The lottery by shirley jackson resolution

Narration/Description Creative Writing

Unit 3 – Narration/Description Creative Writing Themes: Personal Life Stories

Text Structures:

· Narration (Time Order/ Process)

· Description

· Location/Spatial Order

· Cause/Effect

· Exemplification

Readings (descriptive narratives – non-fiction and fiction)

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (p. 308)

“Ground Zero” by Suzanne Berne (p.175)

“The Money” by Junot Diaz (p. 114)

Objective:

Through this assignment, you will explore descriptive story telling of a person life experience with the purpose of being expressive through various literary devices and writing strategies. Your story should stem from a real life event that has made an impact on your life. The theme of your story needs to include a life lesson that was learned. This theme will drive the plot and events. You will work with the elements of a story including setting, characters, plot, conflict, theme, and resolution. You will work on expanding your vocabulary to include descriptions using a variety of adjectives and vivid verbs. You will explore literary devices such as metaphors, similes, personification, and onomatopoeia to add creativity to your short story. You will utilize dialogue between your characters using the appropriate punctuation to bring your story to life.

Your story will consist of five well developed paragraphs following the format explained below.

Begin by reflecting on the time, place and characters that are part of the life event story you plan to develop. You will begin your story with a vivid description of the setting (exposition). Within the first two paragraph of your story, you will also develop a sense of your characters’ physical and personality descriptions. Be sure to use adjectives, similes, metaphors, and other literary devices to bring your characters and setting to life. You should have at least two characters (protagonist and an antagonist), but limit your characters to less than four. This is a short story so there is insufficient time to develop too many characters. The plot (problem/conflict) should be introduced and the foundation of the issue/conflict/goal set, so that the major events that will unfold will make sense to the reader.

The plot continues to be developed through a series of events ( at least three events with rising action ). Through these events, vividly describe your characters’ feelings, behavior, and appearance through dialogue with each other. The scene can be set through a description of the setting for each event, but show the emotion and action through the characters’ speech (voice). These rising events should build intrigue, fear, excitement up to the last event; it should include the climax, the moment where the conflict intensifies before the resolution.

The last paragraph is the ending of your story. In the denouement, the underlying secrets or mystery is unfolded, loose ends are tied, and the plot is understood. The problem/issue/conflict that is presented at the beginning of your story is now resolved. The lesson learned from the life event is the final outcome of the story.