Week #3: Outlining vs. Winging It
Why outline your story?
What are the benefits of outlining a story? Outlines help the writer to organize plot points and sequences. They help the writer to focus and stay on track. But when it comes to outlining a story plot, one size does not fit all. There are as many ways for detailing your story plan as there are writers—meaning, every writer must find the way that works best for him. Let’s take a look at several methods for outlining a plot.
Methods for outlining your story
Traditional approach. Otherwise known as the basic outlining method all of us were taught in fourth grade English class. For those having trouble remembering, each heading has a Roman numeral, subheadings underneath are
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And then the boss gives a short speech, announcing Mary’s promotion.
And then Mary’s co-workers whisper behind her back.
And then Mary comes home to find Tom at her apartment.
And then Mary shares her good news, but Tom doesn’t look happy, paces the room.
A variation on this method is to omit the words “and then,” which is what I do. The amount of detail in each line depends on the writer. This method works well for those of us who like detail, but also like a less structured approach to gathering plot information. Be sure and double space between lines in case further plot points need to be added later.
Free Writing method. Throw out all the structure, set the timer for twenty minutes, and write everything you know about this story.
Example:
Mary doesn’t suspect a thing when her boss gives her a promotion at the board meeting. (Mary happens to be wearing her brand new gray pinstriped business suit she saved up for months to purchase, just so she could be taken seriously. Play hardball with the big boys.) Her boss seems to be in a good mood when he tells her about the promotion, but her co-workers whisper behind her back. That slacker Bill Evans even smirks. (Probably because she didn’t go out for drinks with him when he asked her a couple of months ago.) Later, when Mary gets home to her apartment, Tom is waiting there for
You do not know how to write a narrative? No problem! I can fix that. When writing a narrative, you are telling a story, you are the narrator and also the author. So when writing a story having an introduction is key. When you are writing an introduction make sure you have an eye catching hook, a set scene, and of course a thesis state. Next you will begin writing the three body paragraphs. These paragraphs will be filled with descriptions, your experiences, and more supporting evidence. Last but not least you will conclude your story with a conclusion. Conclusions are very simple. It is closing everything that went on and reflects on what happened. It is basically telling you
1. Write a precise, well-developed sentence that states as fully as possible the theme of the story. Remember to avoid clichés or oversimplification.
organize your story in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Good morning/Afternoon Ms Phillips and fellow peers, today this speech is going to be examining how mateship is represented within the two films, ‘Crocodile Dundee’ and ‘Red Dog’. Mateship has been developed over many years through the actions of loyalty and respect that individuals have demonstrated. Within both films, all the characters show characteristics of mateship when they protect and look after each other. This speech will argue how mateship is positively portrayed through the actions from the characters.
There are many writing techniques/crafts that authors write about in their story. For example, stories could have metaphors, flashbacks/flash forwards, or tone. But, in the story The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism, revealing actions, and descriptive language to show why the narrator wants to kill the old man.
illustrate when summarizing, the reader should restate the text’s main idea to show the relationship and understand what the text is saying. Jotting down brief notes about the reader’s initial reaction can help to prepare for a more detailed summary. Formulating strategy can be used to support what the reader went over in the text.
