By Jacqueline Davies - Amazon S3...Week One The Lemonade War raewriterom - 5 - 2013 - ulie oart...

The Lemonade WarBy Jacqueline Davies

Dictation passages

Week Oneslump (slŭmp) n. A drop in the activity of a business or the economy.

Evan lay on his back in the dark, throwing the baseball up in a straight line and catching it in his bare hands. Thwap. Thwap. The ball made a satisfying sound as it slapped his palm.

(Chapter 1, Slump, page 1)

Week One The Lemonade War

- 3 - © 2013 - Julie (Bogart) Sweeney - Brave Writerbravewriter.com

Week One:Opening:

slump (slŭmp) n. A drop in the activity of a business or the economy.

Evan lay on his back in the dark, throwing the baseball up in a straight line and catching it in his bare hands. Thwap. Thwap. The ball made a satisfying sound as it slapped his palm.

(Chapter 1, Slump, page 1)

Why this passage:

Each chapter begins with a definition of an economic term. This week, your child will get to look up other definitions and copy them.

What to note:

Definitions in a dictionary (in a book or online) follow a certain protocol in format. There may be subtle variations between style (presentation), but they usually contain the following elements in the following sequence:

term (Pronunciation with diacritical marks) Part of speech abbreviated. Definition.

A diacritical mark is the marking (such as the ‘curved line’ above the letter “u”) that indicates pronunciation of that letter.

The term “slump,” in this passage, has multiple meanings, but the author selected the one related to business since that’s what this novel is about.



The paragraph that follows describes a boy named Evan (one of the two main characters in this story). He is tossing a baseball. The writer uses onomatopoeia (the literary element that refers to words that are spelled to sound exactly like the sound they represent) to describe the noise the ball makes when it lands in Evan’s bare hands: Thwap. Thwap. Does thwap sound like a ball when it lands in the palm of a hand? Try it, if you have a baseball, and compare. Would you use a similar term? Or a different one? Are there other words that convey that sound? How does it differ if you catch the ball in a glove?

How to teach the passage:Use this week to take a look at dictionary entries. Look at both online dictionaries and hard copy print dictionaries. Compare the entries to the one in this chapter (each chapter starts with an economic term and its definition). One thing you may notice right away is that the term in the dictionary has more than one definition, whereas the terms in this novel only offer one meaning for the selected word. When we look up words in dictionaries for possible meanings, our minds naturally sift through the options until one of the choices illuminates the passage from which the term was drawn. Look up the word “slump” in one of your dictionaries and read the variety of meanings. How might the term “slump” be used in a different sentence so that it carries a different meaning than the economic definition?

Dictionaries provide us with as many meanings as are commonly tied to the uses of the term in question. The responsibility of the reader is to identify which meaning most accurately explains the role of the term in its original context.

In other words (words for your 3rd – 6th grader): Read the sentence, look up the word, then replace the word in the sentence with one of the definitions and see if the sentence still makes sense. Pay attention to the “context clues” (the words around the term) to figure out which meaning helps the sentence make sense.

This particular passage is a definition followed by the opening paragraph in the book. Remind your young writer that there needs to be a line of space between the definition and the paragraph. Your student will skip a line (leaving it blank) between these two halves of the copywork passage. Sometimes your child needs you to model it (to handwrite your own version) so that the space is perfectly clear. If you don’t have time to create a model in your own handwriting, talk to your child in advance and show the writer what it means to skip a line. Explain that no matter where on the page the child finishes writing the word “economy” followed by a period, the next step is to skip a line on the page before starting the paragraph that begins, “Evan lay on his back…”



Point out the use of the comma. The sentence: “Evan lay on his back in the dark” is complete in and of itself. But the writer wants to attach an activity to Evan so she attaches it with a comma. Notice how your voice wants to drop down after the word “dark” but doesn’t when your eyes see the comma. In this case, a comma helps the sentence continue but also lets the reader know that the essential information has already occurred and now you are reading detail to enhance the original thought.

Grammar Notes: Look it up!

Parents and teachers are famous for telling kids to look up words those kids can’t spell in a dictionary. I’ve always found that advice humorous. The more of that word you can’t spell, the more difficult it is to look up!

lemonade stand Patrick Dugan



But there is one use of the dictionary that is always valuable: finding the definition that illuminates the context of the word. It’s one thing to be asked to work through a list of words to consider their varieties of definitions (most words have more than one definition and/or several parts of speech!). For instance, “table” can be a noun meaning a flat surface with several legs on which people eat meals and sling junk mail, but it can also be a verb, meaning to “put aside” such as “Let’s table the conversation about what I’ll do with my lottery winnings until I’ve fled the country.”

