Narrative

Independent

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Take a look at the secondary characters in your story idea. Try some of the same work with a secondary character that you did with your main character. You can make an internal/external T-chart or explore different things about them that we have on our lists. Whichever you try, the most important thing to keep in mind is that writers know all the characters in their stories well, not just the main characters.
Spend some time thinking about your favorite titles for books, and then try to figure out why you think authors chose them. After you’ve done that, don’t just slap the first title that comes to mind on your story. Jot down a list of titles and then choose the one that truly connects to some big ideas you have in your story, one that will really catch a reader’s interest.
Pull out a mentor fiction story, ideally one you know very well, such as Fireflies! This time, I’d like you to study it for punctuation. How does this author use quotation marks with dialogue? How does she use commas? Paragraphs? Choose a few lenses to look through; focus on things you know you need to pay more attention to in your own writing. Then go back to your story and apply some of what you learned from your mentor author to your draft.

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Create a storybook with your family. Have each member write a story about the same topic, or using the same central character. Bind them together to create a series!

Worksheets:

Family

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Pull out a book or two that you’ve read and loved. Don’t limit yourself to chapter books, either. Often some of the best stories are in picture books. Look through these books and put a sticky note wherever you find a place you love, one that gives you goose bumps. Read that part again and again. Read it aloud. Then, put the book aside and bring out your draft. Reread what you’ve written so far. Perhaps you’ll find yourself drafting or even revising!
I want you to spend a little time watching television. It can be a movie or a TV show, whichever your grown-ups say you can watch. I’d like you to watch a little bit with your writer’s notebook in your lap. As you watch, look for the setting. Try to watch a part where the setting stays the same for a little bit. Watch, for example, a scene in a living room or in a park. While you’re watching, jot a few notes about what you notice about the setting. Can you tell what the weather is? What time it is? Day or night? What colors do you see? What’s high up in the setting? What’s low? What does the camera show with more detail? Once you’ve jotted a few notes, I’d like you to think about which parts of the setting helped you, as the viewer, understand the story more deeply. Then make some notes on your draft, suggesting ways you can weave more setting details into the draft when you come to school tomorrow.

Projects:

Videos:

Narrative Writing – Responding to a Prompt

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