________________________________________________________________

Writing
Booklet
1

Table of Contents
The Writing Process for Fiction Stories ........................................................................................................ 3
How to Find Ideas for Fiction Stories ............................................................................................................ 4
Character T-Chart ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Steps to Develop a Character ........................................................................................................................... 7
Story Mountain ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Studying Published Stories ................................................................................................................................. 9
How to Find and Write the Heart of Your Story .................................................................................. 12
Tips for Writing Fiction Stories ..................................................................................................................... 13
Showing or Telling? ............................................................................................................................................ 14
Fiction Story: Archie Smith, Boy Wonder ................................................................................................ 16
Revising Fiction Stories ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Key Questions for Revising Beginnings and Endings ............................................................................. 19
Boxes and Bullets: Brainstorm an Essay ................................................................................................... 20
Essay Frame .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
Ways to Start and End an Essay ................................................................................................................. 22
Persuasive Essays................................................................................................................................................. 23
Steps to Write a Topic Report ...................................................................................................................... 26
Tips For Writing All About a Topic ............................................................................................................. 27
Planning your Report with Boxes and Bullets ........................................................................................ 28
Transition Words for Nonfiction Writing .................................................................................................. 30
Ways to Write a Literary Essay .................................................................................................................... 31
Questions Writers Ask Their Books .............................................................................................................. 32
Questioning Your Notes .................................................................................................................................... 33
Thinking and Writing About Literature .................................................................................................... 34
Literary Essay for Fox ....................................................................................................................................... 35
Literary Essay Boxes and Bullets Brainstorm ......................................................................................... 36

Appendix A: South Dakota State Booklet

Appendix B: Writing Checklists and Rubrics
Appendix C: Reading Articles

The Writing Process for Fiction Stories

How to Find Ideas for Fiction Stories

Character T-Chart
Characters have traits, just like people. There are traits you can see just by
looking at the character (External Features) and there are traits you cant
see unless you get to know the character by listening to him talk, watching
what he does, and knowing what he thinks (Internal Features). Here is a
Character T-Chart for Theo, the character in Mrs. Sutliffs story, The

Keeper of the Code.

Theo
External Features (Outside)

Internal Features (Inside)

Brown hair and green eyes

Very smart

Dark tanned skin (from

Has a great memory

working outside on the ranch)

Likes to write

Always has a notebook and

Loves the outdoors

pencil with him

Lonely

Wears overalls and t-shirts

Impulsive

Small and skinny

Notes from the author: I knew that Theo would need to be really smart and
have a great memory, or he wouldnt make a good alchemist. I wasnt sure
if his hobby would matter, so I made him like mewe both like to write. He
is lonely, because then he will want to make friends, and that helps me give
him motivation. He is impulsive, because then he will have a negative
character trait and have to grow and change and become patient.

Steps to Develop a Character

Story Mountain

Studying Published Stories

10

11

How to Find and Write the Heart of Your Story

12

Tips for Writing Fiction Stories

13

Showing or Telling?

Showing or Telling?
I remember when I caught my dad on my fishing pole. I never saw my dad
look so mad! He didnt yell at me, but I could tell that he was mad at me.

Showing or Telling?
My fishing pole didn't seem right. I reeled it in and tried again, but I let go
too soon, and my hook flew to the right and got caught on my dad's glasses. "Uh
oh!" I said. My dad dropped his fishing pole and yanked the hook off. His face
turned red, and I froze. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there and waited
for him to start yelling, but he didn't.

Showing or Telling?
I stretched as high as I could. There! My tall building was finished. CRASH!
Down it came.
"Shhhh," called my mother. "You'll have to play more quietly. Remember we
have a new baby in the house."

Showing or Telling?
I was making a tall building out of blocks. I wanted to impress my baby
brother. My blocks crashed down and made a mess, and my mother yelled at me. I
needed to be quiet because of the baby.

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More Showing or Telling?

Showing or Telling?
Last weekend I went to Denver. I went with Patrick and Caitlin and Jeremy
and Ryan and Melanie and Jamie and Samantha. We drove in the car for six hours!
Then we waited in line for an entire hour! Then we got our badges and went into
the convention center. It was crowded!

