Reading note of "Your creative writing project" by Dana Meachen Rau

ch 1 Collecting the ideas:

1. Personal narrative tells about an experience in your own life.
2. A fiction story is a story you make up.
3. A poem has many forms.

Collect everyday experience in your backpack.

You could turn your real experiences into fictional ones. Maybe instead of walking a dog, you're taking your pet dragon for a walk.

One word can lead to an idea.
Two words can lead to an idea.
A picture can lead to an idea.

Write your ideas down if you think you'll forget about them.

Ch2 Unpacking your ideas:

Characters, setting and a plot.
Beginning, middle and an end.
pre-writing----making a writing plan.

For a personal narrative, you can make a problem and solution chart

Problem   Solutions   Result

For a fiction story, you can use a 5W chart to plan your characters, setting, and plot.

Who? (characters)
Where? (setting)
When? (setting)
What? (plot)
Why? (detail)

As you prewrite, it is important to think about the theme of  your piece. Your theme is your main message. What do you want readers to learn from your story or poem? for example, what would be the theme of a personal narrative about your first day at a new school? It could be "bravery" or maybe even "fear".

The writer's process

1. Prewriting: organizing your thoughts and making a writing plan

2. Drafting: creating the first version of your story, narrative, or poem

3. Revising: making your piece better

4. Peer review: getting feedback from other writers

5. Publishing: sharing your work with readers

Ch3. who and where: characters and setting

Characters can be people, animals, objects or something in nature.

Character can be based on the people you know, can be based on strangers, too.

"Writing is seeing. It is paying attention."

Try not to tell but shows. Write about what a character actually says and does. Show your characters' behavior - What they do.

Show and tell exercise:

Tell
I was hungry.

Show
My tummy was rumbling.
I shoved the bread into my mouth, took a gulp of milk before she even finished chewing.

Setting is where and when your narrative, story or poem happens. As you plan your setting, think about the mood you want to create. The mood is the feeling that your reader gets from your writing. If your setting is a spooky cave, use words that make it sound spooky. Don't describe how the walls are brown or rough. Instead, talk about the silent shadows and the dark corners.

As you add details, don't just think about how the setting looks. what about your other senses?

Setting brainstorm

Setting: My sleeping bag

I see: the blue plaid pattern
I hear: the swishy sound it makes when I move
It smells: musty like my basement where we store it.
I taste the s'mores I ate before bed.
I feel the silky fabric on the outside and the soft flannel inside.

Research: Filling up your backpack.

When you use new information, you have to be careful to write it in your own words. Plagiarism is taking someone else's words or ideas and calling them your own.

Get Tense! Past tense, present tense, future tense.

Ch4. What's the story?

Beginning: A good story starts with a bold beginning. First, you need to make your readers want to read more. Then you have to provide some background. In the beginning, you will introduce your characters and the setting. You should also introduce the story's main problem.

Buildup: In the buildup of your story, your character tries to solve the problem. You can do this by building suspense. Suspense is when you can't wait to find out what happens.

Climax: the most important or exciting moment of the story. The reader finds out how the problem gets solved.

ending

Poem: Rhyme, rhythm, repetition

Ch5: Revision

add details--expanding
taking out words --- tightening
replace some words with better ones.

don't be afraid to make big changes to your writing. This is what revision is all about.

Helpful writing techniques

Alliteration: repeating the first sound in a word
Snakes slither silently

Personification: talking about an object as if it is a person
The leaf danced in the wind.

Hyperbole: exaggerating the truth.
This line must be 60miles long.

Aiden's book

THE STORY OF me

I love my house.

I love watching TV.

I like watching iPad too.

I like to eat my favorite food dumplings and watermelon.

and I do work and exercise.

   

And help mom put the seed in the ground.

THE END the story of me