Creative Writing Sample - Jackson School District
Creative Writing Sample
Choose ONE of the following writing exercises and construct a sample showing me a little about yourself as a writer. Be creative, be complete – write between four-six pages.
1. Write a short story/scene placing two characters in this very fundamental conflict: one wants something the other does not want to give. (The something may be anything – money, respect, jewelry, sex, information –but be sure to focus on the one desire.)
2. Imagine a character you really don’t like. Then give him/her one mental habit, desire, fear, love or longing that you have. Write a scene/story in which that trait plays out in a way that readers feel sympathetic toward the character.
3. Begin your story with one of the following lines and go from there…
“Nothing was funny about this.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Dying isn’t half as hard as living.”
4. Write a scene/story with two characters in conflict over setting. One wants to go;
one wants to stay. The more interesting the setting you choose, the more interesting the conflict will be.
5. Create a story from anything in your life.
Examples:
• What broke your heart?
• What scares you to death?
• What hurts you more than anything?
• What makes you so happy you can hardly bear it?
• What are your secrets?
• Was there some ideal time in your life that to which you long to return?
• Why is still so painful that you cannot let it go?
• What about your own life do you feel you will never understand?
Show Don’t Tell
Two techniques you might find helpful are: First, imagine that you are explaining something to someone from another planet, who has not experienced anything on Earth; second, and more concretely, ask yourself what senses are involved. If the reader were in the scene, what would he or she see, hear, smell, taste and feel?
Telling
Nick was angry.
This is easy. I, the author, am telling you, the reader, that Nick is angry.
That wasn't hard to spot, was it?
What makes this a bad thing?
For one, if it's used too often in a story, it keeps the reader at a distance from what the character feels.
If the reader cannot experience the emotions of the characters by reading your words, the reader will move on to someone else's story, someone who knows that to keep the reader interested she (or he) must bring drama and life into the character's world with powerful words and phrases.
Showing
Nick's hand curled into a tight fist. He stared hard at the man standing in front of him, and his eyes narrowed to thin slits. A muscle in his jaw ticked. "You dare to question my honor?"
Mixing and Matching
Example Nick's hand curled into a tight fist, his anger swelling up from his chest, threatening to choke him with bitterness. He stared hard at the man standing in front of him, and his eyes narrowed to thin slits. A muscle in his jaw ticked. His brother had not changed, not one damn bit in the past two years that he'd been abroad. "You dare to question my honor?" Nick bit out, wanting desperately to smash his fist into the side of Robert's head. He held back. His mother would not like to see her favored son knocked to the ground.
How to Show:
1. Use strong and specific verbs.
2. Provoke emotions through character reactions and vivid writing: don’t tell the reader how to feel.
3. Use well-placed details to bring scenes to life.
4. Use expressive dialogue to reveal character’s emotions and attitudes.
Your Turn:
1. Jack was nervous as he entered the classroom.
2. Maria is a quiet, sensitive young woman.
3. Joe walked down the street.
4. Julia spilled her can of soda.
5. Nicole wrote her name on the test.
6. The child’s fear was real.
7. The boat was about to sink.
8. The man went into the store. He couldn’t find what he wanted, so he left.
9. Raymond went outside and found something very strange.
10. They were lost and they knew it.
Revision of Writing Sample
1. Have a peer read your sample and using a highlighter, pick out three instances where you need to show more.
2. Revise the three sections your peer noted.
3. Review the Writing Sample Revision sheet I gave to you on Monday and begin to make revisions based on your notes. Be certain to revise the three noted sections by your peer to show more.
4. Your second complete draft of your writing sample is due Friday.
Creative writing game: "Your character has a secret." Give each student a slip of paper with a different statement about a fictional character; for example:
• Mayra can't cook
• Joel cheated on the test.
• Karin hates Mary.
• Nitin is afraid of his boss.
• Elena is jealous of her sister.
• Chris just kissed Sergio's girlfriend.
The students have five minutes to write some sentences that show the information they've been given without telling it. Then they pair up to read their partners' sentences and guess the secret.
7 Simple but Effective Tips for More Engaging Writing
Don’t just tell me your brother is talented… show me what he can do, and let me decide whether I’m impressed. To convince your readers, show, don’t just tell them what you want them to know.
