Keywords

Fiction, creative writing, thesis, short story

Abstract

Trade Secrets is a collection of fourteen short stories that explores characters falling in and out of relationships and coping in unusual and even comedic ways. These characters are often obsessive and do not trust one another. They think life is funny, and discover that love is funny, and yeah, sex can be funny too. They don’t feel the right things when they’re supposed to. They find love, and lose love. They find hope, and lose hope. They escape sometimes, but more often are unable to go anywhere. These stories consider relationships through the disconnection between reality and fantasy, exploring how the lines between illusion and actuality can become blurred. A young boy fantasizes about running on the wind; teenagers pretend to be werewolves; twenty-somethings obsess about potential love affairs, dreams, and the possibility of escape. There is a driving curiosity behind these characters, a desire to figure one another out—a desire to learn the other’s secret. Trade secrets are insider information after all, and must be earned. These characters are all earning the right to hold their own trade secrets and, when the time is right, sharing that information with whomever is willing to listen.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Hubbard, Susan

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

Creative Writing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004273

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004273

Language

English

Release Date

5-15-2017

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Arts and Humanities -- Dissertations, Academic, Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Humanities

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