6 trait power write short story6traitpowerwrite.com/media/pdfs/7_short_story.pdfyour idea may change...

Copyright © 2009 Step Up 4 Learning Systems, Inc. Reproduction limited to 6 Trait Power Write™ licensed users. All rights reserved.

6 Trait Power Write®

Short Story

Table of Contents

Writing Process

Choose a Topic .................................................................................................................2

Evaluate Your Topic ..........................................................................................................3

Prewrite ▪ Organize (Story Map)........................................................................................4-6

Write Sloppy Copy.............................................................................................................7-8

Evaluate 6 Traits ▪ Revise..................................................................................................9-11

Wait ▪ Read Aloud ▪ Input and Feedback...........................................................................12

Tackle Final Flaws ▪ End with a Perfect Copy ...................................................................13-14

Assess Your Writing Process ............................................................................................15

Additional Brainstorming Activities

5 W’s and How ..................................................................................................................16 Describe an Event .............................................................................................................17 Describe a Person .............................................................................................................18 Describe a Place ...............................................................................................................19 Describe a Thing ...............................................................................................................20 Freewrite............................................................................................................................21 Sensory Details .................................................................................................................22 Print only the pages you need. Select File – Print. Type the page number(s) and/or page ranges separated by commas in the Pages field.

Example:

Name:___________________ Short Story Date: ____________________

Copyright © 2009 Step Up 4 Learning Systems, Inc. Reproduction limited to 6 Trait Power Write™ licensed users. All rights reserved. 2

Review the Power Write Process

Prewrite Brainstorm ideas

Organize Put ideas in order

Write Sloppy Copy Focus on ideas

Evaluate 6 Traits Consider changes

Revise Make changes

Wait Set writing aside

Read Aloud Read to an audience

Input and Feedback Discuss and suggest

Tackle Final Flaws Make final corrections

End with a Perfect Copy! Present your writing

Choose a Topic

Instructions: When brainstorming story ideas, think about the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how. Your idea may change as you write the story. Use the text area below if you need to brainstorm ideas for your short story.

My story idea: _____________________________________________________________



Evaluate Your Topic Instructions: The questions below will help you think about your Assignment, Self, and Knowledge (ASK). Your topic may need to change if you answer No to any of the questions.

My story idea: _______________________________________________________________

Assignment 1. Will I be able to develop a story using my idea?

2. What is my purpose? Focus on your purpose as you develop your writing.

inform/explain persuade/argue

entertain/create express/reflect

3. Who will I be writing for? Think about what your audience expects, needs, or wants as you develop your writing.

classmates young children elderly

teacher teens business

family adults other

special interest group

Self 4. Is this a topic I am interested in developing? You will find it easier to write well if you are

interested in the topic.

Knowledge 5. Am I familiar enough with the setting and time period that I want to use for this story? If not,

will I have time to find out what I need to know?

yes no – consider changing topic





Prewrite ▪ Organize (Story Map)

Consider the point of view, setting, characters, conflict, plot, and theme for your short story. Begin brainstorming any of the elements of the short story; you do not have to work through them in the order listed here.

After you complete your brainstorming ideas below, use them as you develop your first draft.

Point of View

Think about who will tell the story. Check the point of view you will use for your story. Check the responses below for the point of view you chose.

_____ First Person – a character tells the story using I, me, we

How will your character tell the story? Why is the character telling the story?

_____ writing down the story (diary, journal) _____ to teach a story

_____ telling the story aloud _____ to tell a good tale

_____ thinking the story _____ to share his/her side of events

What character will tell the story?

_____ first-person protagonist – the main character tells the story

_____ first-person witness – a character observes the events and tells the story

_____ first-person reteller – the story is told by someone who has heard the story

_____ Third Person – a narrator tells the story using he, she, they

_____ third-person omniscient – the narrator knows and can tell thoughts, feelings, and actions of characters

_____ third-person objective – the narrator only tells what is seen or hear. The feelings and thoughts of characters are known through what the characters say and do

_____ third-person limited – the narrator can see into the mind of only one character at a time

Setting

Brainstorm ideas for your story’s background, setting, and mood.

Place: Where will the story take place?

Time: What historical period? Time of day? Year?

Weather/Season Conditions: Hot, stormy, cold?

Social Conditions: Daily life? Rich or poor? Dress?

Mood or Atmosphere: What feeling will be created at the beginning of the story?



