Fiction Commons^™

Friends In Fiction: Bonding With Fictional Characters Introduced Through Fictional Narrative Positively Affects And Interplays With The Psychology And Social Behaviors Of Adults To Influence Engagement, Vishnupriya Alavala

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Just as people can form relationships with each other, they can befriend and interact with characters. As broadening media outlets continue to introduce fictional characters, it is vital to understand the effects relationships with characters, referred to as parasocial phenomena, have on individuals. In turn, this will offer a new perspective on the effects of engaging with fiction. Bonding with fictional characters introduced through television or print narratives affects and interplays with the psychology and social behaviors of adults. Most studies support the positive effects of parasocial phenomena in terms of personality, mindset, and social skills. Other studies state that …

Snapshots Of A Fictional Past: Photographic Nostalgia In The Early 20th Century Art Novel., Harry A. Jones Iv

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that the proliferation of a mass codependent relationship with nostalgia in the twentieth century shares a parallel history with the widespread adoption of the reproducible image being used by collective audiences as a supplement for natural memory, or what Proust names “voluntary memory.” This conflict between nostalgia-hungry consumers and artists inspired groups such as Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secessionists and artistically minded authors like Henry James, who employed increasingly complex photographic and literary practices to resist the images’ tendency to debase the aesthetic quality of their own work. Authors such as Marcel Proust and William Faulkner used …

Dungeons And Devised Theatre: A Study Of Tabletop Gaming And Its Application In Playwriting And Character Development, Sabrina E. Becker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the connections and application of tabletop gaming in theatre. It looks at the initial process that was used in devising a play from tabletop gaming and also the applications of using tabletop gaming to further character development. This paper serves as a journal of first-hand accounts and interviews during this process so you may be inspired to build your own process either based in what you read here or discovering your own. There is a sample excerpt of the play to show what can be accomplished as well as other artistic works that came …

Robert Catherine, Sarah Nelson Rupp

Theses and Dissertations

Robert Catherine is an experimental augmented reality novel engaged in the speculative realist question: What is the point to anything if everything?

A perverted and downwardly mobile Richmond millennial man quarantined because of the Coronavirus writes a series of creative non-fiction essays for his girlfriend about suicide, panic attacks, ADHD, DNA testing, capitalism, depression, and sexual repression.

The Naked, Running, Screaming Girl, Norman Miller

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

Unable to sleep, an old veteran of Vietnam spends his time and money in a bar, where he meets the perfect person to listen to him.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and …

Oj, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

On his first leave from Vietnam, a soldier visits his brother, an All-American placekicker for the USC Trojans before their 1967 game with Notre Dame, and meets OJ Simpson.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so …

Quang Tri Rain, Larry Meier

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A Vietnam vet waits for another soldier in his therapy group to open up.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Aftermath, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

On his first day in the Vietnamese bush, a soldier takes upon himself to recover the body of a fallen comrade.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

No Longer Home, Douglas L. Thomas

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A father and his wife struggle to adapt to their son just home from the long War on Terrorism.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Articles, stories, and other …

Don't Take 'No' For An Answer, Beth Liechti

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

Two veterans, an retired Army officer and a World War II Women's Army Corp veteran. find common ground in the bonds of shared military service.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience …

Collateral Damage, Pat Clark

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A quick glimpse by a combat LT of his first firefight in Vietnam.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Detected, Christopher Knaggs

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A Navy sub commander plays hide-and-seek with a Soviet sub.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Greater Love, Pat Clark

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

When a grenade falls into the midst of this LT’s squad in Vietnam, one soldier leaps to action.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Good Game, Greyory Blake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis and its corresponding art installation, Lessons from Ziggy, attempts to deconstruct the variables prevalent within several complex systems, analyze their transformations, and propose a methodology for reasserting the soap box within the display pedestal. In this text, there are several key and specific examples of the transformation of various signifiers (i.e. media-bred fear’s transformation into a political tactic of surveillance, contemporary freneticism’s transformation into complacency, and community’s transformation into nationalism as a state weapon). In this essay, all of these concepts are contextualized within the exponential growth of new technologies. That is to say, all of these semiotic …

