Story Mountain: From Blank Page to Author, Creative Writing

Students will learn how to create and craft a story, by learning about character, plot, setting, and how to put it all together.   

We'll start out by exploring what makes a story a story.  Students will learn what character, plot, and setting are, and they will start brainstorming their own story ideas.  Next, we'll explore the ins and outs of how you create realistic heroes and villains.  (Creating villains is my  favorite thing to do, and I'll show students why it's so much fun.)

From there, we'll move on to plot.  We'll go beyond the basic beginning, middle, and end and really delve in to how to make life complicated for our characters.  You don't have a story until something goes wrong.  I'll share my favorite made-up word and how I use it to organize the plot.

Setting matters!  Are we on Mars, in the ocean, on the school playground?  We'll explore how to use descriptive language to paint a picture of the setting.

Finally, we'll put it all together and each student will be an actual author!

The only background experience necessary is to have read a book, watched a tv show or movie, or played a video game.  This course will encourage reluctant writers and help already enthusiastic writers take their skills to the next level.

COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1
What is a story? 
What goes into making a story?
How do you come up with ideas?
How do writers see the world?

Week 2
Who's in your story?
What are the different types of heroes?
How do you create a hero?
Do you need sidekicks?
What do you need to know about your characters?

Week 3
Why are villains are the most important element of your story? (I'm very biased about this!)
Does your villain have a goal?
How do you create a villain who's interesting?
How do you introduce your villain?

Week 4
How do you build a plot?
What's going to happen in your story?
What is stopping your hero from achieving a goal?
Can we make the problem worse? (Yes, this part is really fun!)

Week 5
Why is setting so important?
Where are we?  
How do you describe the setting?
How can you use figurative language to paint a picture for your readers?

Week 6
What is exposition?
How do you start your story?
How do you introduce your characters, setting, and plot?
How do you edit your story?
Where can you submit your story for publication?

------------What is Provided------------

This course includes a PDF for each week's lesson.  The PDF will include worksheets and graphic organizers.