A set of exercises to help students who turn to mush when asked to write a short story or react to other students' stories

1. Name ____________________________________________________________________ Date ________________________________ Period __________
CREATIVE WRITING
Today I want you to start on a project that will use your incredible imaginations and also show me you know how to follow directions. I want you to
write some great fictional stories. Think of every time you have thought a story that someone else insisted you read was boring. This is your chance to solve that
problem by creating a story that isn’t boring. Also, think about what makes a good story by reviewing a story I’ve had you read to refresh your awareness of
what you want to include and expressive language you want to use. The following steps will guide you through this.
1. Build a story pyramid for the story we just finished working on in class.
a. On line one: Write the name of the main character.
b. On line two: Write two words from a thesaurus that help us clearly see or understand the main character.
c. On line three: Write three words from a thesaurus that help us clearly see or understand the setting of the story.
d. On line four: Write four words that state the main problem in the story.
e. On line five: Write five words that describe one important event that occurs in the story.
f. On line six: Write six words describing a second important event that occurs in the story.
g. On line seven: Write seven words describing a third important event that occurs in the story.
h. On line eight: Write eight words describing how the story ends.
1.) __________
2.) __________ __________
3.) __________ __________ __________
4.) __________ __________ __________ __________
5.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
6.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
7.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
8.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

2. 2. Choose one of the following titles or another story seed idea as the title of the story you will write by circling the letter in front of the title.
a. A Poison Tree
b. Brothers Are the Same
c. Incident in a Rose Garden
d. On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read
e. The Princess and the Tin Box
f. Unfinished Business
g. Other:
3. Make a story pyramid for the story you will write.
a. On line one: Write the name of the main character.
b. On line two: Write two words from a thesaurus that help us clearly see or understand the main character.
c. On line three: Write three words from a thesaurus that help us clearly see or understand the setting of the story.
d. On line four: Write four words that state the main problem in the story.
e. On line five: Write five words that describe one important event that occurs in the story.
f. On line six: Write six words describing a second important event that occurs in the story.
g. On line seven: Write seven words describing a third important event that occurs in the story.
h. On line eight: Write eight words describing how the story ends.
1.) __________
2.) __________ __________
3.) __________ __________ __________
4.) __________ __________ __________ __________
5.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
6.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
7.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________
8.) __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

3. 4. Rough draft your story.
5. Have another student read your story aloud to you so you can hear where it is awkwardly written.
6. Have the student who read your story answer the following questions.
a. Which part of the story did you like the best? Why? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Which part of the story did you like the least? Why? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. Which parts of the story should be expanded? How? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Which parts of the story should be shortened? How? ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e. Do any of the character descriptions need more details? Which ones, and in what way? ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
f. Should the setting description be expanded or shortened? Why/how? _________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
g. Write down three interesting thesaurus adjectives that aren’t already in the story’s pyramid tree that describe each of the main characters. ___________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
h. Write down three interesting thesaurus adjectives that aren’t already in the story’s pyramid tree that describe the setting. _________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
i. Rate the ending of the story: Excellent Okay Needs improvement

4. j. Write down one alternative ending for the story. __________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
k. Underline any sentences you think are sentence fragments (i.e., missing a subject or a verb.)
l. Put a checkmark in the margin next to any sentence you think is too long.
m. Circle any words you think might be misspelled or bad grammar.
n. Put a P in the margin next to any line you think needs more or less punctuation.
7. Answer the above set of questions about your story yourself.
a. Which part of the story did you like the best? Why? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Which part of the story did you like the least? Why? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. Which parts of the story should be expanded? How? _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Which parts of the story should be shortened? How? ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e. Do any of the character descriptions need more details? Which ones, and in what way? ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
f. Should the setting description be expanded or shortened? Why/how? _________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. g. Write down three interesting thesaurus adjectives that aren’t already in the story’s pyramid tree that describe each of the main characters. ___________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
h. Write down three interesting thesaurus adjectives that aren’t already in the story’s pyramid tree that describe the setting. _________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
i. Rate the ending of the story: Excellent Okay Needs improvement
j. Write down one alternative ending for the story. __________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
k. Underline any sentences you think are sentence fragments (i.e., missing a subject or a verb.)
l. Put a checkmark in the margin next to any sentence you think is too long.
m. Circle any words you think might be misspelled or bad grammar.
n. Put a P in the margin next to any line you think needs more or less punctuation.
8. Write a second draft of your story to improve it using your own criticisms and comments and the criticisms and comments of the student who evaluated your
story.
9. Turn in both pyramids, both sets of criticisms and comments, and both drafts of your story.
10. For extra credit, find or make a few illustrations that would help readers visualize the events, location, time period, or mood of your story.