Dictionary definitions will include many possible uses of the word and an explanation for its role in those sentences. The job of a student is to find the right definition for the word in question given the context. This is a skill to develop, and it takes time and practice.

In this novel, each chapter starts with a term that when used in an economic context, has a meaning related to money, business, the economy, the market, or capitalism. But these terms are not only used in economic contexts. If you look them up, you’ll find that they can be used for other situations and experiences that aren’t related to money.

Use the list of chapter titles on the next page (these are the terms from the novel). Look up these words and find other uses for them. Write sentences that create the meaning you’ve selected for the term. Remember: sometimes the word changes part of speech as well (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition…). In a few instances, Davies uses a word pair (phrase). You might need to see if there is any other meaning for the phrase or if it is “idiomatic” (use is peculiar as it is in the native speaker’s language). Word pairs can be parsed, too. Look at each term independently in the dictionary and ask yourself why these two or three words come together to create the meaning Davies gives them.

For instance, the word pair, “Joint Venture,” is made of two strong words that have their own uses even without the other term. See if you can understand each meaning first, using each word alone. Then think about why they became paired in this context. Can you guess?

• Slump

• Breakup

• Joint Venture

• Partnership

• Competition

• Underselling

• Location

• Going Global

• Negotiation

• Malicious Mischief

• A Total Loss

• Waiting Period

• Crisis Management

• Reconciliation



You might select a couple of these terms to use in copywork over the course of the week. Copy the dictionary definition you select for the term and then write a sentence or two that illuminates that meaning.

You don’t want to write: “Slump is a cool word.”

You do want to write: “After her best friend moved away, she fell into a slump where she didn’t want to eat, watch TV, or play her favorite video games.”

Week Two“What’re you doing?” a voice shouted from the upstairs window.

Jessie slammed her foot brakes and looked up. Megan was staring down at her. She looked huge. Her voice did not sound nice.

“Riding my bike,” said Jessie.

“But why are you riding back and forth?” asked Megan impatiently. “In front of my house?”

“I dunno,” said Jessie. “Ya wanna play?”

(Chapter 4, Partnership, page 49)

Week Two The Lemonade War


Week Two:Dialog and slang:

“What’re you doing?” a voice shouted from the upstairs window.

Jessie slammed her foot brakes and looked up. Megan was staring down at her. She looked huge. Her voice did not sound nice.

“Riding my bike,” said Jessie.

“But why are you riding back and forth?” asked Megan impatiently. “In front of my house?”

“I dunno,” said Jessie. “Ya wanna play?”

(Chapter 4, Partnership, page 49)

Why this passage:

It’s good to feature dialog punctuation conventions each month. This particular passage includes the use of “slang.” The writer attempts to capture the way the words are spoken and does so by changing the spelling of the words to match how they are said. These new “spellings” are not “correct” in an official dictionary entry and pronunciation way, but they do mirror the cadence of speech. When authors want their dialog to sound authentic, they will take liberties with spelling. They will modify the words to match how people say them aloud.

What to note:

The dialog develops the plot. Jessie is looking for a friend to help man her lemonade stand. Megan (the “voice from the upstairs window”) is not yet a friend. We discover just how awkward this encounter is through the dialog.

Notice that the opening line doesn’t even name Megan. The author chooses to conceal Megan’s identity while Jessie continues to feel nervous about approaching the front door of the house. By not using Megan’s name, the reader also experiences



the awkwardness of that encounter. Most of us would find it unnerving to have a voice (with no body or name attached to it) call down from above us, challenging our behavior! That’s precisely the author’s intent!

The next line tells us that Jessie was, in fact, rattled by the shouted question. She “slams on her brakes.” When do you slam on brakes? Usually when you are in danger or startled. In this situation, Jessie is startled and perhaps even anxious that she’s been discovered. In quality story telling, the writer chooses to show the character’s feelings through action rather than telling the reader about the feelings in descriptive words. “Slamming on brakes” has a different effect than “slowing down.” Can you feel it?

