Put it all together

Put together all the info from the last several months…

• Conflict

• Character

• Plot

• Showing v. telling

• Setting

• Theme

• Syntax

Let’s write a story. 

Look over the Normal Rockwell painting entitled Homecoming Marine  here. Note ALL the details that you see in the image

1. Identify the characters

   1. Age of each

   2. Background of each

   3. What is each’s connection to the central character

   4. What do their expressions reveal?

   5. What is this event?

   6. Why are the people who are there, there?

2. Identify the items in the scene

   1. What is there?

   2. Why is it there?

   3. You may have to do a little research

      1. What is the young man holding?  Why?

      2. What does the star poster on the wall mean?

3. Identify the setting

   1. Where is the event taking place?

   2. What is the time of day?

   3. What year was the painting made?

   4. What was going on in the country at that time?

   5. What about this scene would MANY Americans living at that time instantly understand?

4. Now pick one character to be your subject (I’ll call mine Tommy.)

5. Give Tommy a problem to solve—a conflict.

   1. Create some setbacks for Tommy which get in the way of his success.

   2. Remember to have each character (including Tommy) talk and act like an authentic and interesting person

6. Lay out the plot by identifying the steps the story takes for Tommy to work at solving the problem.

   1. First this happens…

   2. Then this happens…

   3. Place the scene from the painting appropriately in your story

      1. Is this the beginning? 

      2. The climax? 

      3. The ending? 

      4.  Somewhere else?

7. Reveal the important character info and plot points by showing characters doing and being (and not by simply telling your reader.)

8. Identify a theme for your story. 

   1. What life lesson does Tommy’s experience teach him? 

   2. What does it teach us?

9. Then, write the story with as much interest and surprise as you can.

Tommy can be a hero

He can be a schmuck

He can be someone who thought he was a hero, but now thinks he’s a schmuck

He can be a regular guy who others THINK is a hero

He can be someone who is now forced to try to live up to the expectations he has set for himself

He can be someone who is trying to just return to his life and finds it difficult

He can be someone whose life is ruined by his experience

He can be someone whose life becomes something amazing because of his experience

Your story can be anything you want it to be.   In fact, maybe the story isn’t about Tommy, but one of the listeners in the scene and the experience depicted in the painting is a pivotal moment in the character’s life.   The great thing…is there is no wrong answer.