Pre-Assignments for Algonkian Retreat March 2022 by Debi Preston
Story Statement: A brand new professor struggles to prove that her new college is functioning with exactly zero students when she uncovers the disturbing motive behind the conspiracy.
Mount Olympus College has been functioning for three years without a single student—is that a problem? It is for a new assistant professor when she discovers why.
Antagonist: The primary antagonist is the President of Mount Olympus College, who is involved in some kind of sinister activity that requires him to keep the college going in order to embezzle money and to maintain possession of the president’s house (which holds some kind of secret). Another antagonist is a right wing conspiracist who poses as an ICE agent in an effort to track undocumented students at the community college and who ends up kidnapping the DEI vice president at the state university, who is also not a nice person. (This is very vague, but I’m working out the details.)
Breakout Titles:
·Summa Inlaudatus
·Pass/Fail
·(Un)Satisfactory Academic Progress
Genre and Comparables: Academic Satire
·Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
·The Lecturer’s Tale by James Hynes
Aspirational:
·Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
·Small World by David Lodge
·Moo by Jane Smiley
·Straight Man by Richard Russo
Hookline (Conflict and Core Wound)
Mount Olympus College has been functioning for three years without a single student—is that a problem? It is for a new assistant professor when she discovers why.
A brand new professor struggles to prove that her new college is functioning with exactly zero students, but she soon finds a tangled web of danger and deceit that reaches well beyond her own institution.
Inner Conflict
Assistant Professor Selena Parva is bewildered and conflicted when she discovers that no (as in zero) students attend the college at which she has just been hired. On the one hand, everyone seems either oblivious to or satisfied with the status quo, and she could certainly get a great deal of research and publishing done with no students to teach. On the other hand, she actually cares about students, and her natural penchant for logic and sanity tells her that something is very, very wrong. Will she do more harm than good by exposing the lie, or the other way around?
One example of an early internal conflict is when Selena corners Jeff, the almost- elderly groundskeeper, in an attempt to verify that there are no students on campus. Jeff explains that he is 11 months from retiring and collecting his pension and is therefore willing to assume that all the students are either in their dorms sleeping or in the library studying. Selena worries that exposing the charade will harm innocent employees like Jeff and waffles in her resolve.
Later in the story, Selena will be struggling not only with worry and guilt, but also with fear and anxiety as she discovers more (and more disturbing) information.
Secondary Conflict
A secondary conflict for Selena will be in her relationship with Andy, her “trailing” partner who is adjunct teaching at the local community college. Andy thinks Selena is developing romantic feelings for Ronald, the colleague who is helping with the conspiracy investigation, but Selena has sworn not to reveal Ronald’s sexual identity b/c it would jeopardize his employment at the highly conservative college.
Setting
This novel has three settings with several sub-settings each. The town in which the colleges are located is the super-setting, I suppose?
·Small Private College (Mount Olympus)—nearly empty but functioning, with scenes taking place in the English department, on the quad, in the provost’s office, in the president’s house.
·Local Community College (Spartan)—chaotic and bustling, with scenes taking place in the office of the student affairs dean, in Andy’s classroom, and ???
·Regional State University (Titan)—Starbucks, campus book store (where important student character, Miles, works), Miles’ dorm, office of the DEI vice president
·Locations in Town—Selena and Andy’s apartment, basement where right wing nutters meet, and ???
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Pre-Assignments for Algonkian Retreat March 2022 by Debi Preston
Story Statement: A brand new professor struggles to prove that her new college is functioning with exactly zero students when she uncovers the disturbing motive behind the conspiracy.
Mount Olympus College has been functioning for three years without a single student—is that a problem? It is for a new assistant professor when she discovers why.
Antagonist: The primary antagonist is the President of Mount Olympus College, who is involved in some kind of sinister activity that requires him to keep the college going in order to embezzle money and to maintain possession of the president’s house (which holds some kind of secret). Another antagonist is a right wing conspiracist who poses as an ICE agent in an effort to track undocumented students at the community college and who ends up kidnapping the DEI vice president at the state university, who is also not a nice person. (This is very vague, but I’m working out the details.)Breakout Titles:
· Summa Inlaudatus
· Pass/Fail
· (Un)Satisfactory Academic Progress
Genre and Comparables: Academic Satire· Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
· The Lecturer’s Tale by James Hynes
Aspirational:
· Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
· Small World by David Lodge
· Moo by Jane Smiley
· Straight Man by Richard Russo
Hookline (Conflict and Core Wound)
Mount Olympus College has been functioning for three years without a single student—is that a problem? It is for a new assistant professor when she discovers why.
A brand new professor struggles to prove that her new college is functioning with exactly zero students, but she soon finds a tangled web of danger and deceit that reaches well beyond her own institution.
Inner Conflict
Assistant Professor Selena Parva is bewildered and conflicted when she discovers that no (as in zero) students attend the college at which she has just been hired. On the one hand, everyone seems either oblivious to or satisfied with the status quo, and she could certainly get a great deal of research and publishing done with no students to teach. On the other hand, she actually cares about students, and her natural penchant for logic and sanity tells her that something is very, very wrong. Will she do more harm than good by exposing the lie, or the other way around?
One example of an early internal conflict is when Selena corners Jeff, the almost- elderly groundskeeper, in an attempt to verify that there are no students on campus. Jeff explains that he is 11 months from retiring and collecting his pension and is therefore willing to assume that all the students are either in their dorms sleeping or in the library studying. Selena worries that exposing the charade will harm innocent employees like Jeff and waffles in her resolve.
Later in the story, Selena will be struggling not only with worry and guilt, but also with fear and anxiety as she discovers more (and more disturbing) information.
Secondary ConflictA secondary conflict for Selena will be in her relationship with Andy, her “trailing” partner who is adjunct teaching at the local community college. Andy thinks Selena is developing romantic feelings for Ronald, the colleague who is helping with the conspiracy investigation, but Selena has sworn not to reveal Ronald’s sexual identity b/c it would jeopardize his employment at the highly conservative college.
Setting
This novel has three settings with several sub-settings each. The town in which the colleges are located is the super-setting, I suppose?
· Small Private College (Mount Olympus)—nearly empty but functioning, with scenes taking place in the English department, on the quad, in the provost’s office, in the president’s house.
· Local Community College (Spartan)—chaotic and bustling, with scenes taking place in the office of the student affairs dean, in Andy’s classroom, and ???
· Regional State University (Titan)—Starbucks, campus book store (where important student character, Miles, works), Miles’ dorm, office of the DEI vice president
· Locations in Town—Selena and Andy’s apartment, basement where right wing nutters meet, and ???