Author: Shelley-Ann

Planning and Plotting

Is there a difference between planning and plotting a story? Writers are told to plan all the time. Young writers, especially, are taught how to plan reports and narratives. They are told planning is important. But why, exactly, is planning important and how is plotting a narrative any different from planning one? š‡šžš«šžā€™š¬ š­š”šž ššš§š¬š°šžš« š¢š§ šš š§š®š­š¬š”šžš„š„.

Planning

Deciding on what to write, organizing your thoughts, and laying them out in a coherent order. This is necessary because it allows young writers to generate and gather ideas.

EXAMPLE: My story is about a girl who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid. She sneaks away to go to a ball and meets the prince. They fall in love. The girl runs away from the ball and leaves a shoe behind. The prince uses the shoe to find the girl. They live happily ever after. Her stepmother and stepsisters are banished from the kingdom.

Plotting

Deciding on what to write, organizing your thoughts, and laying them out in a way that shows how each event and action is connected to the others. Plot shows cause and effect.

EXAMPLE: My story is about a girl whose father died and left her with her stepmother and stepsisters. Because the stepmother is angry about the fatherā€™s death, she treats the girl badly. Over time the girl eventually becomes their maid in her own house. One day the rulers of their kingdom throw a ball and the girl is forbidden to go. She cries and pleads for help and her fairy godmother appears to help her get dressed and go to the ball. At the ball, the girl meets and falls in love with the prince, but has to leave quickly because the magic spell stops at midnight. In her rush to get away, the girl leaves a shoe behind. The prince finds the shoe and decides to go looking for her. The stepmother is furious with the girl and tries to hide her from the prince. But the shoe only fits the girl, so the prince eventually finds her. They get married and live happily ever after. The girl, who is now a princess, banishes the stepmother and stepsisters from the kingdom for treating her badly.

The Difference

In addition to being more detailed, the plot shows how the events and actions in the story are connected. Notice how the plot shows why certain actions are taken and shows the consequences too. This Cinderella story is more complex and complicated than the type of story young writers have to produce for SEA. Narrative essays for SEA are much shorter and easier to plot but should still follow the same cause and effect format.

When young writers plot a story instead of just planning it, they are able to see how the conflict works in the story. Rising action is also easier to identify, and writers can effectively plan how to solve the challenges.

To practice plotting with your young writer, first create a plot development list they can follow and use as a worksheet. List each aspect of the plot in the order they should be developed. Then, fill in the information as needed. After several attempts at plotting stories, young writers will become more proficient at creating exciting stories.

For more information on how to plan reports, check out this post.

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How to Write “The Events That Follow” From a Prompt

How do you begin a story when the prompt says, “Write about the events that follow”? A few months ago, we posted about understanding writing prompts. Itā€™s the first step in writing a great narrative.

In this post, weā€™re expanding on those ideas to answer a specific question – ā€œHow do you start a narrative when the prompt says ā€˜Write about the events that follow?ā€ Before we get to the answer, however, you should know how the average prompt is constructed. Letā€™s take a look at one of the SEA 2020 prompts.

Note: Not all prompts will be like this one, but the content is pretty standard.

Review of SEA 2020 Narrative Prompt

In this prompt, you can clearly see four separate details.
The Context ā€“ Highlighted in Blue
The Situation ā€“ Highlighted in Red
The Directive Part A ā€“ Highlighted in Green and Written in Yellow
The Directive Part B ā€“ Not Highlighted

The Context tells readers whatā€™s going on. Usually it includes the characters and partial information to guide background details.

The Situation provides details about the start of the conflict. This information isnā€™t always in a prompt, but when it is young writers need to pay special attention to what it says.

The Directive Part A tells writers what the story should be about. In this instance, writers are being asked to tell a story about what happens after the incident noted in the prompt.

Young writers could be asked to write about different aspects of the story. For example, they could be asked to write about the experience itself, or even how the characters got into the situation in the first place (what led up to the events of the prompt).

The Directive Part B is a standard guide that reminds young writers that it’s a narrative they’re writing and what type of vivid descriptions and sensory details to include.

Ok, so now weā€™re on to story beginnings. We pointed out what goes into an introduction when we discussed the 5-paragraph Story Structure in this post. Thereā€™s a standard format of hook, introduce character, give character a goal, and describe setting that must be included. But what does that look like in this type of story?

Letā€™s break it down into three points:
1. Since the prompt already gave the context, itā€™s wise to include some of those details in your introduction. Donā€™t expect the reader to be going back to the prompt to get the beginning of the story. Young writers have to give the beginning still.

2. Add a few details to support the idea with descriptive language. So, tell readers where you were going with your friends and that you were concentrating on your phone, texting. Maybe even hint at what and who you were texting.

3. This prompt also indicates the complication. The complication is the first problem that starts the conflict, so itā€™s important to include this detail. What the prompt doesnā€™t tell you is what your reaction is, and thatā€™s where you would add in details to expand on the situation with descriptive and vivid language. That would be your introduction.