There. I’ve just told you something. Pretty boring, huh? Now, let me show you.
My brother is talented.
There’s nothing informative, or engaging, or compelling about this sentence. You have no reason to believe or disbelieve me, and no reason to care. (TELLING is boring and unconvincing.)
My brother modifies sports car engines, competes in ballroom dance tournaments, and analyzes chess algorithms.
“Wow, that guy is talented,” you say to yourself. You didn’t need me to TELL you what you’re supposed to think, because I carefully chose those details. (They SHOW you the range of my brother’s talents.)
1) Choose Specific Details That Show Your Point
You won’t need to write a boring, uninformative and unpersuasive sentence like “Texting while driving is bad” if you can instead SHOW your point, through well-chosen details (such as statistics, specific examples, or personal stories) that SHOW in a persuasive way.
Let’s consider this point: “This tired child needs a nap.” That’s pretty dry, so let’s try to make it more vivid and persuasive.
|[pic] |The little girl looked so tired, she clearly needed a nap. |
| |This sentence gets right to the point, but nothing about it engages the imagination or makes the reader want to keep |
| |reading. |
|[pic] |The brown-eyed little girl wore a plastic Viking cap, and her mouth was sticky from candy. Standing there in her |
| |dress-up clothes, she looked more tired than I had ever seen a child look. But she was so very stubborn, I saw we were |
| |headed for a battle. |
| |This version mentions the author’s reaction: this child is tired. It also offers a motive: the author must get her to |
| |take a nap. But what does wearing a Viking cap or having brown eyes have to do with being tired? These random details |
| |do give the reader something to work with — something to flesh out the bare claim, but the details don’t actually |
| |contribute to the main point. |
|[pic] |Her sleepy brown eyes hardened into red-rimmed slits. She cocked her plastic Viking helmet aggressively, the horns |
| |sticking out only a little more than her curls. One fist clutched a decapitated lollipop, the other a cardboard sword. |
| |She leveled the point at my chest. “You mean dragon!” she growled. “You’ll never make me nap!” |
| |Now that I’ve added more battle-related details (the sword, the dragon, the “decapitated lollipop”), the Viking hat |
| |makes a little more sense, and we get the idea that we’re about to face an epic temper tantrum. The details provided in|
| |this version all SHOW the reader what’s at stake. But the “brown” in “sleepy brown eyes” is just a random detail, and |
| |could easily be cut. The important details, however, provide clues that you can assemble, so that you say to yourself, |
| |“Wow, that little girl is stubborn, and she sure needs that nap!”But what if, when you read that version, the message |
| |you get is completely different? You might say to yourself, “That horrible girl deserves a spanking,” or “I hope |
| |naptime battles don’t crush her creative spunk.” |
| |The point is, you are interpreting what the details show, you are building on those details — you are engaging with the|
| |examples in a meaningful way. |
| |For a given writing task, if communicating a precise, factual, word-for-word message (such as “the red zone is for |
| |immediate loading and unloading of passengers only”) is more important than engaging the reader’s emotions, |
| |imagination, and/or intellect, then in that case, telling is more efficient than showing. |
| |But showing specific examples can help drive home the message you’ve told. Thus, the title of this page is “Show, Don’t|
| |(Just) Tell,” not “Show, Don’t Tell.” |
2) Give the Reader a Reason to Feel Your Emotions
If you want to engage the reader’s heart, mind, and imagination, SHOW with vivid details that generate, in your reader, the emotions you want to express. Rather than classify and list all the emotions that YOU felt, use specific details that give the READER a reason to feel those emotions.