Jessie then recognizes Megan, but Megan is staring down at Jessie. The author tells us that Megan looked “huge” and that her voice “did not sound nice.” These descriptive details are from Jessie’s perspective, not Megan’s. The story is told in “third person” (meaning that the author tells the story toggling between Jessie’s and Evan’s points of view; not the “I” point of view – first person). Megan is not the main character so we are not invited into her mind. But because Davies (the author) has chosen to tell us Jessie’s thoughts and Evan’s, we do get to see the world through their eyes when they are the featured main character of the chapter or scene.

In writing, when you tell a story, you want to be true to the primary character’s viewpoint. You can’t dance around popping in and out of everyone’s mind. Even in books where the author chooses to write in what we call “omniscient third person” (meaning the author can interlope between minds and reveal everything everyone is thinking), usually the author will shift between characters by changing the primary focus chapter to chapter or section to section. It is entirely rare that an author will shift viewpoints line to line, person to person. That gets too complicated for the reader and it is really difficult to write well.

Another item of note is the use of slang in this dialog. Writers try to approximate the natural sound of speech when they write dialog. In this case, Jessie is given words to say that sound the way we say them when we are relaxed and interacting with friends:

These words represent:

dunno; ya; wanna

don’t know; you; want to



How to teach the passage:

Dialog punctuation can be examined using the NNG or MNGG books (check the Guidelines if you’ve forgotten the acronym for these grammar reference books). The first line uses a question mark inside the quotation mark, but is followed by a lowercase “a” for the attributive tag because it continues the sentence. Of special interest in this conversation is the way Davies puts periods after the attributive tags, but then continues to have the speaker comment. The new speech is put into its own set of quotes and begins with a capital.

Dialog punctuation is best mastered through repeated exposures. Begin with copywork (be sure your student checks his or her own work against the original first—before you look at it). Then as accuracy is mastered in copywork, use dialog passages for dictation. You should feel free to remind your student where to put quotes and punctuation marks while dictating the first few times you try it together. Then over time, your student should be able to transcribe a dictation passage without your assistance fairly accurately.

Grammar notes: Slang is still English, just a little slangier

The crazy thing about language is that you can never count on it. It moves and breathes and has its being in the mouths of people. Language play is irresistible to native speakers. Families create their own set of misspoken words and terms of endearment (mazazine, Jake the snake), and regions create shortcuts using versions of words that make oral communications quicker (wanna go, y’all). Not only that, but native speakers give new meanings to words. They say they “aced” the test when they earned a good score, or that they are “beat” when they mean they are tired.

One definition for “slang” is: an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slang).

The earliest known use of slang occurred in the 16th century. The expression “beat it” appeared in the 1500s and has never gone away, nor has it ever entered standard English. Often slang expressions arise in specific contexts (jazz musicians, the military, teenagers, college students, particular sports like surfing or skateboarding). Some terms don’t last or are only understood in their original contexts (blue-head – Navy, street pizza – skateboarding). Others cross over into mainstream speech, even without understanding their origins (tubular, hang ten).



In this week’s passage, Davies used slang to create a natural sounding conversation between two kids.

Take a look at this list of slang terms and see if you can incorporate them into a conversation you create:

Add your own. Find ways to use slang in dialog to create a natural interaction.

all: as in, “Don’t get all emotional about that.”

ammo: as in, “The tank ran out of ammo before they got to the ridge.”

bummer: as in, “The party was a total bummer.”

call: as in, “Pepsi was a good call. Everyone likes it.”

cool: as in, “It would be so cool to meet the president.”

gimme: as in, “Gimme that screw driver.”

guts: as in, “You don’t have the guts to jump off the high dive.”

hit the sack: as in, “It’s late. I need to hit the sack or I’ll be a bear to live with tomorrow.”

legit: as in, “This Lego offer is legit. I know someone who used it and got a great set.”

Man: as in, “Man, I’m so sick of that baby crying.”

no way: as in, “No way am I giving you my phone number.”

school: as in, “She really schooled you in how to do a lay-up!”

shoulda: as in, “I shoulda gone to bed earlier. Now I’m exhausted.”

Week ThreeInside, the bills were arranged by ones, fives, and tens. All the bills were facing the

same way, so that the eyes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton were all looking at Evan as he counted out the cash.

Two hundred and eight dollars.

There it was. The winning wad.

(Chapter 11, A Total Loss, page 150)

Week Three The Lemonade War


Week Three:

Capitalization:

Inside, the bills were arranged by ones, fives, and tens. All the bills were facing the same way, so that the eyes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton were all looking at Evan as he counted out the cash.

Two hundred and eight dollars.

There it was. The winning wad.