From there, most of the story would be exploring where your friends were, how you found them again, and what happened to them. And, all of this within a plot that builds the excitement and emotional reactions before solving the problem.

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Embracing Technology

With everything online these days, interfacing with technology can be overwhelming. However, there are some great tools out there to help you and your young writer make the most of lifeā€™s changes. A few weeks ago, we came across two apps that preteens and parents would love. Check them out and tell us what you think.

Study Bunny

There are tons of study apps out there, but this one has a special appeal that makes it great for the digital babies. The app features a lovable bunny who sits with you, studying along while you get your work done. Users can track how much time they spend on studying, monitor their productivity using the built-in To Do List, and color code subjects so they know how much time is spent studying what.

But thatā€™s not the most awesome part. Not only does your bunny friend study with you, it encourages you by giving you coins for study time. Yup, thatā€™s right, thereā€™s a built-in reward system that lets users earn coins for every hour they spend studying. Coins are used to purchase items for the bunny and his little room. This kind of incentive is great because it fits in with the preteen obsession with online games. Of course, adult supervision would assist your young writer in managing time effectively, but having and using this app is definitely something that would make study time less stressful.

Luna Diary

If youā€™re looking for something to support your young writer in writing regularly, this is a great app to check out. When you write a journal entry, the scenery of the app grows by adding flowers and stars in the sky. Writers also fill the moon when they write. This is a quick reward system that makes writing interesting and provides an incentive for continuing. There are several themes to choose from, so itā€™s not all about flowers and stars. Consider using one or both of these apps and let us know how it works out for you.

Also, comment below if there are other apps you know of that would be helpful to parents and young writers.

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How To Achieve Flow

In our last post, we mentioned something called flow. When writers talk about flow, theyā€™re referring to the structure of the writing, how language is used in sentences, and how ideas transition across paragraphs. Writing that flows well is described as smooth, logical, clear, and easy to read. Thatā€™s because it makes sense to readers.

Writing that doesn’t flow well is described as choppy, awkward, wordy, and difficult to read. Thatā€™s because it doesnā€™t make sense to readers. Achieving flow requires mastery of not only the content of the story but also mastery of writing skills. Here are three things young writers can do to achieve flow.

Pay attention to sentence structure

Most young writers donā€™t notice how they structure their sentences because theyā€™re concentrating on getting the information out and the grammar right. However, if all the sentences begin with ā€˜Iā€™ or have the same subject + verb + predicate simple sentence structure, then the paragraph will sound static. It will not have the natural melody of regular speech. Writers need to vary sentences, then. Some should be long, some short, some simple, some compound (use of coordinating conjunctions), and some complex (use of subordinate conjunctions and clauses).

Pay attention to wordiness

Sometimes, in an effort to sound sophisticated, writers use grand phrases and lengthy expressions. Unfortunately, this doesnā€™t always have the intended effect. The main concern should be clarity in meaning, so the simplest way to say a thing is usually the best way (even including figurative language and imagery). Writers should use active voice more often, and be direct with their descriptions.

Pay attention to transitions

Many young writers are familiar with standard transition words such as “first”, “next” and “then”. For expository writing such as report writing, single-word and short phrase transitions work well. However, in narratives and short stories, such transitions make the writing sound formal. Writers should use more subtle transitions that show shifts in time or location or change the pace of the action. Here are a few examples:

TIME: Later that dayā€¦ After lunchā€¦ Right afterā€¦

LOCATION: When we arrivedā€¦ The classroom wasā€¦ When I turned aroundā€¦

PACE: Sydney hid behind the bushes and held her breath (shows anticipation, fast pace). Cindy slouched down in the chair, rolled her eyes, and whispered, ā€œThis is going to take forever!ā€ (shows stagnation, slows pace).

Young writers need to see these types of transitions in writing. However, don’t take it for granted that they will recognize them. You need to show them. This might seem like a lot, but remember, it isn’t all taught at once and young writers don’t always need to know every detail. Just show them what to do and explain why.

Introducing Characters

“How do you introduce characters?”

This question made me stop and think. I never really thought about the nuances of introducing characters. I just did it, and I teach students to do it through description and other methods. It seemed like a natural flow in writing.

But it’s not so simple for everyone, especially young writers.

So what’s the answer? Well, there are a few answers, actually. When it comes to presenting characters, whether in the introduction or further into the story, there are several strategies writers can implement.

Here are three techniques young writers can try.

(Taken from my response to a parent in a Facebook group.)

Introduce the character by saying something interesting or memorable about them.
– Elyse was the class bully and everyone was afraid of her.

Use an action to introduce the character, so when the audience meets the character for the first time, they’re doing something.
– Elyse, the class bully, snatched the book from my hands.

Explain the character’s reaction (especially emotionally) to something that happens.
– I looked across the room and saw Elyse, the class bully, turning boiling with anger.

Notice the type of information in each sentence and how the sentences are structured.
– Name
– Who they are
– Quality OR Action OR emotional state

Of course, these aren’t the only ways to introduce characters, nor do these sentences have to be written exactly like this. However, for a young writer who’s not sure about what to do, this is a great place to start.

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