|[pic] |I’ll never forget how I felt after Fido died. I was miserable. |
| |Simply naming the feelings that you experienced (telling your reader what you felt) is not enough to create |
| |interest in the reader. Can you find a way to generate, in your reader, the same feelings that you experienced? |
|[pic] |If I live for a thousand years, I’ll never forget how utterly and terribly alone I felt after Fido died. Months |
| |and months went by, and it seemed that every little thing reminded me of him. I don’t know whether I am ever |
| |going to get over his death. |
| |While the author has added specific details, those details merely assist the telling – they don’t actually give |
| |the reader a reason to love Fido, and to suffer along with the writer. |
|[pic] |Whenever puppies in the pet store window distracted me from our walk, Fido flattened his scruffy ears, growling. |
| |But he always forgave me. As his sight faded, the smell of fresh air and the feel of grass would make him try to |
| |caper. Eventually, at the sound of my voice, his tail thumped weakly on the ground. This morning, I filled his |
| |water bowl all the way to the top–just the way he likes it–before I remembered. |
| |These carefully chosen details help us to understand the relationship between the pet and his owner. |
| |We see the dog is jealous of puppies, we see that he grows increasingly weak, and we see the author is still in |
| |the habit of caring for this dog. |
| |We don’t need to know what color the dog is or how cute his nose is (just as we don’t need to know what the |
| |author looks like). |
| |Because the author does not supply a sentence that announces, “I loved Fido and still can’t believe he’s gone,” |
| |the reader is left to make that connection. That means the reader has to engage with the author’s details, and |
| |becomes more intellectually and emotionally engaged in the story as a result. |
3) Encourage the Reader’s Involvement: Show Details that Imply the Main Point
|[pic] |From the way she behaved in the crowded restaurant, you could tell Sally was attracted to the cute stranger in |
| |the black shirt. She tried a few things to get his attention, and eventually she thought she succeeded. |
| |The author wastes no time providing the information, but the story is very thin… nothing interesting seems to be |
| |happening. |
|[pic] |That stranger had been scanning the room, and this time, Sally thought his eyes flickered in her direction. Wait |
| |— was that a half smile? Had he just put his hand on his heart? Or was he just brushing something off of his |
| |shirt? That shirt looked soft. Sally smiled.“He’s kind of cute,” her roommate giggled. Sally casually looked |
| |away, twirling a curl. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, letting her eyes rest on the artwork, the flowers, a random |
| |face in the crowd, and found another excuse to laugh. Carefully turning her profile, she crossed her legs like |
| |her friends had practiced in middle school. That ought to do it, she thought. |
| |The reader is left to figure out what’s going on, which is more engaging for a story. There is tension, and even |
| |a bit of character development. |
The original version of Sally’s story tells me a few specific but isolated details — for instance, the color of the stranger’s shirt. But is that detail important? (It’s not.) Without coming right out and saying “Sally was attracted to the man,” the revision shows a series of different details (Sally notices the shirt, then wonders what it feels like) that come together to form a pattern– but the author does not come right out and announce what the pattern means.
Is Sally a sultry temptress at an embassy dinner, or a knobby-kneed waif about to embarrass herself at a high school dance? At this point, we can only imagine — and that keeps us reading.
4) Show with Informative Details and/or Emotional Language
|[pic] |I like many different sports, from skiing to rock-climbing, but when it comes right down to it, I would have to |
| |say that ping-pong is my favorite sport. |
| |Telling (No Details) – Snooze. This kind of writing can help you meet a word count, but it really boils down to |
| |“I like ping-pong.” All the rest is filler. There’s nothing in this passage that expresses how the author feels |
| |about ping-pong, and nothing that informs or persuades the reader. |
|[pic] |Ping-pong is a really interesting sport. Casual players may find it relaxing, but to get really good, you need |
| |manual dexterity, agility and endurance. |
| |Telling (Dry Details) – While the author has added details, those details merely assist the telling – this |
| |passage still starts out with “I like ping-pong.” A reader who doesn’t already love ping-pong will have no reason|
| |to change his or her mind. |
|[pic] |Ping-pong may look like a relaxing pastime, but for experts, winning the game requires manual dexterity, agility,|
| |and endurance. |
| |Showing with Informative Detail – While there’s nothing particularly engaging in this opening, if the rest of |
| |the paper demonstrates that, in order to make the transition from “relaxing pastime” to “winning the game,” you |
| |need “dexterity,” “agility” and “endurance,” then you see that this sentence isn’t just a random list of stuff to|
| |talk about. This opening line isn’t just throat-clearing or filler — it’s a carefully chosen table of contents, |
| |mentioning the topic of each of the supporting paragraphs. |
|[pic] |He’s drenched in sweat, his knuckles are white, he’s on the other side of the ping-pong table, and I’m about to |
| |bring him down. |
| |Showing with Emotional Language – There’s no need for the author of the last sample to write, “I like ping-pong” |
| |or “ping-pong is more serious than you think,” because the vivid details all show these points. The fact that the|
| |opponent is sweating means you need endurance. The fact that his knuckles are white suggest he’s nervous. The |
| |author’s claim “I’m about to bring him down” suggests that attitude and psychology play a role in ping-pong. This|
| |document might not be as technically or factually informative as the “Showing with Detail” paragraph, but if your|
| |goal is to convey the idea that ping-pong is worthy of serious attention, then you might motivate your reader to |
| |reconsider their opinion of the game. |
5) “Telling” states facts or observations. “Showing” invites much deeper understanding.
