Grab Bag Story

595-PADS

Character Card #1

• Think of a character and give him, her, or it a name.

• Looks like… facial features? Height? Weight? Age? Clothing style?

• What motivates the character?• What does the character do for fun? • What does the character dislike? • Does the character prefer to be alone or

surrounded by people?

Character Card #2

• Think of a character and give him, her, or it a name.

• Looks like… facial features? Height? Weight? Age? Clothing style?

• What motivates the character?• What does the character do for fun? • What does the character dislike? • Does the character prefer to be alone or

surrounded by people?

Setting Card• Time period: past, present, future? Is there a particular

historical event that interests you? • Location: remember that the setting can be really small,

like a bedroom, or really big like a country. What would be a good location for the story? What locations interest you?

• Events: Are there any interesting events happening or about to happen in your location during that time period?

• Description: What would it look like if you took a picture of it? What colors would you see? What items or buildings would characters see everyday?

Conflict: make up a potential example for each

• Person v. person – • Person v. society – • Person v. machine – • Person v. nature – • Person v. self - • Person v. God/Gods -

I hope you didn’t get too attached!

• Now you are going to randomly draw out a character, setting, and conflict.

• If you feel like you need a second character in your story, you may draw an additional character card.

Find a partner.

• Share your cards. • Answer these questions for each story:– How will these characters interact? – How will these characters interact in the setting? – How would your character react to that conflict?– How will the conflict unfold?– What is the result of the conflict?– What lesson will your main character learn?

Focus your story with the plot diagram.

• Draw a plot diagram, and we will label it. • Start with the climax.• What is going to be the most exciting moment in your

story right before everything is fixed?

• What three things are going to happen to lead to this big exciting moment? (Rising action)

• How is it all going to be fixed? (Falling action)• What did the character learn? How do they

feel? (Resolution)

Focus your paper with 595-PADS

• 1st paragraph = 5 sentences, exposition and introducing the conflict on the plot diagram

• 2nd paragraph = 9 sentences, 6 rising action and 3 climax on the plot diagram

• 3rd paragraph = 5 sentences, 2 falling action, 2 resolution, 1 making the story sound over.

• P = past tense verbs• A = Adjectives and Adverbs (20)• D = dialogue, 2 people talking • S = similes (at least 2)

Paragraph 1• This is the exposition.– Begins with dialogue. What would the character

be saying in the situation? (1 sentence)– Describe the setting/context (3 sentences)– Introduce the conflict (1 sentence)

My example of paragraph 1“OMG!” shouted Miley Cyrus, “I’m supposed to be doing

a concert up in this space colony!” Miley had recently arrived at the Mars Terra Colony. It was a government secret from the rest of the United States, but there were 1,000 or so people living on the dusty, red planet eagerly waiting for Miley’s concert. When Miley arrived, she received a small corner room in the epi-center of Terra Colony near the cloning unit and overlooking the beautiful dome of a Jurassic rain forest that gave oxygen to the colony as well as providing cloned dinosaurs a home. Professor Sara Tops along with Dr. Biggs were distracted the day of Miley’s arrival, so much in fact, that they did not notice the velociraptor that slipped from an open gate near Miley’s room.

Paragraph 2 • Rising action (6 sentences)

– Event 1 • Give a snap shot – what does it look like? • Give a thought shot– what does the character think or feel? • Give an action shot – what does the character do?

– Event 2• Give a snap shot – what does it look like? • Give a thought shot– what does the character think or feel? • Give an action shot – what does the character do?

– Event 3• Give a snap shot – what does it look like? • Give a thought shot– what does the character think or feel? • Give an action shot – what does the character do?

• Climax (3 sentences) – Dialogue– Describe what happened in a snap shot, thought shot, or action shot.

