IEW – Week Ten
Narrative Stories
(Collect papers)
This week we get to do something that is very fun. We are going to learn how to write a story. The best way to learn to write a story is to read what someone else has written, break it down into its essential elements, and rewrite it in your own words. After you’ve done that a few times, you’ll get the feel of how a story should be written, and you can write your own.
So far, you’ve learned two methods for note-taking – taking keywords from every sentence, and choosing and picking interesting facts from a source text to write a report. Note-taking for a narrative story is a little bit different.
Look at page 9 in your SRN. You’ll notice that there are no topic sentences or clinchers. This is because narrative stories happen through time. You progress through the story. Topic sentences and clinchers would make the story seem choppy and unnatural.
However, even though the paragraphs don’t have topics, they do have purpose. This is what is indicated on the story sequence chart. The three parts of any narrative story are: setting and characters, conflict or plot, and climax and resolution. For now, we are going to write one paragraph for each purpose. After you’re used to that for a while, these can be expanded. If you notice, every novel or movie you watch has these elements. They may be presented differently each time, but they’re always there. The story would make sense without all of these elements being present.
Part 1: The first elements of the model are setting, characters, and background.
Stories usually begin by introducing their readers to the time and place of the story. This is called the setting. Is the story taking place in present-day America, in medieval Europe, or on a distant planet in the future? It’s important to let your reader know the setting early in the story.
It is also important to let your reader know whom the story is about – or the characters. Spend some time at the beginning of the story describing the main characters so that the readers will feel as if they know them.
Then, before you dive into the problem in the story, give a little bit of background information.
These three elements – setting, characters, and background – will be found in some form at the beginning of any well-written story.
Part 2: Conflict and Plot
For a story to be interesting, you must move into the next crucial element – the conflict. This is the problem, want, or need of the main character(s). Stories without some sort of problem to overcome or need to be met are not very interesting.
Most of the story is spent on how the conflict is dealt with: what the characters do, say, think, or feel with respect to the conflict. This is known as the plot.
Part 3: Climax and Resolution
If there is a conflict or problem, there must also be a way to solve it. We call the event that leads to the problem being solved the climax of the story. It is often the most exciting part of the story.
The result of the climax, or how the problem gets worked out, is the resolution. This usually includes life getting back to normal, or to a new normal.
There is one more element of any well-written story. It is the theme or moral. The characters and/or the readers should have learned something from the events of the story. A theme or moral gives the story a sense of purpose. Without it, a reader may feel that there was no point to the story. In a fable, morals are stated, but in most stories, they are simply implied.
This week, we are going to practice noting the key elements of the story sequence chart from source text stories. We will do this by answering specific story sequence chart questions, and putting those answers into a KWO. We will then use our KWO to write our own version of the same story. There is freedom in stories to add originality. You can change some of the details, such as the characters. However, the story must still be about the historical event described in the text.
Turn to page 64. We are going to go through this story and fill out the story sequence questionnaire. We may use more than one line for an answer, or we may combine two answers onto one line. Also, the answers can be in any order.
Go over page 64. Give time for students to fill in the answers.
When you are rewriting this story at home, you may change the characters and background information, if you wish. The setting must stay the same, though, because the story is about the Boston Tea Party.
Outline pages 66 and 68.
Brainstorm just a little on each page. (If there is NO time, tell moms to brainstorm with their kids at home, using their teacher’s manual for a guide.)
Assignment
For younger students, I am going to make this a four week assignment. They will write one paragraph a week for the first three weeks, and write the final the last week. I am doing this because this is a lot to write, and I don’t know how to shorten it and still make it make sense. Also, the next assignment follows the same pattern, but with a different story. Now, I would like them to include the new elements of style that we study the next four weeks. However, and this is important, they only have to include each element of style once in the whole paper, not once in each paragraph.
Older students, your assignment will be to write all three paragraphs in a rough draft this week. The next week, we will be adding some new elements of style and writing the final draft.
Examples of setting, characters, and background:
Lord of the Rings –
S - Set in middle earth (much like medieval times).
C - There are many characters, but only the main character and his friends are introduced at the beginning of the story (Frodo).
B - As the story unfolds, you find out the history of the ring of power.
Cars –
S - Set in modern America with a twist (all people are cars).
C - Main characters are Lightning, two other race cars, and Mater.
B - You find out pretty quickly that Lightning is a rookie who’s winning a lot.
The Incredibles –
S - Set in America in the 50s? Hard to tell exactly when.
C - Main characters are introduced immediately – Mr. Incredible, Elastagirl, Frozone, and Syndrome.
B - Background is the first 5 – 10 minutes of the movie and shows Mr. Incredible marry Elastagirl, then have to go into hiding.
Pride and Prejudice –
S - Set in England in the early 1800s.
C - Main characters are Elizabeth and her family, Darcy and his friend.
B - Background is established right away as Elizabeth’s mother begs Elizabeth’s father to go and meet the new bachelor in town. You find she has five daughters, no sons, and that, when her husband dies, she must move out of her home. So, her daughters must marry rich men.
Examples of conflict:
Lord of the Rings – The evil lord wants to take over and destroy the earth.
Cars – Lightning McQueen needs to get out of Radiator Springs.
The Incredibles – Syndrome wants to destroy all the supers and take over the world.
Pride and Prejudice – Elizabeth needs to marry for love.
Examples of climax:
Lord of the Rings – The final battle at Mordor, while Frodo and Sam climb the Mountain of Doom.
Cars – The final race for the Piston Cup, in which there is a terrible accident.
The Incredibles – The Incredibles family, along with Frozone battles the giant robot.
Pride and Prejudice – Elizabeth tours the home of the man she rejected, only to find that he’s actually at home.
Examples of Resolution:
Lord of the Rings – The ring is destroyed; Aragorn is made King; Frodo and Sam return to the Shire.
Cars – Lightning realizes that winning isn’t everything and helps the older car to the finish line; he moves to Radiator Springs.
The Incredibles – They beat the robot, return home, defeat Syndrome, go to one of Dash’s races.
Pride and Prejudice – Darcy rescues Elizabeth’s family from ruin; Elizabeth and Darcy marry and move to Pemberley.
Examples of Moral:
Lord of the Rings – Good will triumph over evil, as long as there are brave men and women who defend the good.
Cars – Fame and money don’t mean as much as having good friends.
The Incredibles – Family is more important that being adored by the public.
Pride and Prejudice – Well, pride and prejudice can ruin your life. Take time to learn someone’s character; don’t just make assumptions.
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