Prewrite ▪ Organize – Story Map (continued)

Characters

Begin creating your characters. Start thinking of ways to weave the characters into your story. The ideas you brainstorm here may change as your story unfolds. Protagonist (the main character)

Name: __________________________________________________________________ Personality traits (neat, lazy, curious, etc.): ______________________________________ Physical traits (looks, weight, height, hair, etc.): __________________________________ Actions that reveal personality: _______________________________________________ Age, intelligence, financial status: _____________________________________________

Antagonist (the person who opposes or competes against the main character)

Name: __________________________________________________________________ Personality traits (neat, lazy, curious, etc.): ______________________________________ Physical traits (looks, weight, height, hair, etc.): __________________________________ Actions that reveal personality: _______________________________________________ Age, intelligence, financial status: _____________________________________________ Other characters

Write a brief description of other characters that might appear in your story.

Main Conflict or Problem

Brainstorm the main conflict or problem that will begin the action of your story.



Prewrite ▪ Organize – Story Map (continued)

Plot - Rising Action

Brainstorm the main events that will happen in your story

Event 1:

Event 2:

Event 3:

Climax (high point of story):

Resolution/Denouement (how the conflict is resolved):

Theme

What do you want your readers to gain from your story? This could be a lesson about life or an understanding of human behavior.



Write Sloppy Copy

Your first draft can be called a “sloppy copy” because you are not expected to write perfectly on this step. This is your time to focus on developing your ideas. You will be able to perfect your writing later as you work through the writing process. Write your first draft below. Refer to your prewriting and organizing ideas to help guide you as you write. Skip lines so you have space to evaluate and revise your writing. When you have completed your first draft, brainstorm possible titles. Your title may change as you work through the writing process.

_____________________________



Page _______



Evaluate 6 Traits ▪ Revise

Instructions for Evaluate 6 Traits: Arrange your first draft so you can see it as you read the Evaluate 6 Traits questions. This will allow you to read the question, look at your writing, and decide if revisions are needed. Some sections have an activity to help you see where you can improve your writing. Mark the Skip box only if your teacher has told you to skip an activity or question.

Read a question and then look at your writing. Spend 5-30 seconds deciding whether you need to revise. Check the Yes box if your writing meets the expectations. If you need to make changes, check the Revise box. Repeat the process until you have finished all assigned questions and activities.

Instructions for Revise: When you are finished evaluating your writing, go back to any questions you marked to revise. Reread the question and revise your writing.

Working title: _______________________________________________________________

Yes Revise Skip Trait 1: Organization

---

Identify the main idea of each paragraph. You may find that you need to divide your writing into paragraphs if you have more than one main idea in a paragraph. Write your main ideas in the margin to help you evaluate the order of your ideas. Check the Yes box when finished.

1.1 Does my introduction capture my reader's attention and create the desire to keep reading? Never begin with something like: "This story is about . . . "

1.2 Will my reader have some idea of the main characters, setting, and conflict or problem after reading the opening of my story?

1.3 Do I arrange my writing logically? Are my events in the order they happened; are descriptions in a logical, spatial order; and/or is information shared in order of importance?

1.4 Do I clearly link each event to the events that happened before and the events that happen after? Look for time and space connections. Add details as needed.

1.5 Do my events move along at a well-controlled pace, adding to the tension and building to the climax, or high point of the story? Do not spend too much time on one event or description and not enough on another. Add or delete details as needed.

1.6 Do I use transitions to tie events together and show the passage of time? Highlight transitions and consider places where transitions are needed.

1.7 Do I use paragraph breaks to clearly separate my ideas and enhance meaning?

1.8 Do I build suspense with at least three events that the characters go through because of the problem?

1.9 Have I shown that my characters have made a discovery about life or have come to understand something better?

1.10 Do I bring my story to a natural, surprising, or thought-provoking end? Never end with something like: "The End" or "Now I have told you about . . . "

1.11 Is my title unique, original, and intriguing? Will it capture my audience's attention?



Evaluate 6 Traits ▪ Revise (continued)

Yes Revise Skip Trait 2: Ideas and Content

2.1 Do all my ideas and details relate to developing the setting, characters, and plot? Delete unrelated, repeated, or uninteresting details.

2.2 Do I have enough details for my reader to feel like they are experiencing my story? Add details as needed.

2.3 Are all my ideas and details easily understood? Change, add, or delete details as needed.

2.4 Does my writing show that I am thinking about what my reader may be thinking or asking? Do I provide information where questions might be asked?

Yes Revise Skip Trait 3: Word Choice

---

Identify nouns, verbs, and descriptive words in your writing to help you evaluate your word choice. Mark each part of speech differently.

3.1 Will some of my words or phrases make my reader want to remember parts of my story?

3.2 Will my words and phrases make my reader see, hear, feel, and experience what I am telling them? Revise as needed.

3.3 Do I use specific nouns, powerful verbs, and vivid descriptions to make my story enjoyable to read? Revise general nouns and verbs. Add detailed descriptions where needed.