Showing or Telling?
After standing in line for an entire hour, Patrick and I stepped up to the
counter and paid for our badges to get into the convention. "What do you want to
do first?" I asked. Patrick smiled and said, "Let's go to the dealer's room!"
I rolled my eyes because that would mean more standing in line, but I didn't
argue. This time, the line went faster, and soon, we were inside the gigantic room,
looking around for things to buy. The room had Japanese Kimonos and action
figures and stuffed animals and movies.
People pressed in on us and pushed and shoved, and before I knew it, Patrick
was gone! I didn't know where he went, and I felt my heart start to pound and my
eyes welled up with tears.
I made my way to the door and stood outside the room waiting for Patrick to
come out. I waited and waited, but he never came, and I started to worry that he
left me behind. Then, just when I was sure I was going to start crying, I saw him
come out with a bag of goodies! I smiled so big when I saw him.

Showing or Telling?
I stepped out onto my back porch, tilted my head back, and opened my
mouth. The snow flakes swirled around me, big and fat and fluffy. I moved to try
and catch one, but it went up my nose and made me sneeze.
Come inside! mom yelled. You cant stand in the snow barefoot with no coat
on in the middle of winter!
I turned and tiptoed back inside, feeling the icicles between my toes.

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Fiction Story
Archie Smith, Boy Wonder
Chapter One: In Your Dreams
Archie Smith dove for cover, just as the dragons fire reigned down. The cave entrance
blocked the dragons flame, but the dragon was following Archie into the cave. The monstrous
beast inhaled, and Archie ran deeper into the cave, trying to come up with a plan.
The dragon roared and breathed fire. Archie held up his shield to block the flames, and
then charged at the dragon, waving his sword.
Archie! someone yelled from behind the door, but Archie blocked the dragons claw
swipe and swung his sword. Archie?! The door opened and Archies make-believe word
shattered as his mother walked into the room. Archie Smith, it is time for bed, she said. And
shut that window.
But Mom! I was about to slay the fire breathing dragon! Archie complained.
Slay him in your dreams, his mother said, and she left the room, closing the door
behind her.
Archie climbed into bed, secretly bringing his flashlight and a good fairytale book with
him, the window completely forgotten. He stayed up reading until very late; twice he almost got
caught, but Archie knew how to turn off the flashlight in a snap and hide the book under the
sheet and pretend to sleep. His mother didnt suspect a thing.
Chapter Two: Is He The One?
Later that night, the wind blew through the window, rustling the sheets over Archies
head as he read about the wizard casting a spell on a dragon. The wizard was trying to put the
dragon to sleep. Archie yawned even though this was an exciting part of the story, because he
was up way past his bed time. He blinked at the pages where the words were starting to blur
together. He couldnt stay awake another minute. The book fell shut and so did his eyes, and
Archie almost drifted off to sleep.
Is he the one? a tiny voice asked.
Archies heart leapt. He ripped off the sheet and turned to see two floating balls of light.
He looked closer and saw that they were in the shape of brightly glowing little people with
wings. Fairies!
He is the one, said a different tiny voice, coming from the closest fairy. He will save
us from Nightmare.
Nightmare? Archies heart was pounding. He was talking to a fairy!
Nightmare is the shadow dragon who is putting all the fairies to sleep and stealing their
magic, the fairy said. We need a gifted wizard like you to stop him.
Im not a wizard, Archie said, but the fairies laughed. They circled his head, more
coming in from that window his mother had told him to close. Faster and faster they spun around
him, the lights of their wings dancing in his eyes.
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Chapter Three: Archie Smith, Boy Wonder