My example of paragraph 2Miley stood over her crisp, white bed sheets and began to

unpack loads of skimpy costumes. She thought to herself that a star deserved a bigger room. Suddenly, she heard a scratch at her door like nails raking across a chalk board. Nervously, she stepped outside of her room and saw a tail swish around the corner. Won over by curiosity, she chased after the scaly, green tail. She could hear long claws scraping the floor, but she continued unable to contain her excitement. Finally, she reached a dead end, looked up, and suspended from the ceiling was a hungry velociraptor ready to pounce. “Help me! I’m famous!” she screamed louder than a wrecking ball hitting a brick wall. No one came.

Paragraph 3

• Falling action (3 sentences)• What happened next? • Give a snap shot – what does it look like? • Give a thought shot– what does the character think or

feel? • Give an action shot – what does the character do?

• Resolution (2 sentences)– What does the character learn from the experience.– Write a sentence that makes it sound over.

My example of paragraph 3

In a nearby laboratory, Professor Sara Tops and Dr. Biggs were preparing raw cow steaks for their carnivorous projects. Their excitement over the pop-concert made them forget to feed the velociraptors earlier that day. Professor Tops stopped slicing and stated, “Did you hear that screech? It almost sounded like wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-uh-o…” “Hmmm…” Dr. Biggs responded. Miley Cyrus slowly disappeared from the pop scene on earth to the happiness of many. No one is invincible when faced with a hungry carnivore.

While you writing in your planning boxes…

• Remember PADS– Write in past tense – Include adjectives or descriptive words – shoot for

20– Include dialogue– Incorporate at least 2 similes – comparisons using

like or as

Before you write your rough draft..

• Check your verbs– Circle them.– Are they in past tense? If not, change them. – Could, would, should, can, may, might… cannot be

changed– Verbs in dialogue can be in present tense

In a nearby laboratory, Professor Sara Tops and Dr. Biggs were preparing raw cow steaks for their carnivorous projects. Their excitement over the pop-concert made them forget to feed the velociraptors earlier that day. Professor Tops stopped slicing and stated, “Did you hear that screech? It almost sounded like wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-uh-o…” “Hmmm…” Dr. Biggs responded. Miley Cyrus slowly disappeared from the pop scene on earth to the happiness of many. No one is invincible when faced with a hungry carnivore.

Before you write your rough draft

• Check your adjectives– Underline them– How many do you have?– If you don’t have 20, find some more nouns to

describe and add words. Miley stood over her crisp, white bed sheets and began to unpack loads of skimpy

costumes. She thought to herself that a star deserved a bigger room. Suddenly, she heard a scratch at her door like nails raking across a chalk board. Nervously, she stepped outside of her room and saw a tail swish around the corner. Won over by curiosity, she chased after the scaly, green tail. She could hear long claws scraping the floor, but she continued unable to contain her excitement. Finally, she reached a dead end, looked up, and suspended from the ceiling was a hungry velociraptor ready to pounce. “Help me! I’m famous!” she screamed louder than a wrecking ball hitting a brick wall. No one came.

Before your rough draft…

• Check your dialogue.– Is it in quotation marks? – Did you use a better verb than “said”?

“OMG!” shouted Miley Cyrus, “I’m supposed to be doing a concert up in this space colony!”

“Help me! I’m famous!” she screamed louder than a wrecking ball hitting a brick wall.

Professor Tops stopped slicing and stated, “Did you hear that screech? It almost sounded like wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-uh-o…” “Hmmm…” Dr. Biggs responded.

Before your rough draft…

• Check your similes.– Put a squiggly line under them.– Do you have 2?– If not add them.

Miley stood over her crisp, white bed sheets and began to unpack loads of skimpy costumes. She thought to herself that a star deserved a bigger room. Suddenly, she heard a scratch at her door like nails raking across a chalk board. Nervously, she stepped outside of her room and saw a tail swish around the corner. Won over by curiosity, she chased after the scaly, green tail. She could hear long claws scraping the floor, but she continued unable to contain her excitement. Finally, she reached a dead end, looked up, and suspended from the ceiling was a hungry velociraptor ready to pounce. “Help me! I’m famous!” she screamed louder than a wrecking ball hitting a brick wall. No one came.

Now write your final draft

• What you do not finish will be homework. • Skip a every other line on your draft like you

are “double spacing.”