Product Details

• Author: Carolyn Coman
• Year: 2011
• Grade Range: 3-12

• Media: 192 pp/paper
• ISBN: 978-157110-871-5
• Item No.: WEB-0871

Award-winning author Carolyn Coman has made a career out of writing stories for children and young adults as well as teaching writing to people of all ages. She believes that the essence of good writing, no matter the genre, is the ability to craft a solid story. In this innovative book, Carolyn provides advice, strategies, and inspiration focusing on the key elements of stories: character development, plot, voice and dialogue, point of view, and place and time.

Carolyn confesses her own struggles with writing and helps make the writing process less intimidating for students and teachers alike. “I am speaking directly to you—the writing teacher who writes, or who wants to write, or is tiptoeing toward writing scared to death. Everything in this book about writing is for you, too—every tip and exercise and encouragement.”

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Entering into Stories
Chapter 1: Issuing the Invitation and Assorted Preliminaries
Chapter 2: Finding and Molding Material
Chapter 3: Peter Rabbit and the Shape of a Story
Chapter 4: Plot of Action and Plot of Character
Part Two: Story Elements
Chapter 5: Gathering Ingredients
Chapter 6: Characters
Chapter 7: Plot
Chapter 8: Voices and Dialogue
Chapter 9: Point of View
Chapter 10: Place and Time
Chapter 11: Combining the Elements
Part Three: Responding to Stories, Supporting Revision
Chapter 12: Touchstones
Chapter 13: Drafts: Responding to Different Kinds of Stories and Story Parts
Chapter 14: One-on-One Conferences
Chapter 15: Written Responses and Listening to Stories
Chapter 16: Their Hearts in Our Hands
Works Cited

Carolyn Coman
Carolyn Coman has been writing books for children and teaching writing for more than twenty years. Her books include What Jamie Saw, Many Stones, The Big House, and her latest, The Memory Bank, a graphic storybook created with artist Rob Shepperson.
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