Asking questions and providing answers is the first step in creative writing. In Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories, students use the Story Sequence Chart to guide them in asking questions and recording notes. The bulk of the information for the KWO will not be found in the source text but in the mind. To be creative is to use the imagination, which at its root means to form a picture. How do you get what you are picturing out of your head and down on paper? The third edition Seminar Workbook (page 34) lists eight different ways students can use the Story Sequence Chart to creatively tell or retell stories.
The first use of the Story Sequence Chart is as a discussion tool. It can happen anywhere and anytime. No pen needed! Once you and your children or students have memorized the sections and the questions that prompt the discussion, you can use them to discuss any story or event or current event. This tool provides the basic structure for thinking through fiction and nonfiction stories. Go beyond “How was the book? It was good.” kinds of conversations.
The second use is Unit 3. Students read a short fable, legend, or fairy tale, take notes in the Story Sequence Chart, and then write the story from their notes. By retelling an already existing story in three paragraphs, students are able to write it even if they claim not to have a creative bone in their bodies. Some may believe this is plagiarism or copying but reassure them that it is not. In fact, retelling someone else’s story is often the first suggestion from published authors when they are asked how to get started with writing.
Sometimes a story may be sparse on setting details or characters. This is where the third use of the Story Sequence Chart comes in. As students fill out the chart, they will see that one section seems shorter or lacks details. They can write an elaboration, adding small details but keeping the characters, setting, and conflict the same. Teach your students to ask questions, make up answers, and include those details in the key word outline.
As we move through the list of options, you will see the creativity growing. A variation allows a student to take the germ of a story and change a few details. The Story Sequence Chart is the perfect tool for those students who long to write a story but can’t get past the description of a picnic in the meadow. Read a simple fable or fairy tale to your students. Have them determine the conflict or problem. Next, ask where else this story could take place and with what other characters. Before you know it, you will have “The Fox and the Crow” taking place on Mars with aliens and an astronaut. As I taught a lesson about writing a variation, one of my students had a light bulb moment. “Wait, Mrs. Olander! Beatrix Potter’s ‘Jemima Puddle Duck’ is just a variation on ‘The Fox and the Crow’!” This student went on to write her own variation of “The Fox and the Crow” by setting her tale in Victorian England.
A growing genre is fan fiction, where a fan keeps the characters and setting and uses a new problem. This is another use of the Story Sequence Chart: writing a sequel to a favorite story. Perhaps the main character of the original story has moved on, but a minor character now receives her due place and has an adventure. This is the premise behind the popular novel The Other Bennet Sister, which has also been adapted for TV by the BBC. Mary Bennet, who is mainly a foil to her sisters in Pride and Prejudice, stars in her own story. Writing a sequel to a well-loved story allows students to sit with their favorite characters and ask what else might happen.
The last three ways to use the Story Sequence Chart are more challenging. The first of these is cross-genre writing, where a poem turns into a story or a story turns into a poem or either one is adapted into a script. Read a poem that tells a story with your students. It could be something light such as “Casey at the Bat” or something more serious like “Flannen Isle” or “Lochinvar.” Then use the Story Sequence Chart to discuss and analyze the poem and record the elements. Finally, retell the poem in prose or take the time to craft a script that your students can present.
What if your students are determined to write more than a three-paragraph story? That’s fine! Have them write an expansion—a longer narrative—by spending more than one paragraph on each section. They can go into detail about a character by showing them in different situations before the problem begins. Ask them if there are any other minor events that build to the climax. They may need several paragraphs to tell the middle part of the story. The resolution of a story often comes quickly, but some of the most satisfying endings draw out the events and might incorporate situations that set up a sequel.
The final way is the ultimate creative writing assignment—write an original story. Even here, the Story Sequence Chart serves to remind your budding author what elements need to be in a well-written tale. Who is in the story? Where does it take place? What is the problem? This is especially helpful for students who have characters they have dreamed up but do not have a story for them.
The Story Sequence Chart is a multipurpose tool for training your students to think and write about literature. Writing a story does not have to bring tears. Retelling or summarizing a narrative is easy when students can reference the three sections and know the questions for each. From a straight summary to variations and elaborations to sequels and original stories, storytelling can flourish in your home or classroom. Encouraging creativity, the Story Sequence Chart makes room for every imagination.
by Danielle Olander