|[pic] |All the kids knew that Lucinda was the meanest kid in the third grade. She was prissy and cute, and she thought |
| |that meant she could get away with anything. She would always go out of her way to torment me. I wasn’t one of |
| |the “cool” kids, and the few kids I knew were just the guys I played chess with during recess — they weren’t |
| |really friends. Plus, I was clumsy. So I was a good target. She tormented me so much she made the third grade a |
| |living hell. |
| |Okay, we understand the author wants us to think Lucinda is mean, but we don’t actually see her do anything. Does|
| |the narrator have a good reason to fear Lucinda, or is the narrator a whiner-baby? There’s not enough information|
| |for us to know (or care). |
|[pic] |When the recess bell rang, I grabbed my chess set and dashed to freedom, eager to win the daily tournament of |
| |outcasts. I didn’t look, but I knew Lucinda was watching, I could feel her curly locks swaying as her head |
| |tracked me. Of course, I tripped in the doorway. Tennis shoes and sandals stepped around me as I scrambled after |
| |pawns and bishops. And there was Lucinda, waiting for me to notice her. She smiled, lifted her shiny |
| |patent-leather shoe, and slowly, carefully ground her heel right on the head of my white queen. |
| |Here, we read a detailed account of Lucinda’s behavior (she has a habit of going “after” the narrator; she waits |
| |until she has the narrator’s attention before crushing his queen), and we can judge for ourselves. |
Both passages make the same point, but the second does a much better job of engaging the reader.
The second passage focuses in detail on one specific event. Instead of simply calling himself clumsy (as in the first passage), the author shows us one specific occasion when he trips, and the writing brings us down to the ground with him, so that we see what he sees and feel what he feels.
The second passage never comes out and says “I didn’t have any friends,” but the fact that nobody stops to help the narrator makes us gather that the guy is an outcast. We learn quite a bit about the author in just that passage.
Ultimately, there is no need to call Lucinda mean in the second passage, because that concept is conveyed effectively by the surprising detail of the shiny patent-leather shoe crushing the queen. There is no deadwood — it is packed with details, creating a more vivid emotional picture than the first one.
We actually learn something about Lucinda — she is not just being mean, she wants the narrator’s attention, too. Notice that she attacked the queen, of all pieces. Does she consider the chess set to be her competition?
6) Showing Prefers the Specific to the General
|[pic] |He looked at me in a way that wasn’t exactly threatening, but still made me uncomfortable. |
| |This is just a fancier way of telling the reader a feeling by stating something that happened and spelling out |
| |exactly what effect it had on you. What, exactly, did this guy do with his eyes, face, and body that made you |
| |uncomfortable? Describe his actions, and show your reader exactly what made you uncomfortable. |
| |Did he waggle his eyebrows at you in a vaguely sensual manner? |
| |Did he stare directly at you while taking a gigantic bite out of a chicken wing, so that bits of cartilage |
| |crunched in his mouth as he chewed? |
| |Did he keep glancing up at a point just above your head, as if something was about to drop on you, and then laugh|
| |when you looked up to see for yourself? |
7) Sometimes, “Telling” Is Good
When our goal is simply to inform, not to persuade or engage, TELLING does the job quite well — particularly if it’s part of an overall strategy.
That’s the reason I didn’t call this handout “Show, Don’t Tell” — I called it “Show, Don’t (Just) Tell,” because it’s perfectly acceptable to TELL the minor details that add up to the point you want to SHOW. In fact, it’s necessary to TELL.
For instance, in the opening example, I simply TOLD you that my brother modifies sports engines. I could have SHOWN his interest in cars instead: “His hands are grease-stained, he owns NASCAR posters, and on Saturday afternoons, he’s usually under his car.” But to SHOW you his interest in cars, I had to TELL you details about his hands, how he decorates his house, and what he does with his time.