Archie Smith blinked and gasped as he realized the fairies had taken him somewhere
else. Suddenly he was in the forest from his dreams, and instead of his pajamas, he was wearing
a wizard robe with a shiny white sword and a magic staff. What happened? Archie asked.
The fairies giggled and blinked in the moonlight. We brought you to our world. The
shadow dragon Nightmare lives in the save in the middle of our forest. We will take you there
tomorrow to stop him and rescue all the fairies.
But I dont know how to stop a dragon, Archie said with tears in his eyes.
We will teach you, said the first fairy, who glowed bright white.
And so Archie Smith spent all night training with fairies. He learned how to use his
magic staff and his powerful sword, and how to cast spells just like any wizard. He learned how
to make things happen just by speaking words. Most importantly, he learned that he could do
anything he put his mind to.
Before the sun came up the next morning, the fairies lead Archie deep into the forest to
the dark shadow dragons cave. Archie held his staff and short sword with trembling hands, but
he remembered what the fairies had showed him, and he knew he was a powerful wizard.
Chapter Four: Sleeping Nightmare and Waking Fairies
Archie took a big breath as they approached the dark mouth of the cave. The wind
whistled through the narrow entrance, making the vines dance and sway in front of the entrance.
Archie said, Glow, sword of light, and his sword turned into a bright beacon of light. He
entered the cave, using the light of his sword to see. After walking a while, he could hear the
rumbling of a large dragon snoring. Archies heart tumbled as he turned down a tunnel and came
face to face with the shadow dragon Nightmare.
Archie held up his staff and opened his mind to the magic that the fairies had taught him.
Slumber forever more, Archie said, and his staff began to glow like a million fireflies. Slowly,
each little flicker of light danced off the staff and began to swirl around the dragon. One by one,
each little light of magic surrounded the dragon in a magical spell of sleep.
All around him, little balls of light appeared as fairies woke from their nightmares. Their
laughter was like bells ringing. They danced around Archie, making his head spin with their
bright lights like stars swirling in the darkness.
Archie blinked and sighed as he suddenly found himself back in his own room. He ran to
the still open window and looked out. It was so early in the morning now that he could just
barely see the sun starting to come up. For just a moment, he thought he saw the light of a fairy
off in the distance, and then it was gone. He wasnt sure. Maybe it was just a star going out.
Archie Smith, I thought I told you to close the window, his mother said, and Archie
turned to see her standing in the doorway. Archie only smiled. Never, he thought.

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Revising Fiction Stories

18

Key Questions for Revising Beginnings and Endings

19

Boxes and Bullets: Brainstorm an Essay

20

Essay Frame

21

Ways to Start and End an Essay

22

Persuasive Essays
Persuasive Essays: Special Person
People might not know how important my mother-in-law Pat Sutliff is to me. My Mother
Sutliff is important to me because she taught me to give my time, make gifts for people, make
food for people, and help people. Some people might not think that this sort of thing is important,
but I know that its very special, and thats why Mother Sutliff is my most important person.
One reason that Mother Sutliff is important to me is that she taught me to give my time.
For example, she showed me that volunteering and giving my time is a good thing to do. She did
this by always giving her time to go help people. She volunteers to read with children at a school,
and she gives her time to help Story Book Island by doing Once Upon a Festival. Because of my
Mother Sutliff, I also help out with Once Upon a Festival.
Another reason why Mother Sutliff is important to me is that she taught me to make gifts
for people. Mother Sutliff made me a beautiful quilt for my wedding, and I love to sleep with it.
Its very special to my husband and I, and it shows how much Mother Sutliff cares about us.
Mother Sutliff also makes clothes for her grandkids because she loves them. I want to show
people in my life that I care about them too, so I make gifts for them. I make cards for birthdays
for lots of people in my life, because that is what Mother Sutliff taught me to do.
Another reason why Mother Sutliff is important to me is because she taught me to make
food for people. For example, every time a holiday comes, we always go over to her house to eat.
Last year we had fondue at her house for Christmas. Fondue is bread and melted cheese, and
steak that we cook ourselves right at the table. I love putting the bread on my stick and swirling it
in the fondue cheese and popping it in my mouth! Yum! I know how to make fondue, and lots of
other food, because of my Mother Sutliff.
Not only does Mother Sutliff make food and gifts for people and give her time, but she
also helps people. Mother Sutliff has taught me that the best thing I can do is to always try to
help others. She recently helped women in India by raising money to buy them sewing machines.
Now, because of her, tons of women in India can make their own clothes and quilts, just like
Mother Sutliff. I want to be like Mother Sutliff too, so I helped women in India by giving $20.
In conclusion, my Mother Sutliff is important to me because she taught me to help people
and give my time, she taught me to make gifts for people, and she taught me to make food for
people. I realize that not everybody has a mother-in-law like my Mother Sutliff, and I feel lucky
to have her in my life. When I think about my mother-in-law, Pat Sutliff, I feel so lucky to have
her in my life. This makes me think that everybody should have a relationship with their motherin-law, because they could learn some important things about life.

