McEntyre Creative WritingCompetition

Short Story / Personal Narrative

Poetry / Song Writing

Short Story

• 1. Don’t tell us, show us!

• 2. Use significant detail (use all five senses to trick us into believing).

• 3. Build round characters, not flat ones. Use appearance, action, dialogue, & thought. (Characterization!)

Short Story ….Continued

• 4. Create a world that entices readers through setting. A scene that seems to happen nowhere often seems not to happen at all.

• 5. Choose your point-of-view thoughtfully. Do you want to tell your story from the main character’s perspective OR have an omniscient narrator who gets into everyone’s mind?

Short Story ….Continued

• 6. Tense: Consider how present vs. past tense might influence your message and the overall tone of your piece.

• 7. Purpose: to draw both enjoyment and understanding from readers.

• 8. Audience: you decide!

Short Story ….Continued

• 9.Ending: ends with a resolution (an impact) that leaves the reader with an insight into the life experience.

• 10. Theme = what does the story have to say about “a special place”? Do the characters learn something about their special place?

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

• 1. Personal narratives allow you to share your life with others and experience the things that happen around you. Your job as a writer is to put the reader in the midst of the action letting him or her live through an experience.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE… continued

• 2. Structure: there are a variety of ways to structure your narrative story. The three most common structures are:

- Chronological approach

- Flashback

- Reflective mode.

Select one that best fits the story you are telling.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE…. continued

• 3. Don’t tell us, show us!• 4. Use Dialogue! • 5. Point-of-view: Most of the time, a

narrative is written in 1st person p.o.v. • 6. Tense: Consider how present vs. past

tense might influence your message and the overall tone of your piece.

• 7. Tone: How do you want your audience to feel when they finish your piece?

• http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/kburke/tips_for_writing_a_personal_narr.htm

Basic Tips (stories / narratives)

A. Every time speakers change, BEGIN a new

line.

B. Every new scene = a new paragraph

C. Meaningful Title!

Poetry / Song Writing

• 1. Free verse poems are just what they sound like. They can be rhymed or unrhymed, and have no set pattern that is followed. In general, they are the most popular type of poem, since you have the freedom to write about anything and you can write it however you feel like writing it.

Poetry / Song Writing…continued

• 2. English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet.

• 2a. Couplets are made up of two lines whose last words rhyme. They are often silly.

An example is - The cat ate a mouse And then brought it in the house.

Poetry / Song Writing…continued

• 2b. Triplets are made up of three lines. The rhyming pattern can be AAA or ABA.

An example is -What a fine day To go out to play In the month of May.

• 2c. Quatrains are made up of four lines. The rhyming pattern can be AABB or ABAB.

An example is -I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one: But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.

• 3. An acrostic poem is somewhat like how it sounds. Take a word, and write it vertically. Now write the poem "across", using the first letter from each letter of the word you wrote.

• 4. In an Alphabet poem each line begins with the letters of the alphabet in order.

• 5. Other forms of Poetry: Look up other forms and find one that you like.

• http://www.kathimitchell.com/poemtypes.html

• http://www.poeticterminology.net/

• http://voices.yahoo.com/the-different-types-poems-haiku-acrostic-free-verse-2792875.html?cat=10

• Typed

• Double-spaced or 1.5 spacing

• proposal + rough

• Word count (500-1000)

• Title

• If late, marks will be deducted

• Rough Copy DUE TUESDAY, Feb. 19th