High School English Paper

I had to write a paper for English class, and the teacher had given us three things - a person, an occupation, a place. If I remember right, I had a fisherman, a pilot, and an island. So on the second or third day of writing, I asked the teacher during class how long it could be, since it was supposed to be a "short story." she said it had to be at least two and a half pages. But I asked, again, how LONG it could be. She said no more than 4 pages since it was supposed to be a 'short' story. I told her I'd already written 9 pages, and for some reason she didn't like that. She told me that was more like a novel and she made me shorten it to at least 7.

I went home and worked on shortening my story to her max of 7 pages, all the while complaining to myself that 7 pages is not enough room for a story, and published 'short stories' were between 75 and 200 - not that I was ever going to make mine that long, but still.

So after we had finished all the editing and stuff in class and turned in our papers, mom wanted to read it. I told her I'd already turned it in, but i printed off another copy and for her to read. after reading it, mom and dad sat me down and gave me a lecture about plagiarisms, saying that I couldn't write like that and that I'd copied it from the author I'd been reading at the time, Clive Cussler or somewhere.

So to prove that I hadn't, and that it was my writing style, they proposed I sit down and write another one under their supervision.

So I did.

And I proved that it HAD been my work. they apologized by buying me a movie I wanted. the second Lord of the Rings on DVD. that worked for me. So my parents obviously had a high opinion of my writing, I liked that story, and I thought the teacher was somewhat impressed with my writing more than just the minimum number of pages...

But when I got my paper back, I had gotten a 72 on it. Only three points above failing. She said I had weak grammar, a bad plot line, and that I shouldn't have ended it on such a mysterious note because it didn't give the reader any solid ending to close on. She also said it was too long. When I had printed it after making a few changes, it had ended up being 7 pages and about 4 or 5 lines on the 8th page...

So, needless to say... didnt really like that teacher after that.