I carefully chose what details to TELL, expecting those details to add up in a meaningful way that SHOWS you something in an engaging way.
|[pic] |“Our coach is a former champion wrestler, but now he is overpaid, overweight, and over forty.” –Dena Taylor |
| |This example TELLS a string of details, carefully organized for humorous effect — and the speaker’s choice to |
| |present the coach this way gives us a glimpse of their relationship. Based on the speaker’s attitude, how do you |
| |think the team has been faring so far this season? What relationship does the speaker have with the coach? The |
| |combination of details and tone SHOW far more than what any individual detail TELLS. So this is an excellent use |
| |of TELLING minor details in order to SHOW a bigger point. |
|[pic] |“These are the times that try men’s souls.” –Thomas Paine |
| |In stark contrast to the flowery language in political tracts designed for the nobility, Tom Paine uses stark, |
| |plain language to engage the common citizen. Later in the piece, he SHOWS with details exactly why he feels men’s|
| |souls are tried, and he persuades his audience what they should do about it. But here, he is TELLING something |
| |that the audience already agrees with, so that he can capture their attention and get them to listen to his |
| |bigger points. |
|[pic] |“I am your father.” — Darth Vader |
| |The bluntness of this statement adds to the dramatic punch as Luke reacts to the news in “The Empire Strikes |
| |Back.” |
Multi-Strand Plotlines
The best writers work in television. One of their most effective techniques are multi-strand plotlines.
Some stories work fine with a single hero pursuing one goal, but occasionally, a story will get boring in the middle, especially if there isn't enough conflict to sustain it. Although the use of a single hero pursing a single desire is the best way to explore that character fully, the use of mulitple plotlines is a great way to explore the story in new ways, while increasing conflict at the same time.
How To Use Multiple Plotlines
The Empire Strikes Back is a great example of how to use multiple plotlines in a story. There are two main stories in this tale: Luke Skywalker's "inner" journey of personal discovery as he learns to use the Force, and the "outer" story of his companions, Leia, Han, Chewie and the two droids. The second plotline is intertwined with the first one. Both plotlines affect each other. Otherwise, the story would fragment into two separate stories and it would fall apart.
The use of mutiple plotlines allows the writer to keep the story moving when things begin to slow down. To keep the story alive, the writer simply jumps between storylines at the height of action, so the audience is constantly engaged.
So, when using multiple plotlines in your stories, make sure that they affect each other in some way, or make them about the same kind of thing. In a typical sitcom, there may be three separate stories, all about the same subject. Each story will demonstrate a different aspect of the theme.
How It Works
Take the Seven Steps of Classical Story Structure taught by John Truby in his book, "The Anatomy of Story" and apply them to each plotline. Then move through each step one at a time, jumping between the separate storylines. This will create a weave of scenes that will drive the story home with the audience. Look at shows like LOST to get an idea of how this works.
Action Steps
Take your story and add another plotline or two with these steps.
1. Take your story and look at how you can create separate storylines with different characters.
2. Look at your main story and see how you can develop it into different aspects. For instance, if you're writing about the loss of a loved one, how can you tell the same kind of story with different characters and storylines?
3. Detail each of the seven steps of classical story structure with each plotline. For more information on this, read "The Anatomy of Story."
4. Weave the separate storylines into one single story, with jump cuts between each storyline.
5. You may want to emphasize one story or one character over the others.
6. How do the separate storyilines affect each other? Are the separate storylines about the same kind of thing? Are all of the characters pursuing the same goal?
7. At the end of the story, bring everything together. End each plotline one at a time or all at once.
What to do now
Examine your story and see if it might benefit with the use of this technique. Not all stories are made better this way. The advantages of using multiple plotlines are increased conflict, jump cuts at the height of each plotline which will maintain interest and more ways to examine the story problem. However, if you want to explore a single character in more depth, then you may want to hold off on using this technique.
First, the more technical response...
When you're working with multiple story lines, it helps to outline each one separately before you combine them - to make sure the dramatic structure is sound for each of them.