3.4 Have I avoided unnatural or overdone vocabulary? Avoid thesaurus overkill! If you cannot find a word that fits naturally, try rewriting the sentence.

3.5 Do I avoid repeated words, unnecessary wordiness, or overused words? Change repeated or overused words. Revise wordiness.

Yes Revise Skip Trait 4: Voice

4.1 Do the tone and language of my story meet the expectations of my audience and purpose? Think about your audience and purpose.

4.2 Will my writing make my reader feel happy, sad, excited, scared, or surprised? Think about what you need to add to make your reader feel something.

4.3 Are my characters and their actions believable in the context of the story?

4.4 Do my details show the unique personality of my characters?

4.5 Is my story original, interesting, and engaging? Your story should not sound just like a book you have read or a movie you have seen.



Evaluate 6 Traits ▪ Revise (continued)

Yes Revise Skip Trait 5: Sentence Fluency

---

Circle the first word of each sentence so you can easily see the lengths and beginnings of your sentences. This will help you quickly evaluate your writing as you work through the questions below.

5.1 Do my sentence structures make my main ideas clear and show how my ideas connect? Revise sentences as needed to make ideas and details easy to understand.

5.2 Do I have long and short sentences to make my writing flow with a natural rhythm? Read your writing aloud to hear how it flows.

5.3 Have I used a variety of sentence structures or patterns that make my writing easy to read aloud? Check your sentence variety. Label your sentences as simple (s), compound (cd), complex (cx), and compound-complex (cc). Revise sentences as needed.

5.4 Do I avoid beginning my sentences with the same word or pattern of words? Do not begin sentences with the words and, but, or so unless they are used for style. Try not to begin more than two sentences with the same word in the same paragraph.

5.5 Do I avoid awkward run-on sentences? Find where one thought ends and another begins.

5.6 Do I avoid choppy or fragmented sentences unless they are used occasionally to add style? Combine choppy or fragmented sentences, or add more details to a short sentence if needed.

5.7 If I use dialogue to show what someone actually said, does it sound natural?

Yes Revise Skip Trait 6: Conventions

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If you have already marked several things to revise for the previous traits, select "revise" on all conventions questions below. Then on the Revise step, correct any conventions errors after you have made your major revisions. When checking conventions, try starting at the end of your writing and read one sentence at a time to help you focus on the conventions and not the other traits.

6.1 Do I have correct capital letters and abbreviations?

6.2 Do I have correct end punctuation, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, semicolons, dashes, and parentheses?

6.3 Do I spell each word correctly?

6.4 Have I checked carefully for missing words? Example: We went the store. The word "to" is missing.

6.5 Are my sentences free of errors in grammar and usage? Check verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, degrees of comparison, and easily confused words.

6.6 Do I indent paragraphs five spaces? Do I have correct spacing between words and sentences?



Wait ▪ Read Aloud ▪ Input and Feedback

Instructions for Wait: Congratulations! You have completed most of the hard work of writing. It is time to take a break. Even a five-minute break will help you see things you may have missed when revising.

Instructions for Read Aloud/Input and Feedback: Before reading aloud, pretend you have an audience and read your writing quietly to yourself. This will help you identify things that could improve your writing. Make changes if needed.

Your audience could be one person, a small group, or the class. Read your writing quietly to your audience or have your audience read it to you. You and your audience should be able to look at your writing during the Read Aloud. If your audience has questions or seems confused, stop and discuss. Mark any changes that need to be made.

After you finish reading your writing aloud, ask your audience the Input and Feedback questions below and record the responses.

Read Aloud audience:______________________________________________________ 1. Does my introduction capture your interest? If not, do you have any suggestions?

2. Can you easily summarize the main events of my story? Tell me what you heard. Is anything confusing? Why or why not?

3. Are there any details that do not seem to belong? If yes, what?

4. Is there anything you would like to know more about? If yes, what?

5. Do I end with a strong, satisfying conclusion that supports my purpose for writing this? Why or why not?

6. Can you think of any other questions or suggestions to help me improve my writing?

7. What was the most interesting part? Why?



Tackle Final Flaws ▪ End with a Perfect Copy A flaw is something that is not quite perfect. When you Tackle Final Flaws, you are looking for any remaining errors. Many writers call this the “polishing edit.” Read one sentence at a time in your revised Sloppy Copy. Look for any remaining flaws or errors in punctuation, capitalization, spelling, verb tense, correct word usage, etc. Correct any mistakes you find. Neatly copy your final draft on the lines below to End with a Perfect Copy.

