Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 29, 2021, 10:01:25 PM ---LOL Definitely not. We focus on realistic fiction, so I have them start by creating a character who's kind of like them in some ways and either drawing on real life experiences or writing the kind of story they would like to read. I have them help me create a character and come up with a problem for him/her to have that will be the basis for the plot. This year we ended up with a girl who wants to try out for a softball team because her friends are on the team, but she is not coordinated or athletically gifted, so she has to practice really hard to get better before tryouts. Pushing that growth mindset! LOL I'm just happy if they include dialogue and dialogue tags, "said" or otherwise!
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Fourth grade is probably too young to convert children to Team Dark, lol.
Ah, yes, self inserts and autobiographie s are good places to start fiction from. Easier for the author to relate to before they learn how to research properly! Aw, your softball character sounds like me. That's why I have a kickball scar on my arm! That's fun that you all create the character and problem together, plus yes, getting them focused on growth mindset!
I try to coach mine through dialogue and they have no interest. Alas. Especially my feisty one, every time it's writing stamina, it's like pulling teeth. Meanwhile I'm like, "I would love it if someone said 'You have fifteen minutes, write about anything' to me."
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 29, 2021, 10:13:33 PM ---Fourth grade is probably too young to convert children to Team Dark, lol.
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LOL I can usually tell which ones are already on Team Dark. Some of them want to write horror stories or stories where the main character ends up in the hospital. As long as they can keep them semi-realistic, I let them go for it. Except for the one year I had a little girl who, when working on a "Somebody... wanted... but... so... then..." summary of her story idea, had a character named "Mangle" who wanted to make the swim team, but she couldn't stop hurting other kids. Imagining Mangle as a budding young serial killer who couldn't control her impulses to drown her classmates in the pool, I was like, "So... are you saying Mangle's a bully? And she has to learn to be a better friend and not bully her teammates if she's going to be on the team?" I'm not sure if that was actually her intent or not, but that's what she went with LOL. She was a girl after my own heart - sweet and quiet on the outside, secretly dark and twisted on the inside LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 29, 2021, 10:13:33 PM ---I try to coach mine through dialogue and they have no interest. Alas. Especially my feisty one, every time it's writing stamina, it's like pulling teeth. Meanwhile I'm like, "I would love it if someone said 'You have fifteen minutes, write about anything' to me."
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Right?! Although I never liked being forced to write for fifteen minutes right there in the classroom. I've always written better when I'm by myself, on my own schedule.
By fourth grade, most of them do include dialogue, especially after I've modeled it for them and taught them about showing not telling, but some of their stories are like ALL dialogue... just characters talking back and forth without a lot of description or action in between.
Rose:
Fun fact, I still have them to this day cause my mom had saved it, but my elementary school had a "publishing" program where they'd pick kids from each grade who wrote the best stories to make a little book with their story. In 2nd grade, which was legitimately the grade I discovered I loved writing, I wrote a story about a Fox that loved life but got hunted down by a hunter and died lmao. In 3rd grade I got picked again and this time it was about a kid who's stepmother tried to cook them after marrying her dad - like a hybrid of cinderella and hansel and gretel LOL.
My teachers were always encouraging but sometimes I wonder if my weird ideas didn't scare them a bit lmao.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: Rose on March 30, 2021, 09:08:56 PM ---Fun fact, I still have them to this day cause my mom had saved it, but my elementary school had a "publishing" program where they'd pick kids from each grade who wrote the best stories to make a little book with their story. In 2nd grade, which was legitimately the grade I discovered I loved writing, I wrote a story about a Fox that loved life but got hunted down by a hunter and died lmao. In 3rd grade I got picked again and this time it was about a kid who's stepmother tried to cook them after marrying her dad - like a hybrid of cinderella and hansel and gretel LOL.
My teachers were always encouraging but sometimes I wonder if my weird ideas didn't scare them a bit lmao.
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LMAO That is awesome! I love how twisted you were even as a kid! The fox story... brutal!!! Of course, so is the cannibalistic stepmom, but Hansel & Gretel was always one of my favorite fairy tales LOL. I must read these someday.
Hopefully your teachers were secretly twisted like me, in which case they probably loved your weird ideas!
Rose:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 30, 2021, 09:21:27 PM ---LMAO That is awesome! I love how twisted you were even as a kid! The fox story... brutal!!! Of course, so is the cannibalistic stepmom, but Hansel & Gretel was always one of my favorite fairy tales LOL. I must read these someday.
Hopefully your teachers were secretly twisted like me, in which case they probably loved your weird ideas!
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The fox one cracks me up cause I gave the fox a cutesy name, for such a morbid story. Foxy Fox lol. Very 2nd grade. But getting picked twice and asking my mom to buy me notebooks is what got her to buy me a typewriter for my birthday. I loved the hell out of that thing LOL.
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