(Chapter 11, A Total Loss, page 150)

Why this passage:

This passage offers a few unique features: plurals of numbers in writing, proper nouns that are capitalized, a dollar amount written in words, and a sentence fragment.

What to note:

We can make numbers into plurals: ones, fives, tens. In this instance, when we refer to the denomination (number value) of the American dollar bill, we call the bill a “one” or a “twenty.” When we refer to several individual bills that have the same face value, we use the number and make it plural:

Five ones (five individual dollar bills)

Three twenties (three individual twenty dollar bills)

Each denomination of bill has a historical person’s image featured on it. “Ones” feature George Washington (the United States’s first president), “fives” feature Abraham Lincoln (the American president who governed during the Civil War and kept the North and South together), and “tens” feature Alexander Hamilton (the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and also a Founding Father).



There are a few ways to annotate money in writing:

$208.00 is the same as “two hundred and eight dollars.” In stories, if it doesn’t get too cumbersome, writers will opt for using the words rather than the numerals. The chief reason for this is flow—as a reader reads a narrative, words follow suit more easily. When keeping a spreadsheet or making a list, numerals function better.

Lastly, of the final two sentences, the last one is a fragment. “The winning wad” is not a complete sentence. There is no verb! It does, though, feel “right” to read it. It could also have been punctuated like this:

The use of the colon is “more correct.” However, authors often choose to use fragments selectively for the sake of impact. A period before “The winning wad” creates a more dramatic pause than a colon. That’s what Davies is going for.


If you are American or have United States currency, open your wallet. Take a look at a one, five, and ten-dollar bill (if you have them). Look at the drawings of the famous American men. Compare them to each other.

If you have other notes (a twenty or fifty or a hundred dollar bill) compare those as well. What similarities are there? What differences? Who is on the twenty? the fifty? the hundred? Can you guess why they were selected? If you could be on a bill, which one would you prefer and why? Is it better to be on currency (money) that is used every day (like a “one”) or is it better to be on a large bill (worth more) like a hundred? Why?

There it was: the winning wad.



You might try tracing the bill or photocopying it and coloring it in (try using a variety of colors, like they do in Canada or Europe).

If you don’t live in the states, look at your cash. Who is on your bills? Why? What denominations do they come in? Which colors do you find prettiest?

As your child copies the passage, be sure to underscore the importance of capitalizing the names. Not only are there famous Americans to consider, but Evan’s name is also included and requires a capital “E.”

Grammar Notes: Ah money, money. Do do DO do Do do. Ah sugar, sugar.

Money in writing represents an interesting challenge. In The Lemonade War, Jacqueline Davies must write about money throughout the book. Sometimes she uses the numerical forms and at other times, she uses alphabetical terms. How does she know when to use what?

Let’s look at pages 32 and 33 for examples of both uses.

In the narrative text itself, Davies uses words: five bucks, ten, fourteen, fifty cents, third grade.

Each of these are expressions of numeric value but put into words (written with the alphabet, not with numerals).

Can you put those terms into their numeric equivalents? Try. Then check back here:

$5.00, 10, 14, $.50 or 50¢, 3rd grade

When writing a story, in most cases writers use the words rather than the numbers. The rule of thumb (meaning, the convention, or the typical practice) is to write the numbers in words if they have fewer than four syllables: one thousand, two hundred and twenty, sixty-four, eighteen, six.

If you find that the number has more than four syllables, go ahead and write it in digits: 2,463; 10, 985. When you get into really really really big numbers, you sometimes combine: 15 billion; 78 million.

On page 33, you’ll notice that there is a multiplication problem written in numerals:

14 x 50 =



In this case, the numbers are digits because Davies is no longer writing the numbers in the context of sentences, but is wanting to show a specific mathematical problem.

Later in the story you will see that Davies toggles between numbers in words and numbers in digits. See if you can discern why in each case.

When calculating a long list, numbers are the way to go. When writing story, in most cases, words are the chosen vehicle for conveying numeric information.

Week Four“One thing ends, another begins,” said Mrs. Treski, meeting Jessie and Evan on the

stairs. She raised her index finger, like a wise philosopher. “Fireworks. Rainstorm.”

Jessie raised her index finger. “Summer. School.”

Evan raised his index finger. “War. Peace.”

(Chapter 14, Reconciliation, page 172)

Week Four The Lemonade War


Week Four:Ending:

“One thing ends, another begins,” said Mrs. Treski, meeting Jessie and Evan on the stairs. She raised her index finger, like a wise philosopher. “Fireworks. Rainstorm.”

