Page-turning plots: Tips and techniques to help students build compelling narratives - Writing Workshop

What's it about? That's the question we often ask when someone recommends a book. The answer that will compel us to read the book will most likely revolve around key pieces of the plot--the problem or conflict, and maybe some of the big events that lead up to the resolution. As in the case of a movie we haven't seen, we don't want to hear how the story ends, but we do want to know something about the action. It gives us a reason to read--and keep reading. In the same way, understanding a story's plot structure helps children organize and give meaning to what they read; it can also help them organize and develop ideas in their own writing.

In Esperanza Rising (Scholastic, 2000), Pam Munoz Ryan rivets us with a a plot that follows young Esperanza from a privileged life in Mexico to the farm labor camps of California. Share Ryan's strategies for creating page-turning plots (see below), then use the activities, mini-lessons, and reproducible page that follow to explore this important element in literature and in students' own writing.

Meet the Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

When I start a book, I don't ask myself "What's the plot?" Instead, I ask myself "What's the story I want to tell?" Then I try to explain my story idea in a sentence or two. For instance, "I want to tell the story of how my grandmother came from Mexico to California and all the things that happened to her and what it felt like for her to experience wealth and then poverty. " That was the story idea for Esperanza Rising. The plot became all the things that happened to her.

For me, plotting a story means a lot of time with my own wandering thoughts. I daydream and try to create answers to my own questions. In Esperanza Rising, I knew that my grandmother was forced to leave her home, but I didn't know the exact circumstances. So I asked myself, "What series of events might have happened that would have forced her family to leave?" Then I try to make those events dramatic and exciting. At the same time I ask and answer questions like "What if?" There are many possible scenes for every chapter and I often try them on in my imagination (and sometimes on paper) before I actually settle on one.

Sometimes I visualize the story as if I were watching a movie, paying attention to my character's reactions to things. Is she crying or in shock or contented or angry? How do changing circumstances affect a character's next decision about even the tiniest things, like what she eats, wears, or says? I ask, answer, and write, then ask again. Is it interesting? Would a reader want to turn the page? Hmmm. I rethink. I rewrite, and rewrite. And I often check my original sentence to make sure I'm still focused on the story I want to tell.

Pam Munoz Ryan

TIP Invite your students to try one of Pam Munoz Ryan's strategies the next time they get ready to write. Here's how she imagines a story taking shape in her mind:

I walk into a room that is filled with plain white boxes of jigsaw puzzles. When I shake them, I can hear the pieces of a story rattling around on the inside. I know that the story is there. I open a box and see a thousand pieces, blank on both sides. I think about the story I want to tell and begin to find the outside straight edges of the puzzle and slowly, a border takes shape. Now, it's a matter of trying every piece several different ways until it all comes together. Some pieces fit in more than one spot. I must figure out the most intriguing spot. If I force apiece, it won't ever fit quite right. If I don't use all the pieces, there will be empty spaces and the puzzle won't he satisfying to see. I try each piece, retry, turn it over, and try again. When every piece has a place, a picture emerges, faces are revealed, and voices are heard And I find myself "watching" the story that I trusted was there all along.

Mini-Lesson 1: Scrambled Folktales

"Once upon a time..." Almost every child can add on to a beginning like this. Whether it's the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood or Aesop's fable of the lion and the mouse, folktales provide a ready source of material for teaching plot. You can count on a predictable story structure in most folktales: a problem, rising action, conflict (or tension), and resolution. This, along with the familiarity of folktales, lets children explore plot more easily than they might with a new text.

Try this "scrambled story" activity to help children see how authors arrange events to create the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.

* Copy the following sentences in random order on the chalkboard or overhead projector:

A mouse ran over a sleeping lion's nose.

The lion caught the mouse and was going to eat it.

The mouse begged the lion for mercy, saying it would do a kind deed for the lion someday.

The lion let the mouse go.

The lion got caught in a hunter's net.

The mouse gnawed through the net to let the lion escape.

* Ask children to copy the sentences on strips of paper, then arrange the strips to tell the story in sequence.

