Transcript Narrative Leads_PPTx - Glen Ellyn School District 41

NARRATIVE LEADS
(HOOKS)
Day 1
Go through the entire Powerpoint,
reading each slide. Follow any
prompts you come to. Stop only
when you see a stop sign.
Opening Lines
First lines can touch a nerve.
A well-written first line is like the front door on
an intriguing old house. It invites us to pass
through to the unique experience that's on
the other side. So what goes into the creation
of killer first lines?
A powerful first line will set the
tone for your entire piece. It
doesn't always have to be an
explosive line, but it should get
your readers' attention and
entice them to read on.
The first line sets the
MOOD (feeling) and
the SETTING (time
and place).
Like opening a front door, the first line
brings your reader through a door
into the world you've created for
them.
That line can greet with a smile,
a snarl,
a shout
or perhaps an awful truth…
PART I:
CHECK OUT THESE
NARRATIVE LEADS ITHIN
POPULAR BOOKS….
READ THEM ALL…
Matilda
Everyone is born, but not everyone is born the
same. Some will grow to be butchers, or bakers, or
candlestick makers. Some will only be really good
at making Jell-O salad. One way or another,
though, every human being is unique, for better or
for worse.
Because of Winn-Dixie
My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my
daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box
of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two
tomatoes and I came back with a dog.
Stormbreaker
When the doorbell rings at three in the morning,
it's never good news. Alex Rider was woken by the
first chime.
Each Little Bird that Sings
I come from a family with a lot of dead people.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive,
were proud to say that they were perfectly normal,
thank you very much. They were the last people
you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or
mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such
nonsense.
Series of Unfortunate Events
If you are interested in stories with happy endings,
you would be better off reading some other book.
In this book, not only is there no happy ending,
there is no happy beginning and very few happy
things in the middle.
Charlotte’s Web
"Where's Papa going with that axe?"
said Fern to her mother as they were
setting the table for breakfast.
THE HOBBIT
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a
nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms
and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole
with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a
hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Fahrenheit 451
It was a pleasure to burn.
1984
It was a bright cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen.
Alice in Wonderland
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by
her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing
to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book
her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or
conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book',
thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversation?'
Peter Pan
All children, except one,
grow up.
Lord of the Flies
The boy with fair hair lowered
himself down the last few feet of
rock and began to pick his way
towards the lagoon.
Little Women
"Christmas won't be Christmas
without any presents," grumbled Jo,
lying on the rug.
A Christmas Carol
Marley was dead, to begin with.
Star Wars
Did you hear that? They've shut
down the main reactor. We'll be
destroyed for sure. This is
madness!
The Wind in the Willows
The Mole had been working very hard
all the morning, spring-cleaning his
little home.
PART II:
Analyzing and
Application
Next Steps:
1. Go back to the PowerPoint and choose
your favorite opening line.
2. Start a new page in your Writer’s
Notebook . Title it Narrative Leads. Then,
write down your favorite opening line
from the PPT.
Next Steps:
4. Grab four or five of the many books that are in our
classroom library and your Acceptance Club Book.
Any of the books you choose from our library can
be ones you have read before or new books. (Just
make sure they are not non-fiction!)
5. Read their first lines (narrative leads).
6. Choose three that you like. Write them down on
this same page in your WN. Don’t forget to
include the title of the book along with the whole
lead.
Day 2
Go through the rest of the
Powerpoint following the
prompts/directions as you read
them. Only stop again when you see
the next stop sign.
Next Steps:
7. Using the examples in the PowerPoint and the narrative leads
you found in books from our library, what are some of the
ways that author’s choose to use to HOOK their readers? For
example, in Little Women, the author, Louisa May Alcott, uses
DIALOGUE to hook her readers.
THINK: What strategies are used to
HOOK the reader (or grab their
attention and make them want to
read more)?
No, I mean REALLY think about it. Get
at least three ideas in your head before
you move forward to the next slide….
Okay, you are ready for the answers…
Take notes in your Writer’s Notebook!
ANSWERS: Techniques That Will Hook Your Readers
1. Action: A main character doing something
I gulped my milk, pushed away from the table, and
bolted out of the kitchen, slamming the broken screen
door behind me. I ran down to our dock as fast as my legs
could carry me. my feet pounded on the old wood,
hurrying my toward my dad’s voice. “Scott!” he bellowed
again.
“Coming, Dad!” I gasped. I couldn’t see him yet – just
the sails of the boats that had already put out into the lake
for the day.
ANSWERS: Techniques That Will Hook Your Readers
2. Dialogue: A character or characters speaking
“Scott!” Get down here on the double!” Dad bellowed.
His voice sounded far away.
“Dad?” I hollered. “Where are you?” I squinted through
the screen door but couldn’t see him.
“I’m down on the dock. MOVE IT! You are not going to
believe this,” he replied.
ANSWERS: Techniques That Will Hook Your Readers
3. Reaction: A character thinking
I couldn’t imagine why my father was hollering at me at
7:00 in the morning. I thought fast about what I might have
done to get him so riled. Had he found out about the way I
talked to my mother the night before, when we got to
camp and she asked me to help unpack the car? Did he
discover the fishing reel I broke last week? Before I could
consider a third possibility, Dad’s voice shattered my
thoughts.
“Scott! Move it! You’re not going to believe this!”
Okay, smarty…
Now that you know
so much, let’s put
it to good use!
PART III:
PRACTICE TIME!
DIRECTIONS: Revise each story beginning. Put the main
character in the setting, and have the character do
something relevant to the story.
EXAMPLE: One rainy day I went to the mall.
REVISION: I splashed across the parking lot, yanked open the tall glass door,
and, dripping wet, stepped into the mall.
DO THIS IN YOUR WRITER’S NOTEBOOK FOR HW.
1. Hi. My name is Kate. This is a story about the time I went to the zoo.
Put Kate (main character) at the zoo (setting) doing something (action).
2. This is a story about the time I built a robot in my basement.
Put yourself (main character) in the basement (setting) doing something
(action).
3. I will tell you about my adventure swimming at the lake.
Put yourself (main character) at the lake (setting) doing something (action).
Day 3
Now that you have practiced, it’s
time to apply that practice to
something YOU wrote. Keep
reading…. Only stop when you
see Porky Pig!
PART IV:
Application
and Revision!
Final Steps:
A. Now, go back to your DWA.
Write down YOUR opening
lines/lead in your WN.
Most of us have a TYPICAL LEAD such as…
It was a day at the end of June. My mom, dad,
and brother, and I were at our camp on Rangerley
Lake. We arrived the night before at 10:00, so it
was dark when we got there and unpacked. We
went straight to bed. The next morning, when I
was eating breakfast, my dad started yelling for
me from down at the doc at the top of his lungs.
He said there was a car in the lake.
But we can do better than this!
Final Steps:
B. Revise your opening lines (narrative leads)
the three different ways …
1. Action
2. Dialogue
3. Reaction
You will eventually pick your favorite out of
the three to use as your narrative lead.
So far you have revised for SHOW NOT
TELL, now a narrative lead, and one more
thing is yet to come. That is ALL I will be
grading….. More on that later! For now, you
just concentrate on revising your lead.
Good luck!