Author of Middle Grade novels about friendship, family, and figuring out where you fit in.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Build Your Own Story (And Win One, Too!)

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of presenting to each of the third grade classes at a local elementary school. (They've always been so incredibly kind to me at that school -- I couldn't ask for more support!)

Rather than rambling on and on about how a book is made, I led an interactive activity called, "Build Your Own Story," where the students and I... well, built our own story.


I gave them one category at a time (characters, setting, what does the character want, what's in the character's way, how does the character try to get what he/she wants) and they raised their hands and gave me some really creative and brilliant answers! Here are some (abbreviated) ideas that they came up with:

Princess Sally, who lives in a kingdom made of gold, wants to find the treasure that's hidden under all the gold. But what will she do about the evil witch who tries to stop her?

Detective Looker is investigating a robbery in a museum when another detective gets in his way. Who will solve the mystery first?

A chicken named Bob dresses up as a human in order to go to school with the children in his town, but he gets caught and is sent home. How will he find a way to go to school when chickens aren't allowed?

They came up with great endings for the stories, too. I'm so impressed with the fun story ideas they had! "Build Your Own Story" was a success, and I hope to do more presentations in the future.

Another exciting event happening this month is the Goodreads Giveaway for WISHING FOR WASHINGTON. If you'd like a chance to win a signed paperback (giveaway ends Thursday, Dec 4th) then feel free to enter:



Goodreads Book Giveaway


Wishing for Washington by Shelley Sly

Wishing for Washington

by Shelley Sly


Giveaway ends December 04, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.


Enter to win



Any other interesting or exciting things going on lately? Feel free to share!

7 comments:

Tiana Smith said...

Huh - those are surprisingly good story ideas! Yay for the creativity of your kids :) It seems like a good way to work on a pitch too.

Jemi Fraser said...

Those are awesome!! Love when kids get the brainstorming going - they're always so much fun :)

S.P. Bowers said...

I bet they enjoyed that so much! I remember writing a poem together with my class in second grade. That was one of my earliest experiences that made me want to write professionally.

Heather R. Holden said...

What a wonderful idea for an activity! They came up with such fun stories...

Nick Wilford said...

What a great idea to get kids involved in the activity and coming up with ideas. Those are some pretty good ones!

Julie Dao said...

So cool to see what you guys came up with! What a great activity. I bet some of those kids will grow up to be writers too ;)

Caryn Caldwell said...

What a FANTASTIC idea to do with them! And I love what they came up with. (Detective Looker sounds pretty, well, good-looking, if you ask me. :-D)

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