Creative Writing
The Art of Story Telling
Lesson 1 Handout
1. Connect
...to entertain, to enrich, to enlighten...
.. When we're talking about fiction (as opposed to non-fiction), we're talking about "Entertainment" (which isn't to say that non-fiction can't be entertaining, too.)
is an obvious reason. The picture for “To Teach” depicts the tortoise and the hare, a popular fable with the moral “slow and steady wins the race.” Most religions also use stories as teaching tool. And of course, sometimes telling the story benefits the storyteller. any diary is a chance for the writer to reflect on her thoughts, though Anne Frank also wrote to teach others about the holocausts.
Plot
4. Little Red Riding Hood
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her mother gave her a basket of cakes to take to her sick grandmother. “Don’t stray from the forest path,” warned Mother.
Red met a wolf along the way.
“Where are you going?” asked the wolf.
“To my grandmother’s house,” Red replied.
“What a lovely day,” the wolf said. “Why don’t you pick some flowers for your grandmother? Won’t she be pleased?”
Red knew she wasn’t supposed to leave the path, but the flowers smelled lovely. “All right,” she said. “But only for a little while.”
While Red was picking flowers, the devious wolf ran ahead to Grandmother’s house and swallowed her whole. Then he put on Grandmother’s clothes, climbed into bed, and waited for the girl.
When Red arrived at the house, she thought her grandmother looked different.
Red: “What big eyes you have, grandmother.”
Wolf: “The better to see you with my dear.”
Red: “What a big ears you have, grandmother.”
Wolf: “The better to hear you with, my dear.”
Red: “What big teeth you have, grandmother.”
Wolf: “THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH, MY DEAR!”
And the wolf swallowed Red as well.
Fortunately, a passing woodcutter heard the commotion and found the wolf asleep, his stomach swollen from his huge meal. The woodcutter cut the creature’s stomach open, and Red and Grandma jumped out.
Little Red Riding Hood vowed never to stray from the forest path again.
5. What if....?
Instead of telling Red to take cakes to her grandma, Red’s mom had just told her to walk around the forest for a while?
And instead of deciding he wanted to eat Red and her grandma, the wolf just saw Red, talked to her, and then continued with his day?
6. If you're with us live, share your thoughts. If not, click below.
7. Boring!
Stories need goals. Stories need conflict. Characters need to want something or there’s no reason to keep reading. Goals are what keep the reader hooked.
When we’re at the start of the story, we stay with Red because we want to know what happens when she goes to her grandmother’s house. Without a goal, she becomes a girl who wanders around outside, and what’s the fun in that? In the same way, the wolf wanting to eat Red introduces conflict and tension and keeps us interested. If he didn’t want to eat her, then there would be no story.
8. What if....?
Stories need to be believable, and they need to make sense.
The French toast would make the story very weird. It just comes out of nowhere. A good story has to have plot developments that make sense.
Of course, sometimes weird is good! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has some weird parts to it and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is very weird (and in the 7th or 8th grade textbook!)
So if you like weird, maybe toast would be a welcome addition. But then, you might want the rest of the story to also have lots of weird things. The "weird" can't just appear o Maybe mother warns Red about the flying French toast when she leaves the house. The point is that believability will depend on the story and the information that has been conveyed already to the reader.
9. What if....?
Don't leave me hanging!
Stories need to resolve the questions and problems that are introduced.
Have you read a story or seen a show where the problems aren't resolved and the questions answered? How did that make you feel? Why would the author/ director do that?
10. What if....?
11. That would be cool!
The main character needs to have agency, a character’s ability to affect the plot.
If a story is primarily about people doing things to the main character and/or solving the main character’s problems for her, then the story may be less meaningful for the reader. The reader cares much more about Little Red Riding Hood’s actions than he does about a random woodcutter who happens upon the scene.
What’s more satisfying: Voldemort being defeated by Harry Potter, or Voldemort accidentally choking on a chicken bone?
What’s more satisfying: Frodo carrying the ring and destroying it in Mount Doom, or Frodo waking up one morning to find that the ring had fallen apart on its own?
12. ... and good stories should be creative, surprising, and have good....
Characters!
What did you like about them? Let's brainstorm a list of what makes a good character?
Good characters are...
Likeable and relatable.
They have both strengths and weaknesses.
They change and grow over the course of the story.
Likeability: Characters have to be likeable enough for the reader to want to stick around with them for several hundred pages. Now, they don’t need to be perfect, but they do have to convince the reader to spend time with them.
Relatable: Usually this has to do with common experience between the reader and the character. Every student identifies a bit with Harry Potter’s adventures. Likewise, most children, like Little Red Riding Hood, are torn between listening to their parents and wanting to do something more fun.
Strengths and weaknesses: Katniss Everdeen is brave and protective of her sister, but also selfish sometimes. Likewise, Harry Potter makes some bad judgements, as does Little Red Riding Hood.
Change and Growth: Little Red Riding Hood learns not to stray off the path. Harry Potter comes into his powers and learns lessons about courage, love, and bravery.
13. A good story has a good plot, good characters and ... Good Writing.
A. What's good and bad about this writing?
Green Eggs and Ham
“I will not eat them in a house,
I will not eat them with a mouse,
I will not eat them in a box,
I will not eat them with a fox,
I will not eat them here of there,
I will not eat them anywhere,
I do not like green eggs and ham,
I do not like them Sam I am”
B. What's good and bad about this writing?
“[The cat] was a dandy with one ear cocked, a gleam on his claw and a glint in his eye. He sauntered through the market square elegant and tattered, admired and cursed: a highwayman, a gentleman thief.”
C. What's good and bad about this writing?
“It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on; kept it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no quarrels, and don't get into no trouble.”
Characteristics of Good Writing
Vivid descriptions
Strong, interesting verbs and precise nouns.
Good command of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
14. How Do You Get Better at Writing?
Read a lot
Write a lot
Get useful feedback on your work
Live life! Have interesting experiences so you have things to write about.
15. Exit
Need to reach me?
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