Category: Narrative Writing

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? ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐ง๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ.

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 fatherโ€™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.

#WERDCoachYouth#NarrativeWriting#BetterWriters

Start

Knowing where to start is a challenge all writers face. Young writers, especially, often go straight to the excitement and underestimate the value of the beginning. Introductions are important because they generate interest in readers and give them context, all the while building anticipation about what’s to come.

To help your young writer create effective introductions, ask them to think about the introduction as having five parts. First, they must hook the reader with an enticing first line. Then, they must transition to who the story is about. Then, they must move on to explain what the situation is. Then, they must tell readers where all this is happening. Finally, they must hint at impending trouble.

That order works well in most situations, but the list can be reordered to suit how the writer wants to develop the story. The only things that don’t change are the location of the hook and that all the elements mentioned must come in the introduction. Practicing first lines and introductions is important because, as the saying goes, you never get a second chance at a first impression.

So, don’t leave young writers guessing about what to do. Show your young writer that there are different strategies for hooking the readers’ attention and allow them to practice. Remind them to include description from the onset, especially when introducing characters and setting. And above all, encourage them to build excitement along the way.

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3 Ways to Wow Readers in Narratives

Understanding the prompt is the first step in scoring high on any writing assessment, but there are other things students need to do in order to get high marks. For narratives, there are three areas that are so important if students neglect any they’re guaranteed to fall below their target. Exceeding expectations in narratives means doing these three things exceptionally well.

Many times students write to meet the minimum requirements without even knowing it.

While the CLOG rubric breaks down a narrative into its sections, the holistic rubric looks at how all the pieces work together to create an overall amazing effect.

Help your child exceed expectations with narratives by building vocabulary, practicing technique, and enjoying the writing process.


#showdonttell

1. Show, don’t tell

This is one of the most talked about aspects of writing stories. New writers have a tendency to talk their readers through a scene rather than sharing experiences.

“I was afraid.”
“I heard a scream.”
“She saw the book on the table.”

In each of the examples above, the writer is telling the reader what’s going on. The issue here is that the reader has to create their own experience.

That’s a problem because either the reader will think of something different from what the writer intended, or the reader will have difficulty with doing it and get bored with the story.

Let’s fix the sentences to show more.

“Fear swept through me with a sudden chill, causing my insides to churn with each heaving breath.”

“I didn’t know where the dreadful noise was coming from, but it pierced through the night into my soul.”

“The books were stacked neatly on the corner table.”

Notice that each “showing sentence” includes vivid imagery and descriptive language that aims to stir emotion in readers.

One word of caution: all sentences don’t have to be like that. Truthfully, it’s ok to tell readers things sometimes as it helps move the story along quickly and adds energy too.

The trick is to know when to show, when to show and tell, and when to tell only. That comes with practice.

#connectactions

2. Connect Actions

In the excitement of writing stories, many writers skip details and just go for the good parts. The problem with that is it often confuses readers.

Readers need to know how characters get from point A to point B. Readers need to know why characters are doing what they’re doing, what motivates them.

Every action has a cause, and every action has an effect. Connecting these causes with their effects helps readers make sense of what’s happening in a story.

#writerealcharacters

3. Write real characters

Characters need to be believable. Even fantastical superheroes from alternate galaxies need to have characteristics and personalities that make them seem as if they could exist somewhere.

That means characters must have realistic human qualities. They must feel. They must react to the world around them in ways that are justifiable. And, they must have goals, desires, dreams. They must want something.

Of course, that is for main characters. Writers don’t have to go into detail with every character, but even side characters must bring up thoughts of real people.

So, the grocery store clerk must behave like a grocery store clerk would behave in real life. The taxi driver must talk and look like a taxi driver.

A good practice is to observe people to see what they do and say and use that as inspiration in stories.

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