Jessie raised her index finger. “Summer. School.”

Evan raised his index finger. “War. Peace.”

(Chapter 14, Reconciliation, page 172)

Why this passage:

While not the very end of the book, this passage is a nice concluding thought related to the ideas in the book. Jessie and Evan find their way back to their friendship.

What to note:

This passage intermingles dialog with text. There are a couple of note-worthy literary devices at work too.

First, take note of the “raised index finger.” One important literary element in good writing is the repetition of key terms. (The Writer’s Jungle offers you a top ten list of literary elements,; “repetition of key terms” is item number seven.) By repeating the raised index finger three times, the passage takes on a poetic feel. The raised finger conveys a solemn tone, similar to “raising the right hand” for an oath. Since each person present follows suit, the reader is reminded of that “oath-taking” experience that happens in secret clubs and courtrooms.

The second literary device at work in this passage is the repetition of word pairs that follow a sequence. Mrs. Treski begins with a pair based on the recent events in the sky: fireworks, and then a rainstorm. Jessie follows suit: summer and then school. Evan, at last, drills down to the essential conflict of the novel: war followed by peace. The two kids had been engaged in a kind of battle (the title of the novel

Week Four The Lemonade War


tells us as much!). But now, under a sky where fireworks were calmed by rain, on a day where summer ends and school follows, they can remind themselves that the “lemonade war” they waged against each other has been swallowed by peace.


While this passage looks long, it is easily mastered due to the abundant repetition. This passage would make an excellent “full dictation” passage for that reason. Prime the pump by asking your child to copy it early in the week. Then on Thursday or Friday, suggest full dictation. Remember: it’s okay to have the student study the passage right before dictation. Your goal needs to be supporting the highest level of accuracy possible. Discuss the passage. Point to a specific punctuation mark and talk about it.

Do you see why the comma goes before the quotation mark?

Why is there a period after “Summer” and another after “School”?

The answers to these questions need not be explicitly grammar/punctuation rule-bound. Rather, you want to discuss how the writer creates the right meanings and inflections as the reader reads. For instance, the comma in the first line of the passage, attaches the statement Mrs. Treski makes to the fact that it is she, who said it. In dialog, commas function as “connectors.” They help related information stay attached to the original complete sentence. A period would make an ambiguous statement.

In the second instance, it’s worth it to note that the periods help to create finality. Each word inhabits its own finite space. They may follow each other, but they are not dependent on each other.

When discussing punctuation, consult a reference after discussion. You want to start by thinking about how the punctuation works for you, the reader, not what the rules are. It’s easier to then retain the “conventions” (habits of practice) when you have a sense of what the punctuation actually does for the sentence and the reader.

Grammar Notes:

Review the last three weeks.

Literary Element The Lemonade War


Literary Element

Narrative writing:

Writing comes in a bunch of styles: journalism, exposition, narrative, poetry, reports, interviews, articles, description, fiction, non-fiction, and more!

Novels fall into the category of fiction. Fiction is the sort of writing where the story is “made up” by the writer. Even if there are realistic situations, even if the locations are from our real world, even if the characters are created with real people in mind, fiction is different from non-fiction in that the events of the plot are from the imagination of the author.

One style of writing that conveys story is called “narrative.” Narrative writing is story telling. Every time you return from an event with friends and retell what happened to you, you are engaging in narrative: narrating the events from your personal viewpoint.

Narrative is different from other kinds of writing because its primary objective is to relate story over facts. The writing sounds like fiction, even when it is autobiographical (about yourself) or when it is describing a factual event. Rather than giving you a run-down of facts and figures, narratives involve the reader in following a plot—a sequence of events crafted to draw you along like you were watching a movie.

There are three types of narrative writing:

1. Personal (autobiographical)

2. Biographical (someone else’s true story)

3. Fiction (imagined story – about you or made up characters)



Personal narrative:

When you write about your own life, you want to tell the story in what we call “first person.” First person means you write like you would in your personal diary:

Personal narrative writing uses: I, me, my, our, we, us. It’s clear that the writer is involved in the action.

To write a quality personal narrative, follow these tips:

1. Focus on one experience or one moment-in-time. It’s usually too much to write about your entire life. Pick an event that is memorable. Usually a crisis and how you got through it provides a great starting point for a narrative. You want the story to capture the attention of the reader.

