Prewriting for Topic and Character Details

Your first prewriting step is to choose a work of fiction for your review. Make sure the work is something you like and remember well. You can also read something new—a mystery, an adventure book, a novel, or even a play.

Reading Fiction Reviews

Before you write your own review, you should see how other students reviewed fiction. As you read these samples, pay close attention to the types of details included. Consider how you might share similar details in your own review.

Reading a Paragraph Review

A paragraph response to a book has three main parts: The topic sentence introduces the title, author, and main idea. The body sentences introduce the main character, the obstacles faced, and the lessons learned. The ending sentence gives your final opinion of the book.

Sample Paragraph

1. Name the title, author, and main character of the book.
2. What main obstacle faces the main character?

Warm-Up for Writing Fiction Reviews

(c) Thoughtful Learning 2018

One fun way to think about a book is to write a review. In a book review, you tell others what a book is about and help your readers decide if they want to read it next! The activities in this unit will guide you in reviewing a fiction book by focusing on characters, conflict, and theme.

What Is a Fiction Review?

Fiction books are gateways to new worlds. When you open a book and begin reading, you are transported to a new place with interesting characters, conflicts, and adventures. When you finish a good book, you probably know the story well enough to tell others about it.

In a fiction review, you let others know about a book by explaining its important parts and characters without saying too much. After all, you don’t want to spoil the ending!

Thinking About Character Traits

The main character may be the most important part of a fiction book. This person or animal is sometimes called the protagonist. To truly understand what happens in a book, you need to think carefully about the main character.

Creating a Character Profile Page

To get to know a character better, create a profile page that shares important information about the character. Study how one student created a sample profile page to learn about the main character in the book Shiloh.

Name:

Marty

Age:

11

Hometown/place:

West Virginia

Likes:

All animals (especially Shiloh), the outdoors, the woods, exploring, his brothers and sisters

Dislikes:

Hurting animals, lying, and dishonest people

Greatest wants/desires:

To make Shiloh his dog, to protect him and keep away from Judd, and to change laws to protect dogs

Greatest fears/obstacles:

Not being able to protect Shiloh, lying to his parents, and knowing that Judd owns and hurts Shiloh; also laws that let people own animals even if they mistreat them

Editing Dialogue for Quotation Marks

Dialogue uses quotation marks. These special marks go before and after the exact words of the speaker.

Periods and commas that follow the speaker’s words always go inside the quotation marks.

Question marks and exclamation marks go inside the quotation marks when they punctuation the dialogue.

Revising to Add Sensory Details

To help your story come alive, you can add details about what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and touched. These are called sensory details.

Sensory details help you show readers what is happening, rather than just telling them. You can collect these details in a sensory chart.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The first sentence in your narrative should grab the reader’s attention. It is called a lead. The following strategies will help you write an effective lead.

1. Start in the middle of the action:

   I thought I was ready when I arrived at our school’s auditorium.

2. Start with dialogue:

   “Just wait a little longer,” said my grandpa.

3. Start with an interesting fact or statement:

   When Manny came to my school, I didn’t expect to become best friends.

Lead:

Introductory Details:

Prewriting to Focus Your Ideas

Reading Personal Narratives

Before you write about your own experience, you'll want to see how other students created personal narratives. This lesson shows you a narrative paragraph and a narrative essay, explaining each part. As you read them, think about how the writers made the people, places, and events come to life through description, action, and dialogue.

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

A personal narrative paragraph has three main parts. The topic sentence introduces your story. The body sentences describe what happened to you. The ending sentence tells why the experience was important. This paragraph shares one writer’s story about a school play.

Sample Paragraph

Warm-Up for Personal Narratives

All of us have important times in our lives. By thinking back to these times, we understand ourselves better. By sharing these times with those we love, we become closer. This lesson will help you think about events in your life.

What Is a Narrative?

(c) Thoughtful Learning 2015

A narrative is a story. It tells something that happened, like in a book or a movie. But books and movies are not the only places to find good stories. Your experiences make great stories, too.

A personal narrative is a true story about something that happened in your life. You might share an exciting, surprising, or scary experience, like the time you went camping and saw a bear. Or you might share a moment when you learned an important lesson.

The best personal narratives include many details, helping readers feel like they are a part of the story, too. In this unit, you will write a true story from your own life in way that makes it come alive once again!

Thinking About a True Story

Before you can share a story, you need to remember all the important things that happened. Asking and answering the 5 W’s questions can activate your memory and help you record important details about your experience.

• Who was with me?
• What exactly happened?
• Where did this happen?
• When did this happen?
• Why did it happen?

Assessing with an Explanatory Rubric

Test graders will use a rubric to judge the quality of your writing for assessment. By using the following rubric to judge your own writing, you can become aware of what testers are looking for and can improve your scores in the future.