the sought after person, the prize, the Holy Grail. In terms of the Old Testament Bible, the Jewish people are the Princess; in terms of the New Testament, the Church is the Princess.

Villain – The villain doesn’t necessarily need to be human. The villain can be any natural catastrophe – fire, flood, earthquake, drought, global warning, a falling asteroid, an invasion of aliens from outer space, but you’ll have a much more interesting story if your villain is human. Don’t make your villain an incarnation of pure evil. Always remember that the villain is the flip side of the hero. If you want to create a believable villain, give him or her heroic qualities. If you want to write a tragedy, simply use the hero’s story functions and write from the point of view of the villain, but with this caveat: the tragic hero must always lose. In Islamic countries, Osama Bin Laden is a hero, with capitalism, democracy, freedom, and the USA as the great villains. Villains in the old testament (aside from Satan) are pagan polytheistic religions who worship female deities, and various empires (Egypt,

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Expectations:
I expect you to attend every class and contribute to our discussions. I expect you to write at least 30 double-spaced pages of fiction during the semester. I expect you to have one highly polished and publishable story finished by the end of the semester.

Grading:
participation - 34%
quantity - 33%
quality - 33%

Class Structure: We meet for one hour three times a week. For the first third of the course, I'll do some lecturing on forms and structure on Mondays, indulge in extensive brainstorming sessions on Wednesdays, and on Fridays workshop some of the early assignments and meet with each one of you to discuss your progress. The second third of the course, we'll workshop your material twice a week. I'll meet with each of you again. The last third of the course, we'll workshop all three days. I'll again conference with you about your final story.

(Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Rome); villains in the new testament (aside from Satan) are Jews and Romans. In dramatic terminology, the villain is usually called the antagonist.

Hero – The hero is the character we follow through the story. The hero can be high, middle, or low, whatever those terms mean to you, but it’s best to write about middle or low heroes. The hero begins in innocence (he or she is naive or just plain stupid) and learns, through experience, how to defeat the villain at his or her own game. Heroes in the old testament are kings and prophets; heroes in the new testament are Christ and the apostles. In dramatic terminology, the hero is usually called the protagonist.

Donor – The donor is the old man out in the shack in the forest, the hermit in the desert, the guru at the top of the mountain, the blind homeless person under the bridge in a cardboard box, the genius in the lab, the teacher in the classroom, the lawyer