Strange prof, need help from writers

Posted this on /r9k/ too. Don't know if we can discuss writing here, so this may be the wrong place:

Okay, not a writer here (studying history). My English professor wants us to do an assignment in which we help contribute these small stories into a larger story that is being written by this club or something. The thing will be published in the university newspaper/magazine/whatever and we're going to analyze these world of characters and how they can relate to each other (since they all connect to this central backbone story). So basically, we're given a 'character outline' of these characters he made up by himself and he wants us to expand on that character by giving him an interesting backstory. He also wants us to make him/her a dynamic character who changes by learning a lesson. What's more, the story have a really fucking short word limit. Implementing 'morals' into an incredibly short story. How do you think this is possible?

These are my character outlines:
- middle class, can be of any race, MUST be male, can live in any city
- helpful and friendly (fuck I hate these kinds of people). Isn't a 'leader' but overachieves to be useful to others
- fascist and controlling, wants people to not harm themselves, conservative and against individual rights
- young, can be of any age below 25 but above 18, so can be a college student, a graduate, a college dropout, high school student, etc.
- fate is ambiguous in the end (however I'm thinking about making him have a 'good end' and obtain a job to help others)
[will li¬st the details in my next post]

The problem is getting specific details to his backstory, and fleshing out those details in as short as detail as possible. Briefly, these are my ideas so far:

-The man is in his 20s, 1st person point of view. The story is more of a daily life relatable story rather than an epic with tragic deaths and shit (though I could make it that, but I’ve written a few stories like that and I want to try something new)
-In his childhood, he saw a guy volunteering in his city by raking leaves. He found out that the man did this because he said it’s “Never too late to give back to your community” after he killed his wife through his reckless second hand smoking (I’m a smoker though, but this is from the character’s viewpoint, and I saw the character as a guy who would be against smoking). The character is startled and can’t forgive the man for looking so pathetic. He hates how people makes mistakes and builds up a mindset to ‘control’ people. (I’m having trouble with this part. Why would my character get so worked up by some random guy? Should I make the man closer to him? Like, a relative?)
-The character joins his student government in middle school to control people so that they don’t make mistakes. (I’m trying to find a motive here…. What ‘mistakes’ does he want to avoid?) Eventually, he finds he can’t control everyone and he falls from his position of power, devastated at his lack of control. His life takes a toll when he becomes alienated by people for his controlling attitude/inability to deal with them all and he becomes an average basement dweller (still thinking about this.)

-Later he meets a smart kid much younger than him, who is a friend’s kid that he watches over. He discovers the kid is struggling in math because he wants to overachieve and be like his brothers, who were math geniuses. The main character begins to tell the kid that he shouldn’t be what he can’t be and should do what he is good at (poetry?) During this time the main character realizes that his place in the world isn’t to be at the top, but to be with ‘the people’. He realizes that he wants to change people’s lives by seeing the humane side of people. He’d grabbed too many lives, when in reality he should’ve only been trying to reach out to a few. The main character sees himself as a person who works on a one to one basis with others, like a ‘common man’, not as a leader.
-The man then gets back into society by joining an anti-smoking organization to reach back to his childhood and finish off what had ailed him. Eventually, he works his way to being a regular old pharmacist, not a politician or ‘big man’, to work alongside with people. He sees himself as part of the important fiber of the community, and not necessarily on top of it.

Do I have too many details? The story is, at most, around 5-7 paragraphs, so I think I need to cut some things off. Also, what tips do writers have when writing a short story? I’d appreciate the help.

Also I don't understand why he wants us to limit the character with these parameters, but hey, it's already partially written for me I guess.

Make it about a faggot who realizes the error of his ways. You'll get to troll faggophobes by even bringing it up, and gays by implying it's something you can get over.

>>4
i lol'd.

So you actually have to write a short story?  This isn't meant to be just pages of exposition -- but an actual short story?  What is the word count and when is it due?  Have you left out any other details?

Other people are writing it in around 400-600 words, so I guess that's it. It's mainly about a person's background, so it's basically a flashback I guess (the actual bulk of the story is the part where he is a pharmacist/whatever he becomes, and he looks back to his old life. The rising action is how he helps the child and learns his lesson.) Due in around a week, I think.

That's the problem- I think I have too many details on the person's background, but each detail leads to one another. If it was just a short story with a person in a situation, I'd be fine, but the assignment wants me to elaborate on my character's life in a few hundred words, which I don't think is possible unless I do something crafty. The short story focuses on a focal moment in the character's life that shows how he's a dynamic character.

Dynamic character?  Did the professor specifically use that phrase?  And if so, did he provide some specific details on what he means it to mean?

Make him dependent on diapers at some point to confront him with the lack of control. (Possible motive)

>>8
I think dynamic characters are characters that change in some way.

>>8
>>10
That's exactly what it means.