Thinking about "Happy Endings"

Perhaps as a way to demonstrate how plot works to shape a piece of fiction, Margaret Atwood wrote this humorous piece of inter-connected plot pieces. I am going to be talking about plot as a writer's tool at UCDE on Tuesday, and I thought I must share a link to Atwood's story. Here it begins:

John and Mary meet.
What happens next?
If you want a happy ending, try A.

Read the rest of "Happy Endings" here.

After you read, challenge yourself and write a short piece of metafiction (it should be a story that talks about stories in some way, could even sound like a lesson on how to write stories or certain aspects of stories). Why do this? Because you can, and you have the time to do so. Who knows, you may actually end up producing an award-winning piece. Just like that.