Imagining Stories We Wish Existed In the World

Ideas, Where Do I Get Them?

Writers find ideas in the details of our lives

Writers get ideas by thinking of books we wished existed in the world

Stories about people like you

We like to find ourselves in the pages of the story

We like characters who have desires and difficulties, just like us

Think about an issue that is important to you, create a character that struggles with that issue

Developing Believable Characters

What matters to you about your character? Are they like You?

Put together a character where all parts fit into a reasonable person

Ask often: Do these different parts fit together in one person? Are these character traits here for a reason?

If a character seems too good to be true, make them more complex.

Does this character help or hurt the main character?

Developing My Character

Outside (external features)	Inside (internal features)
Part Mexican	Afraid of the dark
Luz	artistic
Light brown skin	Cares for people
Long brown hair in pony tail	Thin-skinned
Casual clothes
Self-made dangly earrings

Building the Character’s Self-View

Attitude towards self	Attitude of others toward self
She thinks she’s dumb, grumpy, rude, and obnoxious	Mrs. Jorach thinks she is a great writer
She hates her lips	Mr. Smith thinks she is really good at math stiry problems
She knows that all of what she thinks is not true but she still thinks this way

Giving Characters Struggles and Motivations

Think about their:

Collections

Favorite clothes

Special places on earth

Treasures

Worries

Quirks

Secrets

Relatives

Ways of talking. Walking, gesturing

Rituals for waking up, going to sleep

Meals

Best friends

Plotting With A Story Mountain

Peter wants his family to stay the way it is Peter does not get attention for his building Peter’s parents repaint his cradle Peter runs away with his chair before it gets painted New baby sister arrives Peter doesn’t fit in the chair Peter invites him for lunch Peter and his dad paint the chair pink together

Show Don’t Tell

Planning and Writing Scenes

Things writers include in scenes:

A beginning, middle, and end

A setting

Characters who want things

Characters who feel and think

Obstacles that get in the way of what characters want

Action dialogue (most of the time)

Every action has a setting

Matching the Writing to the Story Mountain

Start with a strong lead

Write your first draft using all of your planning notes

Make sure you have a strong ending

Revise your first draft

Edit with the six traits of writing

Share your final draft

Six Trait Writing

Ideas

My message is clear.

I include some interesting details

It all makes sense.

I use clear transition words to connect my ideas and show logical order. (first, next, finally however)

Organization:

My paper has a strong beginning.

I tell things in best order.

Everything ties together.

The ending wraps things up and makes you think.

Voice:

This really sounds like me.

My reader can tell I care about this topic.

This is what I think and feel.

I want you to read this and feel something.

Word Choice:

I use many interesting describing words.

Some of the words linger in my mind.

My verbs are powerful, my nouns are specific.

I can picture it.

Sentence Fluency:

My sentences begin in different ways.

Some sentences are short, some are long.

My sentences have power and punch.

My sentences sound natural.

Conventions:

I use capital letters for:

(Sentence beginnings, proper nouns, the word I)

Age level words are spelled correctly, using a dictionary

I end sentences with correct ending marks. (. ? !)

I remember to indent each paragraph you wrote in block style.

I write complete sentences- each has a noun and a verb.