how do you engage a reader creatively?

No essays this week! This module is all about stretching your story development side. We'll explore a few ways to get started with a story, then draft original short stories from start to finish. 

Module summary:

• review principles of creative writing
  • plot structure
  • "show vs. tell" in writing
  • dialogue formatting
• pre-write with some creative warm-ups
  • tell tale cards
  • first line
  • paintings
• draft a short story...
  • establish plot arc
  • incorporate descriptive language
  • format paragraphs and dialogue
  • participate in peer review
• revise to perfection!

Even Tolstoy had to start somewhere!

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essential questions

• How do we add depth to stories?
• How does the revision process strengthen our writing?
• How does creative writing translate to other life skills?

goals

• Students will understand that depth in stories comes from paying attention to the details and making intentional choices.
• Students will understand that revision strengthens writing by being critical, looking for holes in the story, and ensuring ideas are expressed clearly.
• Students will understand that key skills for creative writing - patience, trying new approaches to solve a problem, and revision - are important skills for most areas in life.

activities

Monday 

• Literary terms and plot warm-up
• Overview of module and syllabus
• Discuss principles of creative writing
  • plot overview (review PPT here)
  • including balance of "show vs. tell" in writing - see handbook, pp. 22-23
• Complete three free writes based on prompts. For each prompt, write as much as you can in 7 minutes. Try to not let your pen pause at all... just keep going, and don't worry about proper punctuation or spelling.
  1. Choose three tell-tale cards (you can find some here) and incorporate all three into a narrative somehow.
  2. Choose one first line from this list and fill in the rest.
  3. Write a narrative based on one of these paintings:
     1. Picasso's The Old Guitarist 
     2. Leonid Efremov's Alley by the Lake 
     3. Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory
• Try more free-writes independently or start drafting a full story based on one free-write you completed

Tuesday, Wednesday

• Work on draft of short story
• First draft of story should...
  • include all points of plot overview
  • incorporate dialogue
  • have a balance of "tell" moments to move plot along and "show" moments to help reader engage with and visualize story
  • incorporate descriptive and sensory language
  • be 3-5 pages typed, double spaced
  • start with a catchy title ("short story" doesn't count...)
• Complete peer review sheet with one classmate - exchange stories, read, and conference

Thursday, Friday

• revise story content based on peer feedback
• score your story with the Short Story Writing Scoring Guide
• submit draft to Christine for feedback on content and style
• revise both content and style based on Christine's feedback
• polish mechanics
• turn in finished draft!

c-tachs

Writing

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach

Language

• Demonstrate command of conventions of standard English grammar when speaking and writing
• Demonstrate command of standard capitalization and punctuation
  
• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning 
  

documents

Short Story Mod. Syllabus
File Size:	38 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Lit Terms & Plot Warm-up
File Size:	100 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Short Story WSG
File Size:	272 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Writing Dialogue
File Size:	48 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Refer to your Reading and Writing Handbook for "show vs. tell" writing (pp. 22-23)

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