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Persuasive Essays: Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,
December 2nd 2014
Some people think shoveling the driveway is fun, but I know that it is hard
work. You should bring me a snow blower for Christmas because it makes
shoveling my driveway easier, it would be fun to clear the snow away, and most
importantly, I am going to have a driveway soon and I will need to be prepared.
One reason that you should bring me a snow blower for Christmas is that it
would make shoveling my driveway easier. For example, a few years ago, I lived
at a house without a snow blower and we got snowed in and couldn't go anywhere
until we shoveled the whole driveway! It took so long and it was a lot of work to
shovel the driveway. Also, I have seen people using snow blowers, and it looks
like they just walk and push the blower. Thats so much easier than shoveling
snow. And especially because the cold weather makes my back hurt, and then
going out and shoveling when my back hurts is the worst! Thats why a snow
blower would make it easier to shovel the driveway.
Another reason why you should bring me a snow blower for Christmas is
that it would be fun. When I see people using snow blowers it makes me feel like I
should have one too. It just looks like so much fun. One time, I saw a man outside
blowing the snow off his driveway with his children. His kids were running around
in the snow that was blowing around and it looked like a lot of fun. Thats why I
think it looks like fun to have a snow blower.
Although I need a snow blower to make shoveling snow easier and more
fun, you should also bring me a snow blower because I will have a house with a
driveway soon. I need to be prepared to take care of my house in the winter. I
would like a snow blower so that when it snows at my new house, I can clear the
snow away faster. Also, we don't have shovels anymore, so we need to get
something in order to clear snow off the driveway. It might as well be a snow
blower!
I have found that shoveling the snow is boring and hard work, while blowing
the snow with a snow blower would be fun and less work, plus I really need one
for my new house. So you should bring me a snow blower for Christmas! I would
appreciate it very much! Thanks and have a great Christmas!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sutliff
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Persuasive Essay Boxes and Bullets Plan

Think about something you would like to get from Santa. This could be a present,
like an iPad or puppy, or something else, like a wish for world peace or a happy
family. Write your wish in the box. Then think of at least three reasons why Santa
should bring this to you. Make sure you have three DIFFERENT reasons. Look at
the example Boxes and Bullets frame below to help you.

Please bring me a kitten for Christmas.

You should bring me a kitten for Christmas because kittens are fun.

You should bring me a kitten for Christmas because kittens are cute.
You should bring me a kitten for Christmas because a kitten can teach me to
be responsible.

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Steps to Write a TopicReporty

26

Tips For Writing All About a Topic

27

Planning your Report with Boxes and Bullets

Use this form to help you plan the sections of your report. First, look at the
example Boxes and Bullets for the example South Dakota report.

Places to Go!

The Land

Wind Cave

Bad Lands

Crazy Horse

Great Plains

Mount Rushmore

Prairies

Forests and Hills

The People:

Early Natives

Plains Indians

Lewis & Clark

Farmers Came

State Story: Tornados

Introduction:

Tornado comes

Shape of State

The History: Gold Rush

in the Black Hills

Fighting

Treaties

Beginning:

Middle: Family
Hides

End: Tornado
leaves

Animals of South Dakota

Coyote

Custer

Bison

Ring-Necked Pheasant

Reservations

Prairie Dogs

Ghost Dance

The Jobs of South

Glossary

Dakota

Farming

butte

Ranching

caverns

Other jobs

corporation

expedition

extinction

fertile

homesteaders

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Ferrets

Sources

South Dakota by
Karen Sirvaitis

South Dakota E-Book

by Sarah Tieck

South Dakota online

Wildlife brochure

Now Plan your own Report by filling in the boxes and bullets below. Choose what
you will include in your own report. Remember to look at the books you will be
reading while you plan your report, so you know you can find the information you
need! Each box will be a page in your notebook and each bullet will be a paragraph.
Some boxes have been chosen for you. You only need a minimum of 6 sections in
your report, but you may include more. Each section needs at least two
paragraphs (bullets). Use this page to keep track of words for your glossary and
your sources too.

Glossary (You need at

Sources

least one word for each

(You need 2 books and

box in your report)

at least 1 website)

Make sure to keep track of pictures

you get from the internet!

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Transition Words for Nonfiction Writing

Can you find other transition words in the example South

Dakota report in the back of this booklet?

30

Ways to Write a Literary Essay

31

Questions Writers Ask Their Books

32

Questioning Your Notes

33

Thinking and Writing About Literature

34

Literary Essay

Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks

Analyzed by Mrs. Sutliff
The book Fox is about the theme compassion, because Dog helped Magpie, Magpie
helped Dog, and Fox taught Magpie a lesson about helping others. Characters who learn
about this theme learn to help people who are suffering to feel better. In this essay I will
explain why the theme compassion fits the book Fox.

