Tell a
story about something that happened to you recently. Notice how you use the
elements you’re reading about … character development, sequence of events,
pace, conflict, point of view, resolution, etc. How does your use of these
items affect the story?
My
neighbor, Pete, stopped by the other day to talk about the jam and jellies I
make. At Christmas time, I had made gift
baskets for my neighbors that included some of my jams and jellies among other
things. He bought a few more jars of some
of the ones they liked best, the Triple Berry being their favorite. Pete is a “City Boy” and went on and on about
the fact that there are still people out there who make homemade jams. He was quite animated, talking with his hands
as well, in asking about how I make jam and if I can make specialty jams. I told him I am always willing to try new
things. He’d told me a story about some
cherry-jalapeno jam that his mother-in-law had bought for him and his
wife. He said although they like it well
enough, they weren’t fans of cherry.
Pete and his wife Andi wanted me to make them a Triple-berry Jalapeno
jam. I told him I’d give it a shot.
The
following week, I had some time so I thought I’d work on this recipe. I picked up some jalapeno peppers at the
grocery. I had berries in the
freezer. I had already researched
various jams and jellies with jalapenos in them. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t
finding any recipes with a mix of berries in them so I was totally winging
this. I made a small batch of the jam,
processed it in the jars and waited.
I am
not a fan of jalapenos in general but I don’t like to share any of my products
without knowing what they taste like. When
I had finally worked up the nerve to taste it, I was surprised that the jam had
a little bit of a bite but not too much.
The spice wasn’t overpowering.
Even when we eat at a Mexican restaurant, I appreciate spice as long as
it isn’t made so hot just for the sake of being hot. The jam was an interesting flavor, you could
pick up the spice and the berry flavors and I think they mixed nicely.
When I
took a sample jar to Pete, he immediately opened it and grabbed a spoon. In between bites, he’s excitedly telling me
how good it is. I told him I wasn’t sure
on the spice level and needed his opinion before I made more. He tells me that “It’s great for regular
people but, we’re from Arizona and we’d love to see more heat in it!” At which time, his wife steps in and just
looked at him. Between bites, he says “Hi,
honey, do you want a taste?” Andi replied
“you could make some biscuits or toast or something”. Pete just said “It’s great from the spoon!”
as they both laughed. In this short
conversation, Pete has eaten half the jar of jam.
It’s
fulfilling to see something appreciated that I made. To them, it’s just a jar of jam. To me, it’s my creation. And I truly love sharing that with people!
In
thinking about how the items we are learning about affect the story, if I hadn’t
set up the character in who was Pete, the story would be confusing. Without the sequence of events, such as
mentioning giving the gift baskets at Christmas, Pete coming back for more jam
wouldn’t have made sense. I think that
conflict (he wanted Triple-berry jalapeno jam) and resolution (he got Triple-berry
jalapeno jam) were both handled in a way that kept the story from bogging down.
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