2. Narrative Writing: OR

3. SETTING What if The Lion King took place in Indiana? What if Finding Nemo took place in Ireland? What if The Outsiders took place on the moon? The SETTING a writer chooses is significant. It can make ALL the difference! Choose it wisely. Then DESCRIBE it! BE SPECIFIC: Don’t say, “It was a summer day.” Say, “It was so sticky my clothes stuck to my body and sweat made its way down my back, between my shoulder blades.”

4. DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER(S) What good is a story if there are no characters? What if there was a story with no one the reader could relate to, no one the reader could love, no one the reader could hate? PICTURE YOUR CHARACTER IN YOUR MIND: What do they say? Use dialogue to reveal their personality. (S) Describe their thoughts (T) Describe how other characters react to them (E) Describe what they spend time doing (A) Physical Description (L)

5. DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER(S): BE SPECIFIC! Let’s practice : Look at the picture. What physical traits can we describe? (L) Don’t say a hand; say a pasty hand clutching the steering wheel. What does this person do? (A) Don’t say, “He is a driver”. For what company? Where is he going? Why? At what speed? How are other characters reacting to them? (E) What are they thinking? (T) What are they saying? (S)

6. CONFLICT Without it, you have no real story. It becomes a simple series of events. I can hear the reader yawning already! Pick more than one conflict for your story: internal AND external. What is an internal conflict for Antonio in “Amigo Brothers” ? What is an external conflict faced by Antonio? What is an internal conflict faced by Nagaina in “ Rikki Tikki Tavi”? What is an external conflict faced by Nagaina in “Rikki Tikki Tavi” ?

7. CONFLICT: LET’S PRACTICE What INTERNAL conflict is this character experiencing? What EXTERNAL conflict is this character experiencing?

8. COMPLICATION Don’t jump straight from a problem to a solution. That is NO FUN! Provide some sort of problem along the way, while your character is TRYING to solve the main conflict. Maybe on their way home finally, they realize they have also lost their key. Maybe before a starving lion finds food, they injure their paw and can’t hunt as easily as they thought? What is the major conflict and complication in “The Garden at 97 Orchard Street”? What is a conflict and complication in Finding Nemo?

9. RESOLUTION WITH A MORAL You must satisfy your readers in the end with a resolution and a moral/lesson. This does NOT mean it has to be a happy resolution every time, but you can’t have too many loose ends, or your reader will look like this: You want them to be able to say, “Oh, I get it!” You do not want them to think you ran out of time!

10. PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN …