This slideshow provides a basic overview to the lessons within a unit in which students create their own short stories.

2.  To Entertain
 To Narrate
Something happens
to someone,
somewhere,
sometime

3.  Your story needs to have a plot, at least
one character, and a setting for the
action.
 It also needs a point of view and a
narrator.

4.  Most plots are based on problems.
 Characters may have conflicts with other
characters, society, nature, or even with
themselves.
 If you can keep your characters working to
solve problems, your readers will stay
interested.
 Is your character stranded on a distant
planet, lost in a jungle, struggling to win a
baseball championship, or building a secret
hideaway? Make sure the character is
challenged by his or her situation.

5. Writing a story
conflict and
resolution

6.  One of the satisfactions we get from
reading stories and watching them on
TV, in the movies, or in the theater, is
seeing the successful ending, or
resolution, to the conflict.
While EVERY minor
conflict in a story might
not have a happy
ending, the MAIN
CONFLICT usually is
resolved in a way which
satisfies the audience.

7.  Name: _______________________________________
 Title: __________________________________________________
 Author: __________________________________________________
 Setting
 Where: __________________________________________________
 When: __________________________________________________
 Characters
 Main Characters: _________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
 Other Characters: ________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
 Main Problem
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
 Solution to the Main Problem
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

9.  Creatures from another planet are trying
to take over the Earth.
 A sick young girl is losing her will to live.
 A crazy prowler is terrorizing a
neighborhood.
 A MMA fighter is trying to regain his title
from an arrogant young opponent.
 Victims of a shipwreck are struggling to
survive on a lone island.
**Each plot involves a conflict…a struggle
or confrontation of some kind**

10. Think of a satisfying ending for each of the
plots. Match it with the correct conflict.
Between a person or people, and
•Creatures from nature (person vs nature)
another galaxy
Between groups (person vs person)
•Sick girl Between an individual and a group
(person vs society)
•Crazy prowler
Between two people (person vs
peson)
•MMA fighter
Within one person (person vs self)
•Shipwreck victims

11. Directions: Think of at least three more plot ideas for each of the
conflict types below. KEEP IN MIND ALL OF THE GENRES OF FICTION –
science fiction, historical fiction, mystery, myth, fable, fairy tale, etc.
• Between a person or people, and nature
(person vs nature)
• Between groups (person vs person)
• Between an individual and a group (person vs
society)
• Between two people (person vs peson)
• Within one person (person vs self)

12.  The reader wants to know when and
where the action takes place.
 Details about the setting should include
information about time of day, weather,
landscape, buildings or other structures,
etc.
 Is the action taking place now, 100 years
ago, 100 years in the future…?

13.  The setting – a description of the place,
the weather, the time – helps to create a
mood or give information about the
characters.
One day Scrooge was busy in his
countinghouse while his clerk was
copying letters in another room.
 Did you learn much about Scrooge, his
clerk, or the day?

14.  Read the passage as Charles Dickens wrote it.
Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year,
upon a Christmas Eve – old Scrooge sat busy in his
countinghouse. It was cold, bleak, biting, foggy
weather; and the city clocks had only just gone
three, but it was quite dark already.
The door of Scrooge’s countinghouse was open, that
he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who, in a
dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was
copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but
the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it
looked like one coal.
EXPLAIN WHAT THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SETTING
ABOVE ADDS TO THE BARE FACTS. WHAT DETAILS
DID WE LEARN?

15.  Readers want to know what
the characters look like,
sound like, think, and feel.
 Details include their physical
features, clothing, habits,
likes, dislikes, etc.
 If your story has more than
one character, make them
different enough that the
reader can tell them apart
by their actions as well as
their words.

16.  Direct Characterization – the author tells
facts and details about each character
 Indirect Characterization – the author
shows the character’s qualities through
description in 3 ways:
› What the character says
› What others say about the character
› Through showing the character’s actions

17. Dear Mr. Birkway,
Here it is: my summer journal. As you can see, got a little carried
away. The problem is this, though. I don't want you to read it.
I really mean it. I just wanted you to know I did it. I didn't want you to
think I was one of those kids who says, "Oh yeah, I did it, but I lost
it/my dog ate it/my little brother dropped it in the toilet.
But please Pleeeassse Don't Read It! How was I to know all this stuff
was going to happen this summer? How was I to know Carl Ray
would come to town and turn everything into an odyssey? And
how was I to know about Alex...? Sigh.
Please Don't Read It. I mean it.
Sincerely, Mary Lou Finney

18. Tuesday, June 12
I wish someone would tell me exactly what a journal
is. When I asked my mother, she said, "Well, it's like a
diary only different." That helps. She was going to
explain more, but. Mrs. Furtz (the lady who just
moved in across the street) called to say, that my
brother Dennis was throwing eggs at her house,
and my mother went berserk so she didn't finish
telling me. How am I supposed to write a journal if I
don't even know what one is?
I wouldn't be doing this anyway, except that Mrs.
Zollar asked me to. She's an English teacher. She
asked us to keep a journal this summer and bring it
in (in September) to our new English teacher.

19. This journal is not as hard as I thought. I just hope I am doing it
right. It would be terrible to do it all summer and then take it
in and have someone look at it and say, "Oh, but this isn't a
journal, dear."
I tried to ask Mrs. Zollar a million questions about the journal
when she gave it to us, but Alex Cheevey said, "Geez. We
don't want to know too much about it. Then we'll have to do
it right. Can't you ever keep quiet?"
And now I will reflect on that. I used to think Alex Cheevey was
cute, because his skin is always a little pink, like he's just been
running a race, and his hair is always clean and shiny, and
once we had to do an oral report together and even though
I did most of the work, he patted me on the back when we
were done, as if he realized what a good job I did, and he is
certainly the best player on the basketball team and so
graceful when he runs and dribbles the ball. But now, as I
reflect on it, I see he is really a jerk.
THE AUTHOR SHOWS ABOUT THIS CHARACTER. WHAT DO WE KNOW
ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER, MARY LOU?

20.  Sam Finney (whose age I am not allowed to tell you) is the
father. He is a pretty regular father. Sometimes he likes us and
sometimes we drive him crazy. When we are driving him
crazy, he usually goes out in the garden and pulls some
weeds. When he is at work, he is a geologist and spends his
days drawing maps.
 Sally Finney (whose age I am also not allowed to tell you or
anyone else) is the mother. She also is a pretty regular
mother. Sometimes she drools all over us and sometimes she
asks my father if there isn't something he can do about us.
When we are driving her crazy, she usually cries a little. When
she is at work, she is an oral historian and spends her days
tape-recording stories that elderly people tell her. I think that
by the time she gets home to us, she is a little tired of hearing
people talk.
 Maggie Finney (seventeen years old) is the oldest daughter.
She's my sister. She is your basic boy-crazy, fingernail-painting,
mopey ole sister with whom I have the misfortune of sharing a
room. She does not like me to touch her things.
 Mary Lou Finney (thirteen years old) is the next oldest. That's
me. I don't know what I am. I am waiting to find out.
 .

21. The girl on the
left…
1. What do you
think her
hobbies and
interests are?

22. How would she like doing this:
2. How
do we
know?

23. How would she like doing this:
3. How
do we
know?

24.  A story can be narrated from a single
person’s point of view using the 1st person
(I) point of view, or from a more universal
point of view using 3rd person (he/she)
narration.
 The important thing is to be consistent!

25.  As the action progresses, let the reader
know what the characters see, hear,
and feel. In some stories, you may even
want your characters to describe what
they taste or smell.

26.  Quoted material can be attributed to a
speaker in 3 ways.
› Before the quote:
 She said, “No! I won’t eat broccoli-ripple ice
cream.”
› In the middle of the quote:
 “No!” she said. “I won’t eat broccoli-ripple ice
cream.”
› After the quote:
 “No! I won’t eat broccoli-ripple ice cream,” she
said.

27.  Begin a new paragraph whenever a
speaker finishes. (Indent!)
 Commas and periods ALWAYS go inside
the quotation marks.
 Make sure the dialogue sounds realistic.
You might find it helpful to whisper your
characters’ words to yourself as you
write.

28. Directions: Edit each of the following sentences to
include correct dialogue punctuation.
1. I can’t get this to work Rebekah said.
2. How Stephen wondered does this make sense?
3. Zach looked out the window and announced I
love snow!
4. Madison yelled watch out or you’ll get hurt.
5. Wow Pam admitted this is so much fun.

29. Dialogue Practice
Directions: Use the comic strip to develop a
paragraph using dialogue and quotations,
describing what each character is doing, while he
is saying his lines. Ex. “Hey, Snoopy, Look!” Charlie
Brown yelled as he ran across the yard.

30. Directions:
1. Watch the movie clip.
2. Pay attention to:
1. The action
2. The characters’ facial expressions (emotions)
3. The setting
3. Draft dialogue that fits the scene.
4. Remember
1. punctuate correctly
2. start a new paragraph after each speaker
3. Use descriptions, not just words!
 Jingle All the Way

31. The cop burst through the door into the
warehouse looking for Arnold. A quick glance
around showed only boxes. “He’s not here,” he
muttered and turned around to keep looking.
Meanwhile, Arnold, who was hiding around
the corner, felt someone grab his shoulder. The
relief he felt turned to confusion when the man
who grabbed him seemed to mistake him for
someone else.
“Is it you? I’m so glad you’re here.” he
exclaimed.
Arnold had no idea what he was talking
about, but when he tried to say so, the man
interrupted him again.
“Guys, I found him!” Joe yelled over his
shoulder. “Let’s hurry – we don’t have a lot of
time….”