Tuesday, July 1, 2014

July Mystery Agent Entry #7: TAMING THE STORY - AN ILLUSTRATED REFERENCE GUIDE FOR WRITING STORIES



Title: TAMING THE STORY - AN ILLUSTRATED REFERENCE GUIDE FOR WRITING STORIES
Genre: Nonfiction Picture Book
Word Count: 1762 including back matter

Logline: In this comic-book style picture book, a fourth-grader learns the elements of plot from the characters of the story he is writing. Each page has three interweaving parts - a) definition or story-building tip, b) the fourth-grader’s story with its newest addition, and c) the story brought to life in the illustrations.



Taming the Story: An Illustrated Reference Guide to Writing Stories

Once there was

This is the beginning of the story. Every good story has a beginning. Sometime you know it because it starts out “Once upon a Time,” or “Long, long ago.” But sometimes a story just starts. I like those stories best.

Once there was a girl named Sonya and a boy named Adrian.

A good story usually begins by telling you about someone who is in it. Anybody you find in a story is called a character. 

[[Voice of Adrian]] “Hi, I’m Adrian. I’m a character in this story.”

[[Voice of Sonya]] “Hi Adrian, I’m Sonya. I’m a character, too. 

A good story develops the characters by telling about them.

[[Sonya]] “Hey, can you turn me into a princess? Or a witch?”

Once there was a girl named Sonya and a boy named Adrian. Sonya was a witch princess with a broomstick she could fly. Adrian was a prince king knight.

[[Adrian]] “No, no! What’s more boring than a knight? Erase that.”

Once there was a girl named Sonya and a boy named Adrian. Sonya was a witch princess with a broomstick she could fly. Adrian was a genius architect who built an awesome castle for the princess in an enormous tree. 

[[Adrian]] “That’s more like it.”

[[Sonya]] “Wow, look at that! But I don’t need an elevator. I’ve got this.”

Once there was a girl named Sonya and a boy named Adrian. Sonya was a witch princess with a broomstick she could fly. Adrian was a genius architect who built a castle for the princess in an enormous tree.

4 comments:

Rani Iyer said...

Yay! Jen! Way to Go!

J Lenni Dorner said...

Great concept! I like it.
"with a broomstick she could fly" - I'm not certain why, but I keep getting hung up on that part. Should it be "fly on"? I don't know.

Anonymous said...

I also got caught up on "with a broomstick she could fly." What about "with a flying broomstick"?

J Lenni Dorner said...

Is the broomstick flying independently, like a well-trained bird? Or does it require operation to fly, like an airplane?