Author Visits

Every story has a structure. Once you understand that structure, you’re on your way to writing stories of your own!

For the first half of our one-hour visit, we’ll discuss the Plot Diagram and Plot Points, Character Traits, and Physical/Sensory Description. We’ll use well-known stories to illustrate exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. We’ll use those same stories to explore plot points, character traits, and descriptions. For the second half of the visit, the students will draw a character and use what we’ve discussed to work on their own stories. During this part of our Zoom, students can ask questions about their story or its structure, share their thoughts, and take turns sharing their work with the group. After the visit, the teacher can send student work to Gina, and she will reply to the teacher with comments for each young author.

The novels we remember best are those with a storyworld that captures our imagination.

For the first half of our one-hour visit, we’ll review and discuss story structure before moving on to the elements that create the world of a story. We’ll use examples of the storyworld in books the students have read or simple stories that are familiar to them to illustrate how characters, description, dialogue, setting, and what is normal in that storyworld combine to bring a reader fully into the story. For the second half of the visit, students will apply what they’ve learned to create a storyworld for a narrative using their own plot points or those provided by Gina. During this part of our Zoom, students can ask questions about their work, share it with the group, discuss what is normal in their storyworld, or brainstorm with other students. After the visit, the teacher can send student work to Gina, and she will reply to the teacher with comments for each student.

Shakespeare’s plays date back to the late 1500s through the early 1600s, yet what he had to say about human nature still rings true.

For the first half of our one-hour visit, we’ll review and discuss the stories and themes in Shakespeare’s works. We’ll see unreasoning jealousy in Othello, incapacitating self-doubt in Hamlet, questions of fate and self-determination in Macbeth, acts of betrayal in King Lear, and many other examples of issues that are still experienced by teens today. For the second half of the visit, students will apply what they’ve learned as they pick a theme or use one provided by Gina to plot a work of their own. During this part of our Zoom, students can ask questions about their work, share it with the group, and brainstorm with other students. After the visit, the teacher can send student work to Gina, and she will reply to the teacher with comments for each student.