Creative Writing Series for the Home School (7-12)

Hey there home schooler! This series on Creative Writing was designed to help boost your writing and make it shout to readers instead of speak. We'll begin with the key elements of fiction writing in this introduction, then move into more detailed information and finally round the series out with some proofreading and editing techniques. Let's get started!

What components are involved with creating a piece of fictional writing? In simplest terms, there are five key elements: Theme, Plot, Setting, Characters and Conflict. Each element is reliant and built upon the other, blending to form a story.

Let's look a bit closer at the five elements-

The theme is the main or central idea you have for a story. It can be anything! The world is your canvas-so-to-speak. Maybe you have an affinity to nature and want to grow a story about the sadness a tree might feel at being ripped from its home in the forest. On the other hand, perhaps your interests lie in automobile racing and your engines are revving to thrill the reader with a checkered flag event. No matter your preferences, those raw ideas you have pacing around in your mind are themes just waiting to be shared.

Ok, so what about plot, what's that? The plot can be thought of as a first cousin to the theme. Plot takes the reader by the hand, walking him or her through the events that unfold during the course of the story. For this series, we will deal primarily with short stories, though the same elements apply to longer works. Even so, short stories still contain a plot and theme; they are typically just less complicated.

Moving forward, we find the setting of the story. Setting consists of the place and time where events and theme live. It can be the house on the corner, the patch of dense woods beyond a swamp, or the planet Nevulous in a distant galaxy. But wait-there's more! Don't forget, setting is also the time. Whether today, 600 years ago, 2000 years into the future, or the forty-five minute drive on the freeway; setting needs to contain a place and time for Mr. Plot to unfold within.

And how could we forget, those characters we love, hate, admire, trust, fear-the list goes on. They are the tools utilized by the plot and theme to get the main idea across to your reader. A short story, or any fictional writing, with no characters at all would be impossible to write. How would the reader get from one setting to another or one plot event to the next? Think about it.

The final element of the five is one we love to dislike at times-conflict. Without some form of conflict existing in a story, there would be no reason to continue reading. Consider it, would you want to read a story about a guy who goes to school, has a nice day, rides the bus home, watches some television after dinner, and then goes to bed? We can live that much fun in our own lives. Why would we want to read about it as well? The conflict is what makes a story readable and memorable.

Tips

1. Remember, short stories cover a short period of time.
2. A short story will typically only deal with one theme or central idea-too many could make the story cumbersome for the reader to follow.
3. When writing a short story, get to the action quick!
4. Don't overdo unnecessary details. If the main action of the story is a sea rescue, refrain from telling the reader about the house one of the divers lives in.
5. Limit the number of events and characters within the story; they should compliment the length of the piece. A 30,000-word story will be better able to support five characters than one containing only 500 words.

Task

Try writing your own short story of approximately 1000 words containing each of the five elements we covered in this series introduction. Punctuation, spelling and grammar count. When you've finished, save your story for use in other installments of this Creative Writing series.

Most importantly, have fun!