Table of contents Choose Realistic or otherworldly Use Your Personal experience to Your Advantage 6 Avoid Using Clichés Create Believable Characters 10 Determine Your Unique Point of view 12 Where on Earth Is Your Setting 14 Work Out the Right Style and Tone 16 Put Together a powerful Plot 18 Build Interesting Scenes 20 Establish Conflict 22 Write Strong Dialogue 24 Revise until Your Story Shines 26 Writer s Checklist 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32
Choose Realistic or otherworldly Fiction tells stories that are not Writing fiction is an amazing way to tell stories It lets you dig into your imagination You can create characters settings and dialogue It's your chance to make things up and not get in trouble real One type of fiction is realistic fiction It is exactly that stories that could really happen Realistic fiction includes Gary Paulsen's Hatchet Beverly Cleary's Ramona the Pest and Kate DiCamillo's The Tiger Rising All of these stories could actually happen in real life Realistic fiction does not have magic or anything supernatural One genre of realistic fiction is historical fiction Historical fiction could also happen in real life But the story usually takes place in the past For example Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder happens in the 1870s The characters are from Wilder's real life But the author made up details such as the dialogue Otherworldly fiction The Lion is different from the Witch and the Wardrobe includes a talking lion realistic fiction Otherworldly
Quick Tips DIFFERENT WORLDS The following is an example of realistic fiction Fictional stories are at least partly made up Decide what type of fiction you want to write If you write realistic fiction make sure it could happen in real life Dana loved to dance She twirled She leaped She tapped Dana danced through dinner She danced through dessert Finally her mom stopped her spinning sat Dana down and said Please eat fiction includes science fiction fantasy and traditional stories These stories could not really happen An example of science Compare it to an example of otherworldly fiction fiction is A Wrinkle in Time Dana loved to dance She by Madeleine L Engle In this twirled with flowers She book the main character has to rescue her dad from another planet Fantasy stories often have magical or supernatural leaped over houses She tapped all the way over the rainbow Dana danced until her mom stopped her Please eat her mom said Your tap shoes want to take a nap elements An example is The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis The wardrobe or clothes closet leads four young siblings to Pigs build houses in another world The Three Little Pigs where animals can talk Traditional stories include fairy tales fables and myths An example is The Three Little Pigs IQ
