate memory of the circumstances surrounding the Moonstone's theft

  document form appropriate to character and revelation

  appropriate suggestion about where to position your narrative in the novel

  clever use of the device of verisimilitude

  thoughtfulness of observations in your epilogue

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