today you are going to:
•
Learn about the structure of a mini saga
•
Learn about types of narrator
•
Write a mini saga for Young Writers’ Spiner-Chillers
competition
WHAT IS A MINI SAGA?
•
A mini saga is a fun method of storytelling, where you
must create a complete story in up to 100 words.
THE GOLDEN RULES OF WRITING A MINI SAGA
•
Be original – you can be inspired by other stories, but
give it a twist to make it your own
•
Tell a good story
•
Do not exceed 100 words (not including the title!)
MINI SAGA WRITING TIPS
•
Abbreviate words e.g. ‘it is’ becomes ‘it’s’
•
Use your title cleverly to give readers a clue
•
Edit out any unnecessary words/sentences
•
If using dialogue, don’t write ‘said the main character ...’,
use adjectives to describe their reaction and help set the
scene with cleverly placed description. E.g.
‘shrieked/cried/laughed/stammered’ the main character
UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF A MINI SAGA
• A mini saga is a complete story, so requires a beginning, a
middle and an end.
•Suggest ideas of your favourite books/stories to your teacher
• They will pick one idea
• You need to identify character, setting and plot
Provide your teacher with the key parts of the story, which will
be written on the board
• Work as a class to adapt the key parts into sentences to tell
the story
• Edit down to 100 words or fewer!
•
DO YOU KNOW WHAT A NARRATOR IS?
•
Suggest examples to your teacher!
TYPES OF NARRATOR
First person – The Protagonist: The hero narrates the story
• First person – A Secondary Character: Someone close to the
protagonist narrates
• Third Person – Omniscient: Knows details about all the characters and
their dilemmas etc that other characters don’t know about each other. A
bit of a busy body or know-it-all!
• Third Person – Limited: Knows about the main / secondary characters
and only knows what those characters know
• Third Person – Objective: Tells the story from an outside voice, never
has own opinion or says ‘We’ or ‘I’ when narrating
• Third Person – Intrusive: Isn’t a physical character in the book, but gives
their personal opinion on what is going on
• The Unreliable Narrator: has a biased point of view
•
CREATING TENSION, SUSPENSE AND ATMOSPHERE IN
YOUR WRITING
Do you know what tension, suspense and atmosphere are?
Tension, suspense and atmosphere play a key role in
creating a spine-chilling story. Blood, guts and gore
sometimes shock a reader, but often bore them! Creating a
story that is creepy, that gives you goosebumps or has a
surprise humorous ending is so much enjoyable to read and
to write!
Explain to your teacher what tension,
suspense and atmosphere ...
TENSION, SUSPENSE AND ATMOSPHERE DEFINITION
Tension: Mental or emotional strain; intense, suppressed suspense,
anxiety or excitement.
Suspense: A state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement,
as in awaiting a decision or outcome with apprehension or anxiety.
An element of risk is usually involved in creating suspense.
Atmosphere: A surrounding or pervading mood, environment or
influence; the dominant mood or emotional tone in a piece
of
writing
Can you give your teacher an example of each?
TENSION, SUSPENSE AND ATMOSPHERE EXAMPLES
Tension: Walking past the abandoned house I hear music
and decide to investigate...
Suspense: Exploring the forest seemed a good idea in
daylight. Suddenly a blood-curdling scream pierced the
silence of the forest.
Atmosphere: The old, ivy-clad barn disappeared as the thick
fog rolled in, silencing nature. The only sound to be heard
was the thud of my heartbeat in my ears.
ACTIVITY
Write these 3 places on a sheet of paper:
•
an abandoned house
•
a church
•
a forest
Write a short sentence about each one on a bright sunny day.
Once you’ve done this, repeat the activity using awful weather at
dusk or at night
How do they compare?
SETTING THE SCENE
•
Set the scene using location and weather/time of
day/time of year. Darkness, inclement weather, isolated
property, ruins, graveyard etc, automatically give the
reader a sense of something sinister afoot.
•One
or two short sentences can set a scene leaving the
remainder of the mini saga to develop the plot.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Consider the following points before writing your mini saga:
•
Will there be a ghost/apparition or will you just suggest that
through the power of words?
•
Will the events be in the character’s mind or real?
•
Will the ending have a twist or be humorous?
•
Will the reader be lulled into a false sense of security?
•
Will you opt for description, dialogue or action?
•
Will you plunge your reader straight into the situation or
spare a sentence or two to set the scene beforehand?
THE GOLDEN RULES OF MINI SAGA WRITING:
•
Be original! You can be inspired by other stories, but add
a twist, make it your own!
•
Keep to the 100 word limit – less is always more!
•
Remember that mini sagas must have a beginning, a
middle and an end!
IT’S TIME TO COMPOSE YOUR MINI SAGA
This lesson you have learnt:
• The structure of a mini saga
• About types of narrator
• How to use tension, suspense and atmosphere in your writing
• The golden rules of mini saga writing
• Utilise the information you have learnt to write a fantastic spinechilling saga!
• Your teacher will provide you with a Spine-Chillers entry form.
There are 100 boxes on the form to ensure your mini saga stays
within the word limit. Remember, the task is to write a spinechilling saga in up to 100 words!
THE RAMBLER EXAMPLE STORY
Fog was creeping in, I wouldn’t make it back before dark. I
saw an old church. I’ll wait there and call Tom, I thought. Fog
weaved around weather-beaten tombs. I shivered. I crept
between crumbling gravestones, heading for the church. The
door latch was rusty but unlocked. I entered and shut the
door behind me. ‘Hello?’ No answer. I called Tom. ‘I’ll be
there in 20, Liz!’ he said as I sat on a dusty pew. Moonlight
cast dancing shadows through stained glass windows. Bang!
‘Tom?’ The shadows, still moving, grew bigger. A cold hand
touched my shoulder. ‘Tom?’ …
BEAUTY AND HER BEAST EXAMPLE STORY
Stumbling into the ballroom, she was shocked to see the
Beast. His size was daunting, yet she was drawn by his
charisma. She reached out her hand to caress him, but felt a
cold, hard surface. She realised she was looking in a mirror
– the Beast was her inner demon.
FEEDBACK TIME!
•
Work in pairs to read your mini sagas to one another
•
Your partner is to provide feedback; something they liked and
something that can be improved
•
Your partner can help edit the work down if it exceeds the
100-word limit
•
You do the same