Write a Story

Ursa Major Practice Companion p. 176

Elements of a Story Setting

– When and where your story takes place Character

– The people or animals that do and say things in the story

Plot– Has a beginning, a middle, and an end in

which the characters face problems and find solutions

Characteristics of StoriesA good story…

is made up by the writer. has characters that are people or animals. includes a problem that the character must

solve. has a clear beginning, middle, and end. tells events in the order they happened. has a setting that tells where and when the

story occurs.

Story MapSetting

Time: Night Place: Planetarium

Characters Jenny Sonja, her friend

Problem Plot/Events Sonja doesn’t want to

go, but Jenny wants her to enjoy the trip.

Jenny convinces Sonja to go, and so on…

Resolution

Sonja is amazed by what she sees at the planetarium and is thankful that Jenny convinced her to go.

Prewriting

What is the purpose of your story? Who is your audience? Record your ideas in your notebook. Your topic should match your purpose

and audience.

Choose a Topic Good or poor story topic?

– Our classroom pet escapes from its cage.– Our classroom pet sleeps in the sun.– Our science teacher helps our soccer team

to play better.– Our science teacher is washing the

whiteboards.– Our dog runs away when we are on

vacation.

Generating Ideas Clustering is one way to come up with

ideas. Clustering is like brainstorming. It is a type of prewriting that allows the

writer to explore many ideas as soon as they occur to them.

Let’s try one together.

Organizing Ideas

Use a Story Map to help organize your ideas.

This will help you collect and organize your information.

Use your Story Map to tell your story to a partner. This will help you decide if you need to change anything.

You can use the information on your Story Map to help draft your story.

Drafting

Remember that every story has a beginning, middle, and an end.

The events in the story are easy to follow in a sequence that makes sense to the reader.

Use time-order words like first, next, then, etc. to help your reader follow the sequence of the story

Characters

Developing a strong main character will help your reader relate to your story.

Characters that seem real help readers care about them.

Your character should be special, memorable, and your reader should care about them.

Character Traits You should tell your reader as much as

you can about your characters:– What they do and say– What they think– What others think about them

Character Traits Use strong action words that tell how

the character acts– Instead of walked, use rushed– Be descriptive– Use the thesaurus

Use dialogue so your readers know what the character says and thinks

Use descriptive language

Vary Sentence Types

Writers use different kinds of sentences in their writing to capture and hold the reader’s attention.

Use all four sentence types – declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative

Using different kinds of sentences makes the writing flow more smoothly

Vary Sentence Length A good piece of writing has a balance of

longer and shorter sentences. Arrange the sentences in a way that lets

the language flow smoothly and naturally.

Revising/Peer Review The writer shares his or her work. The reviewer tells what he or she liked about

the work. Next, the reviewer asks questions about the

work. Then the reviewer makes suggestions for

changes. The writer makes notes of the reviewers

comments. The partners switch roles and the process

starts over.

Author’s Chair What did you find interesting or

exciting? What questions do you have about what

you have heard? What did you like? Why did you like it?

Editing

Use the Editing Checklist to help you edit your story.

Remember to reread your story several times and look for one type of error each time you read.

Use proofreading marks to record your errors and changes.

Editing Checklist Organization

– Does my story have a beginning, middle, and end?

– Does it make sense?

Editing Checklist Ideas

– Is my story interesting?– Is there a problem to be solved?

Editing Checklist Voice

– Can the reader tell I am interested in my story?

– Does my story sound natural?

Editing Checklist Word Choice

– Did I use descriptive language in my story?– Did I use strong nouns and verbs?

Editing Checklist Sentence Fluency

– Do my sentences lead from one sentence to the next?

– Are some sentences long and some are short?

Editing Checklist Conventions

– Did I spell all the words correctly?– Are all plural nouns used correctly?– Did I use possessive nouns in the right

way?

Publish Final Draft

Review the Evaluation Rubric (Practice Companion p. 177)

Read each area carefully to evaluate how well you did.

Experienced writers go back many times to revise and edit their work.

Include any visuals you have prepared to help your reader understand your text.

Present Final Draft/Author’s Chair

What did you find interesting about the story we just heard?

What questions do you have? What did you like about the story and

why did you like it?