What Did You Do In The War?, Charles Krumbein

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A young Army lawyer has to stop an officer from executing protesting soldiers.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Thunder Iii, David M. Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

The awesome power of a military convoy in Vietnam can also be a danger.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Shirley, Kathleen Harrison

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A marine colonel recalls her best friend, murdered by her veteran husband.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Color Red, Dan Thompson

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A young veteran gets a call from Special Forces to come back to the Vietnam War.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The Execution Of Private Mcguffin, Clay Mountcastle

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A fictional take on the discipline meted out by a cavalry unit fighting on the Great Plains.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Emphasizing Common Childhood Anxieties In Children’S Fantasy: An Analysis Of The Illustrations In Matilda And Charlotte’S Web, Ellie Erhart

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

In children’s literature, illustrations are just as important to story as a book’s text; illustrations contribute to the overall tone of the story and to the way readers interpret its events.

Bender, Jess Lockhart

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A combat officer struggles with his memory of a soldier in Vietnam he feels he let down.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Guardian Angel, Robert H. Waldruff

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A badly wounded Marine has his life saved at the last moment, by an almost miraculous guardian angel.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Rain, Richard H. Geisel

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

In eloquent tones, a young soldier walks point: “Fatigues glued to my skin, rain of a thousand years, I am sitting on my helmet, towel around my neck, a Cambodian green rubber sheet covering me.”

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories …

Witch 54 Flight, Marcy Atwood

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

An Air Force colonel pilot faces an emergency on her refueling plane and saves the day.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The Eyes, Glenn Miscikowski

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A young soldier’s father and friends take him hunting, where he confronts the violence of the war behind him.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Quirt Alerts!, Randy Harritan

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

In Vietnam, a soldier's live is saved on point by his heroic dog.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Crispy Critters And Earning Your Stripes, Steve Tedder

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A sergeant in Vietnam leads his squad to recover the bodies from a downed chopper.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The Color Of Memory: Reimagining The Antebellum South In Works By James Mcbride Through The Use Of Free Indirect Discourse, Janel L. Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the use of interior narrative techniques such as free indirect discourse and internal monologue in two of James McBride’s neo-slave narratives, Song Yet Sung (2008) and The Good Lord Bird (2013). Very limited critical attention has been given to these neo-slave narratives that illustrate McBrides attention to characterization and focalized narration. In these narratives McBride builds upon the revelations he explores in his bestselling memoir, The Color of Water (1996, 2006), where he learns to disassociate race and character. What he discovers about not only his mother, but also himself, inspires his re-imagination of the people who …

Speed And Resolution In The Age Of Technological Reproducibility, Shawn Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

The rate of acceleration of the biologic and synthetic world has for a while now, been in the process of exponentially speeding up, maxing out servers and landfills, merging with each other, destroying each other. The last prehistoric relics on Earth are absorbing the same oxygen, carbon dioxide and electronic waves in our biosphere as us. A degraded .jpeg enlarged to full screen on a Samsung 4K UHD HU8550 Series Smart TV - 85” Class (84.5” diag.). Within this composite ecology, the ancient limestone of the grand canyon competes with the iMax movie of itself, the production of Mac pros, …

The Editorial Double Vision Of Maxwell Perkins: How The Editor Of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, And Wolfe Plied His Craft, Rachel F. Van Hart

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars and literary enthusiasts have struggled for decades to account for editor Maxwell Perkins’s unparalleled success in facilitating the careers of many of the early twentieth century’s most enduring and profitable writers, among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe. This study seeks to penetrate that mystery by dissecting Perkins’s editorial practice and examining how he navigated the competing tensions between commercial success and aesthetic integrity in various circumstances. At play in the construction of his literary legacy are prevailing perceptions of authorship, complex interpersonal relationships, and the inherent battle between art and commerce. Focusing on his day-to-day …