2. Demonstrate why the experience matters. It’s not enough to talk about how your paper doll collection got accidentally destroyed by the family cat. You want to show the reader why this was a painful experience to you, why it should have been prevented, why it mattered.

3. Use your sensory experience to add detail and depth to the story. Avoid “and then…” retelling. Get your readers invested through giving them things to see, sounds to hear, foods to taste, aromas and fragrances to smell, and textures to touch.

Biographical narrative:

Biographical narrative means you are telling someone else’s story. If you were to write about Abraham Lincoln or Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa, you are now telling their life story in narrative form. A narrative in this context is not the same as a report. You would not start your biographical narrative with a list of facts:

My family and I traveled to Italy for a two-week vacation. I discovered that Italian pizza tastes like cardboard, that the leaning Tower of Pisa made me sick to my stomach, and that the taxi cab drivers are dangerous. For instance, while in a taxi going to the Coliseum, our taxi smashed into a small Toyota truck, slamming my brother, sister, and I against the far door and each other! I wound up with a red bump on the side of my forehead where my sister conked into me.



Rather, you want to write about him as though you are telling a story:

Biographical narrative will feel like fiction in how the story is told, but it will report true events as closely as possible to their factual basis.

Fiction

Fiction is the most commonly known form of narrative. Fiction is story, and that story is made up—created in the imagination of the writer. The Lemonade War is an example of fiction.

Narrative writing is a powerful genre of writing because it finds its way into other non-narrative forms of writing. For instance, speeches, expository essays, research papers, newspaper articles, sports writers, and more use narrative in their work. They find places within the overall structure of their writing projects to include bits of story (what are called anecdotes). These bits of story (narrative anecdotes) enhance the emotional appeal of the writing. What that means is that when you read story, your emotions are more likely to be engaged. You care more when you read narrative.

If you hear that 19 firefighters died in a wild fire in Arizona, you are sad, of course. But when you hear that one of them was married with two small children, you are sadder. When you hear the tale of how he chose to become a firefighter, when the writer tells you the story of how he fought the blaze that killed him, when you read about his heroism, the level of your heartfelt sympathy is escalated. As it should be. Narrative engages the heart, and helps the reader care about the outcome of the writing.

Nelson Mandela was born July 18, 1918 and served as president in South Africa from 1994 – 1999. He spent 27 years in prison due to his opposition to apartheid.

Nelson awoke on his tiny bed in his cell. He looked out the window at the sunlight. It had been 25 years since he’d been locked in prison. His belief that apartheid should end had not waivered…



Writing idea:

Select one of the narrative forms and use it for a little writing project this month.

Personal

Keep a lock ‘n key journal! Use this month to keep a journal about your daily life. Retell events. Choose one memorable event per day (or perhaps just each day for a week, or one day a week for the month). This event should have a start and end, and it should be recounted with some attention to the following elements:

• Dialog (include conversation, or comments you made to yourself)

• Sensory detail (check the Keen Observation exercise in The Writer’s Jungle to help you)

• A beginning, middle, and end (since it’s a story, think about the beginning and then what happened and how it stopped happening). No need to be rigid, but think about it a little bit and try to find those three components.

Biographical

Pick a famous person to study. Read several accounts about that person, particularly a specific time period in that individual’s life. For instance, if you were to write about Nelson Mandela, pick a month or year in prison, not all 27 years. Find out as much as you can about what life in prison was like (not just the facts about time spent or locations, but the sort of food, the beds, the number of windows, the way he was treated). Then write the narrative like a journal entry, but in third person like you were writing a novel:

Nelson woke up early. He stretched and yawned and reached for his cup where he kept a little water from the night before.



Fiction

You may already have a story you are writing. Bravo! To practice narrative writing in fiction, you want more than the plot events. Add a setting (location, with weather, season, and plant life), include dialog, tell about one event (not an entire novel’s worth of events).

In all cases, the key to successful narrative is a well-drawn character who has an event worthy of retelling—a conflict that needs to be resolved.

Use the chart below to explore the primary character the primary character of your narrative (whether you use it to describe yourself, a historical figure, a celebrity, a sports figure, or a fictional character of your own imagination!). Once you have the elements, you may want to freewrite about an event and then combine what you know into a narrative. Remember: the chief feature of a narrative is that it sounds like a story, not a report!

1. Name

2. Birth/Death/Age

3. Nationality

4. Physical features

5. Personality

6. Strengths

7. Weaknesses

8. Goals

9. Achievements

10. Fascinating facts about...

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