What makes a story interesting? Yes, it could be fun to read a story about a girl who spends two enjoyable weeks at summer camp, plays some archery, makes a few friends, and then goes home. But how much more interesting is it when those two weeks include a secret, two lies, a false accusation, a confession, and a mystery? Twelve-year-old Tatum Schutt wrote My Grandmother’s Earrings, the featured story from the September/October 2014 issue of Stone Soup. The story is full of interesting twists and turns. We want to keep reading to find out how it will all turn out. Cicile is the narrator of the story. Her beloved grandmother died recently, but Cicile doesn’t want anyone at camp to know because she doesn’t like to be pitied. She swears her archenemy, Jess, to secrecy before they both leave for camp. Jess agrees, but she can’t resist teasing Cicile at camp about her “old-fashioned” earrings. Cicile admits to the other campers that the earrings are from her grandmother, but, determined to keep her secret, she lies and says she doesn’t like them. The next morning, Cicile is frantic when she can’t find the earrings anywhere. She breaks down and tells her cabin mates the truth. But where are the earrings? Everyone thinks Jess must have taken them. Jess denies it and suggests that perhaps Cicile’s grandmother’s “ghost” took them. Cicile’s new friend, Nicole, speaks to Cicile privately, saying it must have been Jess. Then, on the last day of camp, right before she drives off with her parents, Nicole hands Cicile a note. She confesses that she is the one who took the earrings. The note tells Cicile where to find them and begs for her forgiveness. All is well, almost. Next to the earrings, taped to a bed frame, is a tiny bottle of her grandmother’s perfume. Come to think of it, Cicile caught a whiff of the perfume on the very first day of camp. Was her grandmother somehow watching this story unfold all along? The story ends with this mystery, as well as some other unanswered questions. Will Cicile be able to forgive Nicole? Will she patch things up with Jess, now that she knows Jess was not lying? We’ll never know for sure, and maybe it’s better that way. The story leaves us with much to think about. It draws us in and makes us wonder how we would have acted in a similar situation. Is it always better to tell the truth, or are there times when it’s OK to lie? Should we be careful not to accuse someone of a wrongdoing when we don’t have proof? Can we forgive a friend who is truly sorry for her actions? Think about Tatum’s story the next time you sit down to write. Ask yourself, what would make my story more interesting? How can I create believable characters? Real people make mistakes. Sometimes they regret their actions. Take us along with you as you explore the twists and turns that make life (and stories) interesting.
story writing
Yes He Can! Challenging Stereotypes with Fiction
Can a boy dancer be cool? Yes he can! And yet Alex, the main character in “Standing Alone,” is teased mercilessly by his classmates because he likes to dance. They call him “ballerina,” even though he actually does contemporary dance, not ballet. They make his life miserable every chance they get. Nobody likes to be made fun of. Nobody likes to be bullied. Everybody wants to be liked and appreciated. In our modern world, we think of ourselves as open-minded. Boys and girls can follow their dreams, no matter what they are. But some stereotypes persist from the past, like the one that says it’s unmanly for a boy to be interested in dance. It’s important to look at those stereotypes and see how wrong they are, how much they hurt people. Then maybe we can get rid of them and become better people. Eleven-year-old author Erin Trefny helps us do just that in “Standing Alone,” the featured story from our May/June 2014 issue. She shows us the world through Alex’s eyes – his love of dance, the cruelty of his classmates, how he deals with his problem. Some of the best stories we receive are stories in which the author is writing about his or her own experiences. In Erin’s case, though, she is a girl writing from the viewpoint of a boy. How does she do it? Maybe she knows a boy like Alex, or maybe she is really good at using her imagination and observations to put herself in someone else’s shoes (or bare feet, in Alex’s case!). Whatever her secret, Erin has created a believable character. She has placed him in a story that holds our interest from start to finish. The story teaches us an important lesson, not by telling but by showing. Read Erin’s story twice, then read it again. Each time you will notice more little details and bits of dialogue that make the people and places come to life. Most of all, notice how Erin shows us, through her well-crafted story, that it is wrong to tease, wrong to bully, and wrong to stereotype.
Character, Plot, and Setting, Oh My! (Part 3)
Developing the Elements of a Story, Part 3 I can’t even count how many times I have read Thomas’s Christmas Delivery or Little Bear’s New Friend. My children never tired of hearing about Thomas’s and Little Bear’s adventures. Though as adults we may not read the same book as many times as our children reread their favorites, we can appreciate the draw of a good story. It’s that connection we have with the story that keeps us up to the wee hours of the night turning page after page and lingers in the periphery of our minds, wooing us as we go about our day. But what makes a story one to treasure, and how can we help our kids develop a tale beyond a sequence of events? The glue that holds a story together is character, plot, and setting, and when children understand and develop them, a great story is born. Have you ever imagined strolling along the paths of the shire or sitting in potions class at Hogwarts? The authors of these worlds have so craftily described the settings of these places that it makes it easy for us to fall right into the stories alongside our favorite characters. The setting of a story can set the mood, influence the characters, and affect the readers’ emotions. Although setting is an element children tend to forget, developing it can add interest not only for the reader but also for the writer. First, children need to understand the different aspects of setting: time, place, and environment. When and where does the story take place? What does the place look like? Who lives there? Is it a suburb, city, or countryside? Is it a rich or poor area? There are free lesson plans available online for teaching about setting. “Using Picture Books to Teach Setting in Writing Workshop,” by ReadWriteThink.org is a useful guide and easily adaptable to the homeschool classroom. Second, developing the setting is more than just telling the reader the where and when. Like the rest of the story, the writer should show rather than tell the reader the setting. This is not an easy task, but Teaching Ideas provides a wonderful lesson sure to help kids see and practice how this is done. Finally, once the children have a better understanding of what setting is and how it is projected, they can have some fun developing the setting for their own story. A simple way to do this is to have them list the aspects of time, place, and environment on a sheet of paper and brainstorm ideas for each category. For example, have them attach sensory descriptions to the environment category. Primary Paradise, however, has free graphic organizers that both upper and lower elementary aged students would find useful for this purpose. Story writing should be fun for kids. When they also understand and develop the elements of a story, they not only become better writers, they also go on an adventure, exploring their characters, plot and setting—oh my!
