I don't know about other people, but FML is where I can escape my overly mundane life.

One time, I saw a guy sitting alone at a diner. I went up to him, grabbed a French fry, dipped it in ketchup, and ate it. I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "go ahead and tell your friends. They'll never believe you." I get the feeling this FML is related.

Why does this remind me of Awkward?

Or that OP cluttered the story with so many dramatic asides and unrelated interactions in her attempt to make it interesting that it was near incomprehensible gibberish.

Twilight?

YES! Another Whovian!

9 I looked at your birthday and I first thought it meant 1900. Then I saw your age of 13 and realized you were born past the 90's. I'm getting old...

YES! Another Pokemon fan!

#9 There are Whovians everywhere!

Teachers these days.

Maybe, but that doesn't mean it can't be somewhat realistic... which I'm guessing that's what the teacher wanted.

I hate a fair amount of teachers that teach some form of liberal arts... If it is not what they are into/are currently doing, they hate it and want you to do what they like, instead of guiding your own ideas. It's nearly impossible to grade art. There will be people that love it and hate it, for anything you do.

no, just because something is a creative story doesnt mean it needs to be super dramatic. it can be exciting and have conflict but it needs to read as natural, regardless (sorry i love this stuff)

I agree with 44. If a story was like, written like this then I could, like, see, like, how the teacher would like, hate the story in a perspective of like, a naïve highschool girl. Drama is good, but there should be a certain balance. You can make a great fiction story with minimum drama.

There are some people who are just not good at creative writing. Just because it is based in reality does not mean the piece will come out good. I have been in countless creative writing classes and clubs and there is always the one person who writes something so convoluted you cannot even figure out what the plot is. Then, when they get to the critique part, they always freak out when someone suggests they cut out 1/2 of the shit-storm.

Even in creative writing a plot has to be realistic as do characters. That doesn't mean the world itself, but the decisions and personalities as well as cultures have to be believable. Not saying OP deserved it because for all we know the story was great and the teacher was just a twat.

Honestly, if you're going to give your students a free form writing assignment, the only thing you should be talking points off for are, grammar errors and spelling mistakes. You don't get to choose what is, or is not, creative. It's like art, it's all about prospective, and symbolism. I don't think a light-bulb on the wall is art, but my framed blank sheet of paper speaks volumes to me.

so many unescessary commas!

Again, even in art you have to follow some principles like with anatomy. Cartoons are just exaggerated proportions, but they still follow the same ratio with body proportions and whatnot.

It was also only 10%, that means on it's own it was already a low B paper. Stupid and unnecessary docking on the teacher's part, but it's not like it was gonna get an A.

No, but an A- would have been a lot better than this.

Oh my bad, I didn't realise it would be a low B. Over here, a 74% would be an extremely high grade. We only go up to 80% at most unis.

Grade inflation to build students' self esteem!

You only go to 80%? What, do the top 20% of grades get added to the bottom students do they can pass too? Or do they just consider 80% perfect as it's the best that can be expected of a student?

48, 80 is basically considered 100%. 40 and less is a fail.

Perhaps a better way to put it is that 80 is equivalent to a 4.0 GPA.

74% would be a C at best in our public school.

This is how my school grades assignments. 90-100 is an A 80-89 is a B 70-79 is a C 60-69 is a D and below that you fail.

I never understood the US and the 'below 60% is a fail'. 50% is halfway, so wouldn't it make more sense for under 50% to be a fail? That's what it is in Canada.

50% is halfway, and a pass in high school, but in many/most post secondary institutions they set the bar a little higher, requiring a 60% to pass. It's more a matter of higher standards than mathematical symmetry.

78 I think some US colleges have the system like that? I could be wrong though.

I understand the higher bar in college/university; my courses required a 70% in each class as well as a cumulative 70% to be a pass for the course, but I've read about assignment grading/exams etc in some places where anything under 60% would be a fail, which doesn't seem fair (and seems randomly arbitrary to me too).

No, that isn't the point. Even creative writing has to be believable not in a literal sense (obviously when you have fantasy genres) but at the same time the characters have to have realistic and believable personalities.