Writer’s Workshop Help: Using Different Writing Strategies



Writer’s Workshop Help: Using Different Writing Strategies

Fiction-Writing Workshop Teacher's Notes

Activity 1 — Writing Dialogue

This first fiction writing exercise should be TIMED. I want the students to plunge in and see what their memories hold rather than worrying a lot at this point about description or how people said things. My intention is to use a scrap of real-life dialogue as the starting point for a story that will continue through the lessons. It will be revised as we go. If any of the students really hate what they wrote, it's fine if they try another ten minutes on a different day or at home, but I'd still like it to be timed.

The second part of the exercise is to CHANGE SOMETHING in this dialogue so it isn't real-life anymore. For example, if the writer was part of the conversation, they might give themselves better lines. Or, instead of an argument, maybe the conversation will end in a cheerful agreement. Or, maybe it starts very simply with a couple of kids saying "Hi, How are you?" — and friendly vampires rise out of the floor boards. This latter idea is the least attractive to me; it's a little too obvious, although it certainly fictionalizes.

It would be good if you could emphasize for the students that even if they merely tell the thoughts of someone other than themselves, they are creating fiction, because they can't really know what the other person is thinking. Fictionalizing could also be adding another person to the conversation, or changing summer to fall or the gender or the ages of the participants, etc.

In other words, start with a memory, and begin to manipulate and change it.

This is what fiction writers do all the time!

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Activity 2 — Setting the Scene

The objective here is threefold:

1. Make the story longer.

2. Add a setting.

3. Think about the story by observing in your imagination.

By now, most teachers know the importance of sense data in description, but with luck your students will also come up with new ideas through this more contemplative exercise.

When you time them with their eyes closed, feel free to suggest relaxation techniques. You might have the students sit with nothing crossed — that is, hands relaxed, legs straight. You might also have them count down in their minds slowly from 10, make their minds into a blank screen, etc. If that's too "New Age" for you, just have them close their eyes to concentrate.

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Activity 3 — Character Descriptions

This activity has two goals — to encourage them to extend and expand these stories, and to add more precise, vivid description.

Describe-a-person activities that I have used include having your class sit in a circle for everyone to write descriptions of shoes ONLY, and then read the descriptions and try to guess whose shoes match the description. Also, ask students to describe some family member (a baby, pet, or elder would be good) using all their senses EXCEPT sight, or, alternatively, using sight last.

Remember to encourage the students to go back into the middle of their stories and add the description there.

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Activity 4 — Action Writing

One of my favorite writing activities to sharpen the ability to describe action is a game where "It" goes out of the room, and someone makes an ABSTRACT action with his or her hands. It shouldn't be something obvious, but a combination of spirals and flaps and claps and whirls. Then everyone writes a detailed description of that action, then "It" comes back. The class takes turns reading the descriptions, and "It" tries to reproduce the action from the written descriptions.

The writers learn that if they write "He waved his hands in the air," the person doing the action may entirely miss the wiggled fingers — in other words, this becomes an exercise in explicit communication. Something else fun to write is instructions, including humorous ones: How to Brush the Teeth of Your Pet Alligator, for example, always emphasizing the careful visualizing and detail. Have fun with this one.

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Activity 5 — Developing Internal Monologue (Characters' Thoughts and Feelings)

A good warm up exercise for writing internal monologue would be to have everyone close their eyes or put their heads down for a full two minutes and then try to write down as much as they can of exactly what went through their minds. It might be little jerky phrases or lines from songs, or just colors, or floating thoughts like "Gee this is stupid." "When is lunch? I'm starved." Then you can talk about what "thoughts" are like.

Another exercise that you may have already tried is to ask students to write the thoughts of some character from fiction or current events. If you are reading a story about, say, a girl in a wheelchair, have the class write a monologue in her mind. You could also try it for an astronaut or the winning pitcher of the world series or Chelsea Clinton or even her cat!

Monologues are fun to deliver as a public speaking/acting exercise as well as writing exercises. You might have everyone write short monologues, correct and type them up, then shuffle and draw blindly to read aloud.

My purpose in asking the students to put internal monologue in their stories is to add depth and another level of meaning.

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Activity 6 — Creating Story Starters

I think this optional activity is pretty self explanatory. One way to use it in the classroom is to have everyone finish their own story PLUS finish at least one story of another person. It would be lots of fun to compare versions.

I would also encourage everyone to pay attention to the techniques that are being used: passages of good description, lively, realistic dialogue, sharp action, etc.

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