Planning Narratives
Plan narrative writing by considering how authors have developed characters and settings, drawing on techniques observed in texts read, heard, or performed
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify specific authorial techniques for character development from a mentor text
- Plan a character using techniques such as showing through action borrowed from a studied author
- Analyse how an author builds setting and apply similar techniques in planning own narrative
The lesson
Before authors write a story, they plan. They think about what their character is like and where the story happens. You can plan the same way, by noticing what authors already do in books, shows, or plays you know.
In Charlotte's Web, E. B. White shows Wilbur is scared through his shaking legs and quiet squeals. He never writes 'Wilbur felt scared.' A student read this and planned her own scared character the same way: shaking hands, a dropped ball, and refusing to look up.
Keep the book you are studying nearby while you plan. Name the technique exactly, like 'shows fear through shaking hands,' instead of just saying the author was good at writing.
Look at how authors build character and setting, then plan your own story using the same techniques.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.