_______________________________



Page _______



Assess Your Process Assess how well you used the strategies in the writing process to improve your writing. Use the Process Rating Rubric below to determine a rating for each of the steps listed in the process.

Circle your rating for each of the steps below.

Writing Process Steps My Rating

Prewrite / Organize 5 4 3 2 1

Write Sloppy Copy 5 4 3 2 1

Evaluate 6 Traits / Revise 5 4 3 2 1

Read Aloud / Input & Feedback 5 4 3 2 1

Tackle Final Flaws / End with a Perfect Copy 5 4 3 2 1

Process Rating Rubric

5 I spent a perfect amount of time and effort on this step.

4 I spent an appropriate amount of time and effort on this step.

3 I could have spent more time and/or effort on this step.

2 I needed to spend more time and/or effort on this step.

1 I barely spent any time or effort on this step.

Reflect:

Describe how well you think you did on this assignment. Did you discover or learn anything about yourself as a writer or about your topic? Did you meet any previously set writing goals?

Set Goals:

� Could you improve the amount of time and effort you spent on any of the writing process steps?

� Could you improve your writing for any of the six traits of writing – organization, ideas and content, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, and conventions?

Write goals for improvement.



5 W’s and How

One way to explore a topic is to ask questions beginning with the words who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Examples: Who discovered acid rain? What are the effects of this type of pollution? What causes acid rain? What is the definition of acid rain pollution?

Brainstorm as many questions as you can for each question word. When you write your first draft, focus on writing details that answer the questions.

Who…?

What…?

When…?

Where…?

Why…?

How…?



Describe an Event

Because events have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the most logical organization for describing an event is in the order the events occur. This is called chronological order. Write a brief description of the main events in the boxes below. You do not have to complete all of the boxes. After you complete the brainstorming activity below, use your ideas to help develop your first draft.

Even

t 1

Even

t 2

Even

t 3

Even

t 4

Even

t 5

Event 2

Event 3 Event 4

Event 5 Event 6

Event 1



Describe a Person

As a writer of description, you can decide the direction in which you want to lead your reader's eye. There are four commonly used directions when describing things in spatial order:

� near to far (or reverse) � top to bottom (or reverse) � side to side � inside to outside (or reverse)

One way to create a powerful description of a person is to describe a person's character and personality while describing what the person looks like. Use the following strategies to describe a person:

� use dialogue or quotes to reveal personality and character through what the person says � describe a memory involving the person while describing physical traits, personality traits,

actions, and anecdotes � work personality and physical traits into actions and anecdotes

Brainstorm details that will help describe this person. After completing the brainstorming activity below, use your ideas to help develop your first draft. Personality traits:

Physical traits:

Actions that reveal personality:

Anecdotes or brief stories that show the person's character and personality:



Describe a Place

Every good descriptive paragraph has an overall impression that it leaves with the reader. This impression may be scary, peaceful, funny, sad, or any other feeling or mood. When specific details are used to show rather than tell, the writing comes to life. Brainstorm details about the place. Include as many sensory details as possible about what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. After completing the brainstorming activity below, use your ideas to help develop your first draft. Describe what is in front:

Describe what is behind:

Describe what is to the left:

Describe what is to the right:

Describe what is below:

Describe what is above:



Describe a Thing

When writing a description, you cannot include every detail about the subject. Instead, decide on the overall feeling you want your reader to experience. Focus your description on things that will help create that feeling in your reader. Write your topic and brainstorm subtopics and related descriptions. Add as many details as possible to each section. After you finish brainstorming, think about the best order for the subtopics. Number the subtopics in the order that would make the most sense when describing the topic. Then think about the descriptive details, and number the details in the best order for describing the subtopics. After you complete the brainstorming activity below, use your ideas to help develop your first draft. My topic:___________________________________________________________________

Detail

# Subtopic #_____ Detail


# Subtopic #_____

Detail



# Subtopic #_____



Freewrite

Freewriting is a powerful strategy for discovering and developing ideas. Think about your topic and try to write without stopping for five to ten minutes. Do not worry about writing information you might not need or about making mistakes. The important thing is to discover what you think. After you complete your brainstorming, use your ideas to help develop your first draft.



Sensory Details

If a description contains only vague ideas and general words, readers will soon lose interest. Specific details and words that appeal to the senses are the sparks that activate the reader's imagination. Example:

Vague or general words: Josie felt sad.

Specific details and words: Josie slumped in the big, overstuffed chair, resting her downcast head on her fist and sighing.

Brainstorm words or phrases that will help your audience experience what they are reading. After you finish the brainstorming activity below, use your ideas to help you write your first draft.

Sights Sounds

Smells Tastes

Feel (External) Feel (Internal)

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