Writing Cool Short Stories textbook - Carol J. Amato, Author

Writing Cool Short StoriesIntroductionThe StoryMakers FunShops textbook, Writing Cool ShortStories, is a guide for parents or teachers conductingthe StoryMakers Funshops creative writing course, SoYou Want to Write Stories, for 4 th through 6 th graders. It allowsyou to familiarize yourself with the basics of short-storywriting so that you can more easily explain the concepts to yourstudents.This book teaches you about the parts of a short story, theingredients for creating cool characters, deciding on a setting,developing the plot, writing narrative, staying in viewpoint,choosing person and tense, writing believable dialogue, and usingmetaphors, similes, and other clever word forms to give a shortstory that extra punch.Short stories have been around since Nathaniel Hawthornewrote his 1837 book, Twice-told Tales. Designed to be read inone sitting, short stories are the perfect form for youngwriters to exercise their creative writing skills and to have adifferent outlet from writing school reports. A close teacherstudentbond is necessary to create the non-threateningenvironment required to let children express their thoughtsfreely—without criticism, ridicule, judgment, or censorship.Writers can be sensitive about their work.This book assumes there is more than one student in the class;however, the material can easily be targeted to a single child.The information is presented in a user-friendly way. Some ofthe concepts are complex, so alternative terminology is providedfor those in addition to examples in the teacher’s guide and studentworkbook and on the PowerPoint slides.1