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Hi every­one!

The Teen Writer’s Work­shop was a suc­cess! There were some great ques­tions just after we fin­ished that I didn’t have time to dis­cuss while every­one was together, so I decided to post it here for every­one to see. Essen­tially, the ques­tions were about dif­fer­ent lit­er­ary terms, so I’m defin­ing some below. Also, if you weren’t able to make it to the work­shop and want to con­tribute to our Teen Writ­ing Con­test (or if you just want some resources), this may catch you up. In addi­tion, below each sec­tion are links to fur­ther infor­ma­tion about each topic.

The Plot:
Every story needs a plot. It can be really deep and mean­ing­ful, where the character(s) try to get some­thing and go on an amaz­ing jour­ney, or it can just be a series of mus­ings all con­nected some­how. Basi­cally, this is how most sto­ries are struc­tured, but you can inno­vate and expand upon it. That’s the point of cre­ativ­ity, right?
Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/storyplanner_country.pdf
• http://www.coolschool.k12.or.us/courses/109911/lessons/assignments/02/Part1/plotmtn.html

Point of View (POV):
Point of view is essen­tially the per­spec­tive from which a story is told. There are three kinds of POV:

1. First Per­son: These sto­ries are told from the per­spec­tive of one sin­gle per­son, through his or her eyes. Exam­ple: “I walked down the street one day.”
2. Sec­ond Per­son: These sto­ries directly address the reader or audi­ence. This isn’t very com­mon, but was com­mon through 19th cen­tury lit­er­a­ture. Exam­ple: “You might be won­der­ing what I’m talk­ing about.”
3. Third Per­son: These sto­ries use pro­nouns like “he,” “she,” or “it.” More­over, the story can be told in lim­ited or omni­scient third per­son. Lim­ited third per­son means that the story comes from the per­spec­tive of the main char­ac­ter and does not tell the thoughts of other char­ac­ters. Third per­son omni­scient (omni­scient means “all-knowing”) can reveal any and all infor­ma­tion, whether the main char­ac­ter knows it or not.

Fur­ther resources:

• http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative/shortstory/#view
• http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/how-to/creative/point-of-view/
• http://creative-writing-course.thecraftywriter.com/writing-from-a-point-of-view-pov/

Fore­shad­ow­ing is when an author hints at what might hap­pen later on in the story. This can help build ten­sion or antic­i­pa­tion, dri­ving the story along. Try not to use a heavy hand with this, as you want your reader to keep read­ing, but not com­pletely fig­ure it out by the end.
Fur­ther resources:

• http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm#FORESHADOWING
• http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~dl314201/PDF/Foreshadowing.pdf

Tone is the atti­tude of the author or nar­ra­tor toward the story. Is your nar­ra­tor comic? Seri­ous? Fore­bod­ing? Fright­en­ing? Straight­for­ward?
Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm#TONE/MOOD
• http://courseweb.hopkins.k12.mn.us/file.php/593/Unit_1/tonewords.pdf

Mood, also called atmos­phere, is the emo­tions that the lit­er­a­ture brings up in the reader. Is it scary? Tense? Funny? Light­hearted?
Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.dowlingcentral.com/MrsD/area/literature/Terms/Mood.html
• http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm#TONE/MOOD

Flash­backs and flash­for­wards are used to pro­vide infor­ma­tion, to cre­ate sus­pense or antic­i­pa­tion in the reader.
Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/writing-flashbacks/
• http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/writing-flashback-flash-forward-94.html

Dic­tion is the use of words in a story. This sounds sim­ple, right? How­ever, you want to spice up your writ­ing and not be bor­ing or vague. Be spe­cific and inter­est­ing. Use the right word for the right sit­u­a­tion. Your best resource: a The­saurus!

• Said - called, shouted, laughed, cried, chor­tled, asked, ques­tioned, moaned, whis­pered, whined, replied
• Good/Nice — excel­lent, appre­ci­ated, well-behaved, polite, great, appro­pri­ate, well man­nered, enjoyable
• Bad - dis­re­spect­ful, naughty, inap­pro­pri­ate, ill-mannered, rude
• Like - enjoy, love, prize, care for, respect, approve, agree with
• Went (ie I went there) — ran, raced, walked, strolled, mean­dered, drove, rode
• Pretty - Beau­ti­ful, gor­geous, lovely, pul­chri­tudi­nous, adorable, amazing

Poetry (which we’re also accept­ing for sub­mis­sions to the writ­ing con­test!) is one of the most mis­un­der­stood aspects of writ­ing and lit­er­a­ture. Usu­ally, you either like it or you hate it. Don’t worry about rhyming or rhythm, or deep sym­bol­ism. How­ever, poets become famous for a rea­son! Shake­speare came up with very lit­tle on his own, but per­fected things that came before him, like the son­net. There­fore, take a look at some of the resources below, and do a lit­tle imi­ta­tion. More­over, do a bit of inno­va­tion build on what’s been done before–make it your own!
Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.rbuhsd.k12.ca.us/~rgrow/Formal%20Verse.html
• http://www.rbuhsd.k12.ca.us/~rgrow/Free%20Verse.html
• http://teacher2b.com/creative/haiku.htm

Take a look at the doc­u­ment linked below. It gives some great resources about how to make your story really shine and have good depth.

• “The 5 Facts of Fiction”

Gen­eral Fur­ther Resources:

• http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm
• http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative/shortstory/
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/575/01/
• http://www.dowlingcentral.com/MrsD/area/literature/Terms/
• http://www.55fiction.com/about/
• http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/flashfiction.html
• http://flashfiction.net/2009/10/thursday-craft-eleven-essentials-of-writing-great-flash-fiction.php

If you have any other ques­tions or sug­ges­tions, put them in the com­ments section!

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