One useful tool is to write each event (change, turning point) on a separate 3"x5" index card. Use a different colour of card for each storyline. If you have more storylines than colours of card, perhaps put a coloured mark or symbol on each card to indicate which storyline it belongs to.
You can arrange your storylines as parallel rows of coloured cards on a large table, wall, floor, whatever you have. Make sure each storyline is clear, complete, and follows its own dramatic structure.
The fun part is when you weave or braid the events into one chronological sequence, combining all the storylines. I sometimes assemble the rows on a large corkboard and run a strand of string or wool from one card to the next, so I can keep the rows intact as I work. Or you may assemble the cards into one big deck in chronological order.
You might find it useful to date each event as you do this.
Your final challenge depends on whether you want to tell your story in chronological order. You may, for example start at the end and tell most of the story in flashback. Or you might jump back and forth between two time periods.
It helps greatly if you have worked out the chronological order of events before you get to this stage. The process here is one of deciding where to cut the cards and how to arrange the sub-decks.
The non-technical way of responding to this question would be to give you guidelines for braiding the events. Here are just a few thoughts...
I actually think third person narration will be advantageous with this type of story, because it is easier to switch point-of-view characters effectively when using third person. Try not to switch within a chapter.
Readers have a tendency to latch onto the first POV character they meet, so consider this when deciding where to begin the story. Who is the primary POV character?
It helps to have a bit of a cliff-hanger before you switch to a different storyline. The resolution of each event should raise a question or compel an action.
You might want to work on one act or section at a time, because it's difficult to hold all the events of a novel in your head simultaneously.
Otherwise, you simply must play with different arrangements of events until you find the one that is most satisfying. It really depends on your story.
- See more at:
Weave Sub-Plots Into Your Novel
By Lee Masterson
How many times have you started work on a great novel only to run out of steam 50 pages into your work?
The story stalls, the idea goes flat, the characters seem to stare back at you saying “What now, boss?”
In some cases it might be that you didn’t spend enough time planning how your characters are going to get from beginning to end and that red-hot plot you were so excited about just fizzles out.
In other cases it might be that the idea wasn’t big enough to fill out a novel or maybe you simply don’t have enough conflict in your story so far and want to liven things up a bit.
Weaving a second plot through your main storyline not only helps you to uncover new facets of your characters but can help raise conflict levels and create tension. You also have the opportunity to create a new depth to your original story, building layers of complexity that can force your fictional world into three dimensions.
If you create a sub-plot that has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot you’ll even force your reader to keep turning pages just to see how they gel together. Of course your reader already knows they will end up tied together in a neat little bow by the end of the book – otherwise there would be no reason for the new plot thread – but the reader will want to know how they end up intertwined and so will keep reading to find out.
Your sub-plot doesn’t need to be a romantic thread braided through the original story, although this is one of the more common sub-plot tactics used in many novels.
You might decide to have your main secondary character working with your protagonist openly, but secretly harboring a desire to thwart the hero’s efforts at every turn because he has other things on his agenda. You might decide to introduce a completely new plot to your novel that has nothing to do with the first and weave these together.
No matter what you decide to add for your sub-plot or how separate they are, it’s important that something within the sub-plot contains a vital element that is necessary to complete the main plot.
Sub-plots are used very effectively in many fantasy epics. The characters are all focused on a primary goal or quest, but each character has different things going on that either impede or interfere with the main plot.
Many horror novels have a light romantic sub-plot running through them to help relieve the pent-up tension created during intense horror scenes.
So how do you weave a sub-plot thread through your existing novel plot?
The easiest method of interweaving a new sub-plot through an existing plot is to create alternate chapters showing the viewpoint of another character. It’s through this character’s eyes that the new parts of the thread are shown to the reader.
When you first introduce your sub-plot it will seem to run parallel to your main storyline, but throughout your novel it should cross and sometimes even overtake your main plot until they meet at the end during the final scenes.
Even though you know where they’ll end up, your reader shouldn’t see it coming until the point where they finally intersect and it’s revealed why the sub-plot was the secret ingredient needed in order to finish the main plot all along.
Take a closer look at your current novel and see if you can find a sub-plot to throw at a secondary character that will help confuse and hinder your hero until the final scenes. You’ll be surprised at the new life you can breathe into a stalled novel
One of my favorite ways to outline or plan a story is to map it out like a subway or road map. Here’s how this technique works.
