Murder Was the Case They Gave Them

One of the reasons I love teaching the collaborative fiction class I'm piloting this term are the wonderfully creative and awkward emails it's creating. In that vein:

Hey group.
Just so you know.  Colton has informed me (Group 3) that they want us to kill off their character in the hit and run.  The only problem is that their character is male.  What do you think?  Can we accommodate them?  Interesting eh? dk 

I love the way students are looking at each other's work in ways that are not merely theoretical, but in the very practical and functional context of creating of their own story and the larger novel it will be a part of. Getting students to understand that they are part of a larger narrative and must care about the other stories they come in contact with is really the aim of any writing course, or literature class for that matter.

However, this hybrid collaboration is really proving to be a very effective environment for producing that kind of insight. Even better, the desire to find it comes not from me or an assignment, but from the students themselves.