Show, Don't Tell

We looked at two sentences from two very different novels.  It is possible to be drawn into a story from the very first sentence.  C.S. Lewis, in his Narnia novel "The Silver Chair," began the book with this sentence:

It was a dull autumn day, and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.

What do we immediately know about the story from that first sentence?  The class determined that we know that it is autumn, the sun is not shining, the main character is named Jill, and this story is going to have something to do with a school - probably an elementary, middle or high school.  Also, something bad has happened to Jill.  That is a lot to know about a story, just from the first sentence.

As a writer, how will you draw the reader into your story?  Think of it as your opening shot, like in a movie.  Where are we?  What is happening?  Let us experience the action of the story and then draw us in, like you are reeling in a fish on a fishing line.  Give us the details of time, place and character by showing us through the story.  You don't have to list those things.  The story will tell them to us.  We also looked at the opening sentence from Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."  It does the same thing: draws the reader into the story from the first sentence: "We were six miles outside of Barstow when the drugs began to take hold."  We know we are in a car, we are somewhere near some place called "Barstow," and the occupants of the car are inebriated.  That first sentence is enough to get us to wonder: who are these people, and what is going on here?  Already we know this is a strange story, and the characters are far from the traditional characters we might expect.  They are already doing something dangerous.  Maybe they are dangerous characters?  Thompson, the author, makes us want to find out!

For your story, make sure that you have in your folder:
a) the Characters Sheet
b) the Cities and Towns worksheet for the place in which your story begins.

Begin to write your story.  Remember: your story takes place in the past, so verbs should be in the past tense.  Most verbs in the past tense end in -ed, but not all of them.  It is easy to slip in and out from past to present tense.  For the assignment, you must stay in the past tense throughout the story.

You should have at least three hand-written pages by Thursday of this week.  During class I will be working with students individually to help facilitate the writing process.