Plot is very important to a story, novel, or even movies. It helps to make object of the story plain to the reader, and make it as enjoyable to the reader as the author wanted it to be. Plot starts out with an introduction of sorts then runs into the rising action, followed by the main point of the story, then the exposition. When that is over the falling action occurs and finally, the resolution of the story. Willa Cather expresses this very intently in his story “The Sentimentality of William Tavener.” He draws the reader in with a man that is strict with his son and wife who are worthy to participate in the circus in town. Willa tells of the wife trying to convince her husband to allow them to go. Then he surprises the
I was in high school the first time I had to write a narrative. I was a freshman. This was Ms. Bradley’s first time teaching at Union Christian Academy. On her first day, she gave us our syllabus and said, “I do not accept late work, especially on writing assignments.” We, literally, sat there stunned. My freshman class had it very easy during eighth grade year. We were not expecting this. As I looked through the syllabus, I saw that our first assignment was due in a week and it was a narrative. At this time, I did not even know what a narrative was. Ms. Bradley explained that a narrative was an account or story of events. It could be either true or false. Our narrative had to be true. It had to be a true account of something that happened to us over the summer. She wanted to gauge how are writing skills were. Our narrative had to be at least two to two and a half pages long. I chose to write my first ever narrative on my trip to Fort Worth, Texas. Once again, I was plagued with writer’s block. I had the story in my head, but everything I
Answers to each question are assigned a 1 if answered correctly, and 0 if answered incorrectly. A testing script is provided for each subtest with a number of examples showing commonly given correct and incorrect answers. The examiner’s manual also provides a sample picture card and “good story” example for the examiner to show and read to the student before the story writing subtest is given. Two additional picture cards, one for each form, are provided for the story writing subtest. The examiner’s manual provides specific scoring criteria for each subtest. The contextual conventions subtest and the story composition are spontaneous tests with no ceiling measurement. These two tests are scored after the completion of the story composition. The story is evaluated against 21 specific contextual convention criteria, and 11 story composition criteria, stories under
Titles and headings – The document used titles and subheadings which add hierarchy to the document
The first step is something I like to call, The Royal Rumble of Ideas. The path in which my paper will follow as well as my thoughts and ideas are formed from the first process. The way in which it does this, is by requiring the writer to apply an abundant amount of focus on one particular area; whereas, the typical strategy, asks for the writer to just write (cue eye roll). If I am to construct a story, I must utilize this step. En passant, I might add, the crux of the former element is very much similar to the latter, as well as in the way in which it works. The commonality to which I am referring, is rumination. The simplicity of it is bemusing, especially considering it’s efficiency, but I will describe that later. The way this is utilized, is by requiring the writer to mull over what they will write next. For example: When I am writing, regardless of the type of paper, I will deeply contemplate what my next sentence will be and how it will be phrased. Incidentally, in English class, I will often be seen staring into the ether, as if I am on a psychotropic drug. There is, however, a reason behind this seemingly sinister image. As I described, rumination is crucial in my writing process: In order to produce a sentence, or a paragraph for that matter, I must distill information from that contemplation. (See, it even
write one long story in a mature style and free of mechanical errors." "Forty-seven pages,”he said. And smiled." This ultimatum had Thomas focused on doing his best, so that he could pass his class and not disappoint his family. ("Four Miles to Pinecone" By: Jon Hassler)
My thoughts on outlining, I think outlining is a great tool and idea to help you get started to write. It helps you get ready to write your paper, helps with structure of your paper and how and what you are going to write about in your paper,it's very similar to brainstorming in my opinion. I find it sometimes hard for me to do an outline. I feel like just jumping right into the paper works best for me, writing down whatever comes into my mind. Then editing the paper later on. In the past with previous experience with outlining, I have found out that It does help you get started on the paper with organization and thoughts, do I still continue to do outlines while i write, that answer would be a no. Looking back at previous discussions, week
Almost all stories have plots, and authors employ plots in many different ways. If you can show the particular way in which an author makes use of plot to further his or her story, you have said something substantial. We are interested in learning about the particular way that Hawthorne uses colors and names as character symbols in “Young Goodman Brown,” or the specific way that Updike in “A & P ” shows the world of the grocery store society as a way to enable Sammy 's character to hopefully mature. Try to develop your discussion by focusing on a particular strategy the author uses and what effect that strategy has on the reader. Why did the author choose this particular strategy over other options that might have presented themselves? Does the strategy enable the author to do anything? Are there any constraints in using the strategy?
Think of it as the blueprint for a film in which the producer or director envisions what the final version will look like, and so it has helped to develop scripts. Having a storyboard can help out by it being able to flesh out ideas that may have been better than a scene they first envisioned. For example the original idea would have been a close up of an actor but finding out that it would look better for the shot to include the whole body view of the actor to see how their posture changes in the current