Sending Waves for Week 4 - Plot
• I'm glad that you've joined me for week 4 – we're going to get a plot plan written. This will go alongside your work on character and setting as we look forward to welcoming you into your S4 class on the 19th May :)
• As you start on this week's work remember:
• Be kind, especially to yourself. This will help you feel calm and creative. Take it step by step. Pause when you need to. Ask questions when you need to. Skip what you need to. Go back to what you need to. Do this in a way that works for you.
• Bring your best: this will be different on different days. Take risks, try things out, make mistakes, have fun. Do the best you can each time you take on a task.
• We're learning together: keep in touch with me – share ideas, questions and work. If you're in touch with other S3s you could share ideas, questions and work with them too.
Get grounded
Pause. Breathe. What do you see
around you – or hear, feel, smell,
taste – that you are happy with or
grateful for? Draw or write at
Overview
Each week will have a different focus. There will be short activities to help you build up your ideas for your story. Here's the focus for each week:
• Week 1: Fairy tale genre. • Week 2: Character.
• Week 3: Setting • Week 4: Plot
• Week 5: How we use language and drawing it all together.
Remember to save all of the work we do somewhere safe and easy to find. You'll need it for your S4 course. We now know you'll be starting
these courses on the 19th May. You'll need all your pieces of work to take forward into your S4 class.
Drop me an email if you haven't managed everything or have
questions. We want to support you to be ready for the new courses starting. Wherever you are is absolutely OK. We'll start from there and
Structure for each week
• Quick write: This is a short writing activity that's
just about getting you writing. Nothing else. You won't have to share it with anyone or use it later (unless you want to). It's like warming up before playing sport – it gets your brain active and your writing muscles ready to go. The more we write, the better.
• Get thinking: This task will help you plan a part of
your story.
• Get writing: This task will take the ideas that
you've just thought through and give you a short writing challenge to start to develop your thinking.
Remember, we're thinking, planning and
experimenting just now. You're collecting ideas and skills to use in the writing piece that'll be part of your S4 coursework.
Try out lots of ideas. You don't
have to like all of them. You can
make mistakes, fail and try
another idea The more you try,
the more mistakes you make,
the stronger your writing will be.
Week 3 Focus - Plot
•
Key questions:
•
What twists could I put in this
tale?
•
Where's the biggest crisis in my
character's story?
Quick Write (10mins of nonstop writing)
For 10mins, write everything that comes into your head for one of these tasks. You'll
never need to share it. It can be full of mistakes and ideas. You can start a new idea in the middle of the time if you want to...the aim is just to start writing and keep writing.
Task 1
• Choose one of these two big fairy tale moments – try writing about them from the different character perspective suggested (or choose your own):
• The moment that three bears find Goldilocks sleeping in their bed – told from Goldilock's perspective.
• The moment when the shoe fits Cinderella's foot – told from one of her step mother's perspective.
Task 2
• Write in any way you want to about the picture opposite.
There are sentence starters on the next slide if it's tricky to get going. You can also ignore these if you've got an idea ready to go.
Get Thinking
•
We're going to think about the parts of the plot of your story.
•
The mini-lesson that's on the blog page gets you thinking about how the 5
key sections of your story and ways that you can twist that story. Pause the
video at each point and do the task for you, using the supporting slides.
•
Still images of the plot structure graph, twist ideas and final plot plan – and
a summary of what you need to do at each point are on the slides that
follow.
Get Thinking - What are the key points in a plot?
We're using this 5 part plot structure. (This isn't the only way plots work – it's one way that they do and it helps us make sure we keep a focus on having tension and resolution. These are both important for a good story.) Listen to my explanation of it and think about how it fits the fairy tale you are retelling.
Get thinking - How does your fairy tale fit into
the 5 part plot structure?
Task: Work out and write down
(or draw) how your fairy tale fits
the five part plot structure:
•
Exposition
•
Rising Action
•
Climax
•
Falling Action
•
Resolution
Here's my example for Little Red
Riding Hood.
Get thinking - What might your twist be?
Task: Come up with at least 3
possible twists that you could add to
the fairy tale you're working with.
Here's a reminder of the twists I've
suggested. My twist ideas are on the
next slide if looking at them again
helps.
If, after coming up with these ideas
you think you'd rather stick with the
plot you know and just twist the
Get thinking - Planning Task - Create a 5 part plan
for your twisted fairy tale.
Task: Create your 5 part plan for your twisted
fairy tale. Here's mine.
Create the plan in a way that works for your thinking and imagination. It could be:
• A story graph (like mine) • Five pictures
• A mind map • Bullet points.
• ...something else.
Remember, your plan lets you go into writing your story knowing what's likely to happen. If your ideas change as you write, that's great – go with that. The writing process looks a bit
Get writing - Write a possible opening paragraph
for your story.
•
Here's an opening paragraph I might
use for my version of Little Red Riding
Hood.
•
Try out your ideas. Before you write
think about:
• What do you want your reader to know now about your main character(s) (what they look like, personality, challenges...)? • Where are you starting your story? What
setting detail will give your reader a clear picture of where the tale starts?
Stretch Task – Try out at least two other ways
your story could start :)
Possible ideas
•
Really focus on the weather to build the atmosphere.
•
Start with dialogue. What could your character be in the middle of talking
about?
•
Start with something arriving where your character is – a message, a gift, a
piece of news, a text message, an animal...
•
Start with a sound.
Share Your Work (and keep it safe)
I'd love to see your character profiles and/or see what you create for the hot seat questions.
You can share work via email or through Survey Monkey. I'll let you know what I love about it and maybe suggest a wee thing to think about.
(If you want to share your work but not tell me it's yours, Survey Monkey gives you the choice to be anonymous...)
• Email [email protected]
• Survey Monkey
link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D26 DWSH