1. Bell Ringer  What is your favorite genre to read? Why?  (examples are poetry, short stories, novels, manga, series fiction, film, etc…also story types, like romantic, southern gothic, sci-fi, literary realism, naturalism, post-modern, etc).

2. The Telling AKA last power point in this series!

3. Style  When we think of THE TELLING we think of style.  Like what you choose to wear or your mannerisms, style in storytelling is the general feeling or aesthetic we get from a piece.

4. Style…How to get it  Diction: is synonymous with word choice. Words are the bread and butter of storytelling, but what words we choose can greatly impact the style of a piece.  Motif: a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil.  Imagery: This goes without saying, but as a picture is worth 1000 words, your words better paint a vivid picture. Images are powerful and utilize our 5 senses.

5. Style…How to get it  Syntax: the order of words in a sentence, the order of sentences in a paragraph, the order of paragraphs, of chapters…basically, how you order things impacts your style. (THINK FRAGMENTED NARRATIVES.)  Dialogue: good dialogue should never do only one thing; it must do several things, such advance the plot AND reveal character. Dialogue is crucial, and be contain dialect and other stylistic choices.

6. Style…How to get it  Tone: the tone of a piece is not how you feel, but rather how the author feels about the writing. Think about writing with ironic or satirical tones, dramatic tones, etc.  Distance: relates to narrative voice, but it is basically how close we are allowed to get to a character. There are many first person narratives that are distant because we are not “close” to the narrator for various reasons.

7. Style…How to get it  Genre: a type of literature. We say a poem, novel, story, or other literary work belongs to a particular genre if it shares at least a few conventions, or standard characteristics, with other works in that genre. For example, works in the Gothic genre often feature supernatural elements, attempts to horrify the reader, and dark, foreboding settings, particularly very old castles or mansions. Genre is influenced by region, culture, gender, etc. It is a big choice to decide which genre a story can best be told.

8. Style…How to get it  ANY OTHER FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.  Creating style for a piece is all about the figurative language choices. Stories work in words, and what words we put on the page must deserve it. They need to be the only words that can accurately and stylistically depict what we want them to. They need to fight for their right to be there.