Why Even Tell Stories?

It's been a while since I've seen you, so here's another reminder: the marking period ends on Friday. If you have missing work, it can be made up. It can't be made up after Friday, though. All of the assignments from this past marking period are on Mr. Craddock's blog, neatly listed for you. Awesome, right? 

Actually, though, why even tell stories? Think about how weird that is. Making up something fictional and writing it down is rather strange when you think about it. Before we start figuring out why we even tell stories, I want you to think about your own favorite stories. We certainly didn't start our lives by writing stories, we started by having them told to us, watching them, listening, looking at pictures, reading them, etc. 

3rd Period:

We're going to do some talking and writing. 

1) What are your favorite stories? Think it out, talk it out, and list three on the card. If three is too difficult to narrow down to, list five. 

Everyone has favorite stories. Sometimes it's not easy to choose them when we're put on the spot, but there are certainly our top choices. Think about your own choices. What makes these so special? Why are they favorites? Characters? Plot? Emotion? Action? Climax? Moral? Something you can't explain? Any of these things are valuable to consider when reading our favorites, but they’re also important to remember when writing, because the same things that hook all of us, will hook other readers as well.

2) Why are these stories your favorites? Think, talk, write. Use the back of the index card to record your thoughts.

At times, it's not quite so easy to figure out why we love certain stories. There can be any amount of reasons and they can change daily, with our moods, situations, thoughts, feelings, etc. You know that we tend to speak through our writing, projecting some of the things going on within ourselves.

4th Period:

Last period we spoke and wrote about our favorite stories, whilst exploring the reasons behind our choices. This leads us to some lab/writing time. On your blogs, I want you to think about what we've discussed last period and address one of the following prompts:

1) To you, what makes a story?

2) To you, why do we (or you) even tell stories?

This is creative writing, title your blog posts. Be creative. I'd like to see a substantial blog post (500-ish words). As you begin writing longer pieces of creative work, it will be helpful to understand why you're telling a story and what enters into your stories. If you find yourself done posting, remember your Padlet brainstorming walls. Look yours up in the comments from last class, access it, and continue brainstorming for your own story. We will be starting them very soon.

Homework:

Look for missing work for the marking period. If you have missing work, get it done by Friday (and do it well)! If you don't have missing work, nicely done, relax a little.