SPECULATIVE WRITING: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY!

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SPECULATIVE WRITING HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST
STORY!

• BY K.J. STANCZAK
• Get to the point!
• Write from your heart!

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Speculative Writing - Narratives Playing
Make-Believe

• Think back to your childhood

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Speculative Writing - Narratives Did YOU Know?

• SPECULATIVE WRITING is a fancy term for NARRATIVE
  WRITING.
• NARRATIVES are FUN to write
• When writing a NARRATIVE, it is best to use your
  IMAGINATION and BE CREATIVE.
• A NARRATIVE tells a STORY and includes ALL story
  elements.

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Speculative Writing - Narratives TURN TO SOMEONE
NEAR YOU AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION.

• What are the six elements of a story?
• DID YOU ANSWER CORRECTLY?
• Character
• Setting
• Plot (including Climax and Resolution)
• Conflict
• Theme
• Point of View

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Speculative Writing - Narratives Did YOU Know?

• NARRATIVE writing can be based on make-believe
  people, places, events, and situations.
• It is important to use dazzling WORD CHOICE when
  creating your STORY.
• A great way to help you with vivid WORD CHOICE is
  to remember your five senses.
• What are your five senses?

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• INCLUDING VIVID and DAZZLING LANGUAGE MEANS TO
  REMEMBER
• SIMILES
• METAPHORS
• PERSONIFICATION
• ALLITERATION
• and ALL OTHER TYPES OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

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Speculative Writing - Narratives Did YOU Know?

• The way you ORGANIZE the NARRATIVE will allow
  your AUDIENCE to understand and follow along with
  the story.
• NARRATIVE WRITING gives the author POWER to
  CONNECT with his/her readers.
• You will have 30 MINUTES to complete the
  speculative prompt on the NJASK.

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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• CHARACTER
• MAIN CHARACTER
• PROTAGONIST (hero or the good guy -- PRO!)
• ANTAGONIST (the bad guy ANTI!)
• SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• POINT OF VIEW
• The point of view is told by the narrator of the
  story (YOU).
• The narrator may be a FIRST-PERSON character who
  tells the story from an insider perspective.
• Another choice is for the narrator to tell the
  story from an outside perspective called the
  THIRD-PERSON point of view.

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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• SETTING
• Time and place! It could include weather
  conditions, social conditions, historical time
  period, and/or the mood you create.
• Create a mental picture for the reader using your
  five senses.
• Make the setting come to LIFE using lots of
  details and strong word choices!

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Some ideas for setting!
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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• PLOT
• The Story Steps What happens first, next, after
  that, then, and last. This is known as the RISING
  and FALLING ACTION of the story
• Every story has a problem, situation, or CONFLICT
  that is clearly introduced early in the story
  (the opening).
• The story builds towards (build-up) solving the
  problem (climax).
• At the end of the story, the problem is resolved
  (resolution).

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A STORY MOUNTAIN
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Problem Developed
Problem intro?
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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• ORGANIZATION
• It is BEST to tell your story in the order or
  sequence in which the events happen
  CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
• Try using some of these organizational techniques
  in your narrative.
• Flashback
• Foreshadowing
• Time lapse

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Speculative Writing - Narratives The Main
Ingredients

• THEME
• The theme is the controlling idea or central
  insight. 
• It is the author's underlying meaning or main
  idea being conveyed.
• The theme may be the author's thoughts about a
  topic or view of human nature. 
• What is the authors message(s) in the story?

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Speculative Writing - Narratives WHAT DO YOU
NEED TO DO?

• TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO GATHER YOUR THOUGHTS.
• USE THE PROVIDED AREA IN THE NJASK BOOKLET TO
  BRAINSTORM YOUR IDEAS.
• REMEMBER CHARACTERS, SETTING, PLOT and THEME.
• CONSIDER YOUR ENDING FIRST. THIS STRATEGY WILL
  GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO WORK TOWARDS.
• INCLUDE A COUPLE OF LINES OF DIALOGUE!
• WRITE THREE to FIVE PARAGRAPHS.

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Speculative Writing - Narratives WHAT DO YOU
NEED TO DO?

• Be sure to INCLUDE
• Introduction -- The beginning of the story is
  where the characters and the setting are
  explained. Grab readers interest quickly. Draw
  the reader in.
• Rising Action The events in the story become
  complicated and the conflict in the story is
  revealed.
• Climactic Moment The highest point of interest
  and the turning point of the story are brought to
  the forefront of the story.  The reader wonders
  what will happen next. Will the conflict be
  resolved or not?

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Speculative Writing - Narratives WHAT DO YOU
NEED TO DO?

• Be sure to INCLUDE
• Falling Action The events and complications
  begin to resolve themselves.  The reader knows
  what has happened next and if the conflict was
  resolved or not.
• Denouement The final outcome or untangling of
  events in the story are revealed. Close with a
  moral or lesson learned.

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DO YOUR BEST! GOOD LUCK!
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