Hook Your Readers With Tension Hook Your Readers With Tension By Laura Backes, Write4Kids.com Tension. Without it, life would be—let's face it—boring. So would fiction. "Tension" is a loaded word, and can be misleading. Tension is what hooks readers of any age and keeps them turning the pages. * The ticking clock. * Dialogue. * Pacing. * Sentence structure. Each story requires a different kind of tension. Laura Backes is the author of Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read from Prima/Random House. Copyright © 2002, Children's Book Insider, LLC The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance. To do this Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi, who also identified 36 situations. Publication history[edit] “Gozzi maintained that there can be but thirty-six tragic situations. This list was published in a book of the same name, which contains extended explanations and examples. The list is popularized as an aid for writers, but it is also used by dramatists, storytellers and many others. The 36 situations[edit] Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Character Chart a) If you could have two whole weeks for vacation and go and do anything you wanted, what and where would it be? b) If you had a weakness for one of the seven deadly sins, which one would it be and why? (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth) c) If you could bring one person back to life and spend a whole day with him or her, who would it be and why? d) If you won a three-million dollar lottery, what would you do with the money? e) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? f) What do you do to relax after a bad day? g) Where would you go to hang out if you wanted to feel comfortable? h) What do you do when you are angry? i) Do you have a secret passion? j) How do you feel in a crowd? k) If you were asked to describe yourself, what would you say about the kind of person you are? l) Where do you want to be in your life ten years from now? m) A tear jerker is on. n) Deep down, what does you really think of yourself? p) How important is money to you?
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling One Sentence - True stories, told in one sentence. Louisreility We left for a two week holiday to see a few concerts in California and ended up three months later in a hostel in Guatemala city looking at a map, eating frozen chocolate bananas and asking each other if we knew where we were. tags: travel surprise [add] 2014-03-03 09:20:39 / Rating: 322.5 / Robert One of the saddest things I've ever saw was a little bird that had frozen to death perched on a tree branch alone. tags: sad bird froze tree branch alone [add] 2014-03-03 09:20:21 / Rating: 276.25 / new found family The day her mother told me she loved me and would always be there for me, was the same day my own mother said I disgusted her to her very soul. tags: gay family irony home love true love [add] 2014-03-03 09:19:32 / Rating: 113.75 / mufasa Is it weird that I had a better time talking to the stripper than getting a lap dance from her? tags: humor strippers sad funny conversation [add] 2014-02-05 11:27:27 / Rating: 326 / Laura tags: pet loss death dog [add] Sensei Bethany Waite Kiley topher
Cure writer's block with writing prompts, exercises, generators & gizmos Rimbaud's Systematic Derangement of the Senses I say you have to be a visionary, make yourself a visionary. A Poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless, and systematized disorganization of all the senses... Read More Jack Kerouac's Essentials of Spontaneous Prose If possible write "without consciousness" in semi-trance (as Yeats' later "trance writing") allowing subconscious to admit in own uninhibited interesting necessary and so "modern" language... 66 Writing Experiments by Charles Bernstein 5. William S. The cutup is a mechanical method of juxtaposition in which Burroughs literally cuts up passages of prose by himself and other writers and then pastes them back together at random... Exquisite Corpse : Add a line to the exquisite corpse poem! Haiku Madlib : Fill out the madlib form to have your words randomly replace those in famous haiku.Haiku-a-Tron : Generate a random haiku.Haiku Turbo Generator : Click the Generate Haiku button.
Internet Resources - Writers Resources - Writing Links & Writers Links for Writers - Word Stuff Unsorted [/writers] James Patrick Kelly - Murder Your Darlings - "When time comes to make that final revision, however, you must harden your heart, sharpen the ax and murder your darlings." Greda Vaso - Determining the Readability of a Book - includes formulas for Gunning's Fog Index, Flesch Formula, Powers Sumner Kearl L. Kip Wheeler - Literary Terms and Definitions L. Kip Wheeler - Comp - Lit - Poetry - Links - more Style - Grammar - Errors in English [/writers]American Heritage - Book of English Usage - free download Band-Aid AP StylebookPaul Brians - Common Errors in EnglishCJ Cherryh - Writerisms and other Sins The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ Gary N. Curtis - The Fallacy Files - Logical fallacies and bad arguments Prof.
Hero's Journey The hero's journey is an ancient story pattern that can be found in texts from thousands of years ago or in newly released Hollywood blockbusters. This interactive tool will provide students with background on the hero's journey and give them a chance to explore several of the journey's key elements. Students can use the tool to record examples from a hero's journey they have read or viewed or to plan out a hero's journey of their own. Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Fantastic Characters: Analyzing and Creating Superheroes and Villains Students analyze characterization by creating their own superheroes or super-villains, complete with related gadgets and settings. Grades 7 – 12 | Calendar Activity | July 31 J.K. Students are encouraged to think about why people challenge Harry Potter books, do a Web Quest that allows them to research the issue, and decide whether the books should be banned from the public library. Grades 7 – 12 | Calendar Activity | January 3
Storyboard That: The World's Best FREE Online Storyboard Creator Tellagami – Create Narrated Animations on Your iPad Tellagami is a free iPad that elementary school students will enjoy using to create narrated animations. If you have ever used Voki or GoAnimate, Tellagami will feel familiar to you. Tellagami allows your students to create customized animated scenes in a matter of minutes. To create a narrated, animated scene students simply open Tellagami and tap “create.” After opening the create menu students will see a default character and background scene. The characters can be altered by selecting from a big menu of customization options. Consider having your students use Tellagami to create narrated animations of their favorite scenes from books that they’ve read. Tags: Creative Writing, digital story telling, digital storytelling, free ipad app, free ipad apps, language arts
The Four Essential Stages of Writing Image by photosteve101 In last week’s post, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, I mentioned the importance of actually writing, plus the need to redraft. I thought it’d be worth putting those stages into context – because they’re not all you need for an effective piece. Every finished piece of writing passes through four stages: PlanningDraftingRedraftingEditing Sure, you can publish a blog post without doing any planning, or any rewriting and editing. I wouldn’t call that “finished”, myself. The four stages don’t always have to be tackled in order. But it’s crucial to be clear about what each stage involves. Stage #1: Planning Image by Dvortygirl You’re already planning your writing – whether or not you realise it. Some written pieces don’t need any more planning than that: you’ve got the idea in your head, pretty much complete. When you’re working on a project where you already know the subject matter – an ebook, for instance, or a memoir – then it’s worth planning in some detail. Better Planning
Write or Die 2 Types of Anger - 12 Most Common Types of Anger It goes without saying that, anger is one of those emotions that can be destructive and lead to various problems if it goes unnoticed. Although it can be tough sometimes, with the different types of anger around, recognizing the signs of anger issues, is a key factor in determining what to do when anger rears its ugly head. Here are 12 of the most common kinds of anger. 1. This type of anger usually describes someone who is aggressive towards whatever triggered their anger… this can be another person. 2. People who use sarcasm or mockery as a way to hide their feelings, typically express this form of anger. 3. Anger that’s expressed mostly through words and not actions. 4. This type of anger is a key factor in driving people to want to join movements and groups. 5. Anger that translates in causing harm to one’s own body. 6. This form of anger occurs in varying degrees… it comes and goes. 7. Ever come across someone that’s seemingly angry for no reason, or mad all the time? 8. 9. 10.