Each road or subway line represents a different story-thread or plot line. The dots (exits on the highways or subway stops) represent different scenes or moments in the story. Black dots represent local exits or subway stops (moments that apply only to that one storyline) while the white dots indicate moments where two or more plot lines intersect.
By mapping your story out in this way, you can tease apart the different plot threads in your story and make sure that each story arc makes sense in terms of build-up and tension. Also, it can be difficult to juggle multiple story threads at the same time so when you use this subway map technique, you can isolate the main plot or one of the subplots and look at it separate from the others.
For an example of this type of outline click on the image. The map shows a (very basic) outline Suzanne Collins’The Hunger Games. (Note: Because this is an outline, it inevitably includes spoilers. You have been warned.)
How do you put together a story map like this? Here’s a step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Write out your scenes.
I like to use index cards for this step, where for each scene I jot down a brief description of who is in the scene, what happens and why the scene is important to the story overall. The why is key because if I can’t figure out what purpose a particular scene serves in the story, then it probably means that scene is dispensable and I should get rid of it.
Step 2: Figure out your main story threads and the Dramatic Question related to each.
Every novel has a main plot thread and at least one or two subplots. Each of these plot threads is driven by what’s called the Dramatic Question. For the main plot thread we have the Major Dramatic Question (MDQ) and for the subplots we have what I like to call the Lesser Dramatic Questions (LDQ’s). These Dramatic Questions boil down each plot thread and propel them forward.
For example, in The Hunger Games the Major Dramatic Quesiton is: Will Katniss survive the Hunger Games? We also have questions that relate to the subplots of the novel (such as the love story between Katniss and Peeta or her relationship to her younger sister, Prim). Those questions are: Will Katniss love Peeta back? and Will Katniss be able to protect her family? These are the questions that readers will be holding their breath to find out the answers to as the plot threads develop.
Step 3: Sort out your scenes according to which plot threads they relate to.
Remember, some scenes can belong in more than one plot thread. In fact, most key scenes in a novel (like big turning points or the climax) will relate to multiple plot lines. I usually do this step by drawing colored dots on each index card. The color of each dot indicates the plot thread(s) where that scene belongs.
Step 4: Draw your map.
Now that you have your scenes sorted out and you know which scene falls where, you can draw your map and look at how the different plot lines intercept. You can also separate the main plot from the subplots and see how each individual arc works.
What I like about this technique:
• It allows you to look at plot lines together and individually whereas most outline techniques force you to look at all plot lines at once.
• It forces you to think about your story’s major dramatic question (and the lesser dramatic questions). This means you have to be able to boil down each plot line to one question. If you can do that, then you know the main plot of your story.
• It’s very visual so at a glance you can see your entire story and how everything fits together. This is especially helpful for writers like me, who are more visually-than-verbally oriented and have a tough time with traditional outlines.
It’s Like…
1. Each team will receive index cards in the categories of actions, emotions, person/place/thing, and bonus.
2. The members of the team will create three similes for each card. For example, the emotion of love. Love…is like eternal sunshine, is like a balloon about to burst, etc. You want your similes to be ORIGINAL so the other teams have to think about the startling comparison.
3. One team presents at a time and gives the category and one simile. The other teams have 30 seconds to guess correctly. If the team guesses correctly on the first try, they are awarded three points, and go to the next category; if not give them a second simile.
The scoring is as follows: 1 guess = 3 points
2 guesses = 2 points
3 guesses = 1 point
4. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins!
Creative Writing Evaluation
Please take this survey and be as honest as possible. Your feedback is much-appreciated and will be taken into consideration for next year. Your grade is not affected by this and you do not need to write your name on this paper.
Please state whether the following units should have more, the same, or less time and attention given to it.
1. Exercises on Fiction (setting, character, plot, etc.)
More Same Less
2. Analysis of own poetry through peer workshops
More Same Less
3. Exercises on Meter and Scansion
More Same Less
4. Time in the computer lab for typing poems and portfolio work
More Same Less
5. Please list two things you would NOT change about the course.
6. Please list two ways to improve the course.
7. What other avenues/genres/units did you want to study in Creative Writing that we did not? If nothing put n/a
Additional comments or suggestions:
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