* Let children use their reordered sentences as a framework to retell the story. Encourage them to decide which events are most important and to provide plenty of detail to give these parts of the story the attention they deserve.

* Follow up by having children make new scrambled folktales to share with classmates.

Teaching With the Reproducible: Story Graphs

Use the graphic organizer on page 65 to help students recognize the actions and events that tie a story together and see how authors use tension to keep a story going strong.

[check] Choose a picture book with a strong plot and share it with your students. (See sidebar, page 64.)

[check] Place a copy of the story graph on the overhead projector. Explain that events from the story will be plotted horizontally, and an "excitement rating" will be plotted vertically.

[check] Have students identify the story's first main action and give it an excitement rating from one (the lowest) to ten. Mark it on the graph, and record the event in the right space.

[check] Continue recording each main event, plotting its excitement rating on the graph and connecting the points with a line. Follow up by discussing the highs and lows, and an author's purpose in varying the importance or excitement level of events.

[check] Guide children to understand how they can use story graphs to make revisions and become better writers. For example, a graph that has no high points may be an indication that the "climax" is missing or not well-developed.

Adapted from Literacy Through Literature, by Terry D. Johnson and Daphne R. Louis (Heinemann, 1987).

Mini-Lesson 2: The Main Events

Teach students how to elaborate on the main events that make up a plot by paying attention to action, tension, description, and dialogue. Begin by sharing a pivotal moment from a story with your students. (See sample, below.) Stretch out every attention-getting detail of the passage to help children see that authors don't let big moments in a story pass by quickly. Now take the same passage and summarize it in a sentence. Ask students to tell you which they prefer and why. Discuss the ways in which authors let readers know an event is important.

(For example, the author will use more details to write about these parts; you learn what characters think and how they feel; and so on.)

Smoke drifted into the room.

"Mama, what's happening?"

"Get up, Esperanza! We must get Abuelita!"

Esperanza heard Alfonso's deep voice yelling from somewhere downstairs.

"Senora Ortega! Esperanza!"

"Here! We are here!" called Mama, grabbing a damp rag from the washbowl and handing it to Esperanza to put over her mouth and nose. Esperanza swung around in a circle looking for something, anything, to save. She grabbed the doll Then she and Mama hurried down the hail toward Abuelita's room, but it was empty.

--From Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan

Follow up by reversing the exercise: On the chalkboard or overhead projector, write a one-sentence summary of an exciting event from a story. Ask children to write a detailed paragraph about the event using the summary and the previous sample as a guide. They may incorporate description, action, dialogue, and the main characters' thoughts and feelings.

--Adapted from The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever, by Barbara Mariconda (Scholastic Professional Books, 1999).

Summary Shorts

Pair up students for a challenge that will help them see which events in a story are most important. Begin by sharing a picture book with a strong plot. (See sidebar, right, for suggestions.) Have students partner up to summarize the story. The challenge? To see which team can summarize the story in the fewest words, without omitting key events. When each team has finished, review the key events with the class. Then let each team share its summary and word count. Remind them that every word counts. Which summary includes all of the key events with the fewest words? This exercise is also wonderful for teaching economy of words!

Draw on students' visual-spatial skills by looking at plot through pictures. Read aloud a picture book with a strong plot. Have children draw a series of pictures to show the main, events. Compare drawings. Which events did most students include? Which seem to be less important?

Plot-Rich Picture Books

* Amistad Rising: A Story of Freedom, by Veronica Chambers (Harcourt, 1998). Help children discover the ready-made stories history has to tell with this powerful account of Joseph Cinque's struggle to free African prisoners aboard the Amistad.

* Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 1996). Lilly loves school, but a "falling out" with her teacher threatens to change that. This story has a traditional structure and a resolution that ends on a happy note without sacrificing the main character's spirit.

* Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, by John Step-toe (Lothrop, 1987). In this modern fable inspired by a folktale. from Zimbabwe, two sisters are to appear before the king, who wants a wife. One sister is kind and considerate, the other selfish and mean-spirited. Their journey is full of the tension that makes an effective plot.

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