Fox is a book about compassion, because Dog helped Magpie. I know Dog helped
Magpie when she was suffering, because he rescued her from the fire. He let her ride on
his back because her wing was burnt. He runs so swiftly, it is almost as if he were flying.
These are all ways that Dog helped someone who was suffering, and that is why Fox is a
book about compassion.

Fox is a book about compassion, because Magpie helps Dog by being his missing eye.
She looks into the water at the riverbank and describes what she sees to Dog, who only
has one eye. She says, I will be your missing eye, and you will be my wings. After she
leaves Dog, she feels bad when she thinks of him waking to find her gone, and she decides
to go back to him. Magpie said, I will never leave Dog. I am his missing eye and he is my
wings. These are all the ways that Magpie learned to be compassionate and accept Dogs
help.
Not only is Fox is a book about compassion because Magpie helps Dog and Dog helps
Magpie, but also because Fox teaches Magpie a lesson about helping others. Fox notices
that Magpie depends on Dog, and Fox tricks her. I can run faster than Dog, Fox said.
Leave Dog and come with me. So Magpie leaves with Fox, but Fox never learned to be
compassionate. He leaves her in the desert. Now you and Dog will know what it is like to
be truly alone. he said to Magpie. This is how Fox teaches Magpie a lesson about helping
people.
The book Fox is about the theme compassion, because Dog helped Magpie by doing
things like rescuing her from the fire and being her missing wing, Magpie helped Dog by
doing things like being his missing eye and trying to go back to Dog, and most of all,
because Fox teaches Magpie a lesson about helping others. The theme compassion can be
found in books with characters that learn about helping people who are suffering to feel
better. And that is why compassion is the theme for the book Fox.
35

Literary Essay Boxes and Bullets Brainstorm

Look at your brainstormed list of thesis statements for your picture book. Choose
your favorite theme and put that in the box. Then think of at least three parts in
the story that show that theme. Make sure you have three DIFFERENT reasons.
Look at the example Boxes and Bullets frame below to help you.

Fox is a book about compassion.

Fox is a book about compassion, because Dog helps Magpie.

Fox is a book about compassion, because Magpie helps Dog.

Fox is a book about compassion, because Fox teaches Magpie a lesson about
helping others.

Use the Box and Bullets to plan your own essay. WHEN YOU ARE DONE, start
working on your essay in your writing notebook. Make sure each bulleted reason
has at least one page in your notebook.

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Writing about Themes in Movies

Hunchback of Notre Dame
I think the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame is about the themes of
adversity, crime and punishment, identity, and courage. These themes all fit the
movie because of ways that all the different characters change from lessons they
learned. In this essay, I will explain how all these themes fit the movie.
The movie is about adversity because Quasimodos parents died and he is an
orphan. He has to live in the church tower by himself, and his master, Frolo is evil
and mean to him. This makes it hard for Quasimodo and he struggles with being
alone. In the end, he makes friends and doesnt have to be alone anymore, so he
learned how to overcome his hardship.
The movie is about crime and punishment because Frolo commits a crime
against the gypsies and then he gets punished for it. Frolo hates the gypsies
because they are different. He should have learned how to respect and accept
their differences, but instead he decided to persecute them. His punishment for
this crime was that Quasimodo tried to stop him, and in the end Frolo fell off the
church tower.
The movie is about identity, because Quasimodo needed to learn what it
meant to be himself. He is jealous of all the normal people who can live outside of
the church walls, but as the movie goes, he comes to accept that he doesnt look
like normal people, but he can still be a hero who does the right thing.
The movie is about courage, because both Esmerelda and Febis do something
that takes a lot of courage. Esmerelda stands up against Frolo, who is powerful. I
think it takes a lot of courage to challenge someone like that. Febis stands up
against Frolo too, when he starts to go after Esmerelda. He loves her, so he
decides not to listen to Frolo, even though he is a soldier in the army and Frolo is
his captain who gets to tell him what to do. It would take a lot of courage to do
whats right even when the person in charge is telling you to do something wrong.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a movie about many themes, including
courage, identity, crime and punishment, and adversity. These themes all fit the
movie because of what different characters learned, like how Quasimodo learned
to accept himself, and the people learned to accept him too, and how Esmerelda
and Febis were both so brave, and finally, how Frolo committed a crime and was
punished for it.

37