What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction
The award-winning author “provides mentoring and practical and technical advice in this handy how-to book . . . as useful to teachers as to young writers” (School Library Journal, starred review).
 
Storytelling is a universal experience. From an early age, we begin to shape our own world by crafting tales. But learning to tell—and write—a good story isn’t easy. It takes dedication and practice, just like for a musician or an athlete, and it can be just as rewarding to accomplish as winning a game or mastering an instrument. It’s the kind of work that feeds our souls and makes us glad to be alive.
 
In What’s Your Story?, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer discusses how to write fiction from beginning to end, including creating a story plan, choosing the best idea, bringing characters to life, deciding on a point of view, creating realistic dialogue, keeping readers hooked, and revising and polishing the finished product.
 
“Her last comment is telling: ‘Knowing your craft can help you tell a story. But only by taking risks can you make art.’ After many pages of provocative information and straightforward counsel, that sentence may be the one to launch youngsters to the challenge. The book speaks directly to young writers, but many adults (teachers, librarians, reviewers, editors, would-be writers) will also find this sensible dissection of the storytelling process invaluable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“A pragmatic, organized approach to story writing . . . the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand.”—Publishers Weekly
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What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction
The award-winning author “provides mentoring and practical and technical advice in this handy how-to book . . . as useful to teachers as to young writers” (School Library Journal, starred review).
 
Storytelling is a universal experience. From an early age, we begin to shape our own world by crafting tales. But learning to tell—and write—a good story isn’t easy. It takes dedication and practice, just like for a musician or an athlete, and it can be just as rewarding to accomplish as winning a game or mastering an instrument. It’s the kind of work that feeds our souls and makes us glad to be alive.
 
In What’s Your Story?, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer discusses how to write fiction from beginning to end, including creating a story plan, choosing the best idea, bringing characters to life, deciding on a point of view, creating realistic dialogue, keeping readers hooked, and revising and polishing the finished product.
 
“Her last comment is telling: ‘Knowing your craft can help you tell a story. But only by taking risks can you make art.’ After many pages of provocative information and straightforward counsel, that sentence may be the one to launch youngsters to the challenge. The book speaks directly to young writers, but many adults (teachers, librarians, reviewers, editors, would-be writers) will also find this sensible dissection of the storytelling process invaluable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“A pragmatic, organized approach to story writing . . . the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand.”—Publishers Weekly
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What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction

What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction

by Marion Dane Bauer
What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction

What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction

by Marion Dane Bauer

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Overview

The award-winning author “provides mentoring and practical and technical advice in this handy how-to book . . . as useful to teachers as to young writers” (School Library Journal, starred review).
 
Storytelling is a universal experience. From an early age, we begin to shape our own world by crafting tales. But learning to tell—and write—a good story isn’t easy. It takes dedication and practice, just like for a musician or an athlete, and it can be just as rewarding to accomplish as winning a game or mastering an instrument. It’s the kind of work that feeds our souls and makes us glad to be alive.
 
In What’s Your Story?, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer discusses how to write fiction from beginning to end, including creating a story plan, choosing the best idea, bringing characters to life, deciding on a point of view, creating realistic dialogue, keeping readers hooked, and revising and polishing the finished product.
 
“Her last comment is telling: ‘Knowing your craft can help you tell a story. But only by taking risks can you make art.’ After many pages of provocative information and straightforward counsel, that sentence may be the one to launch youngsters to the challenge. The book speaks directly to young writers, but many adults (teachers, librarians, reviewers, editors, would-be writers) will also find this sensible dissection of the storytelling process invaluable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“A pragmatic, organized approach to story writing . . . the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand.”—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780547531687
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 01/16/2020
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 146
Sales rank: 1,004,434
File size: 827 KB
Age Range: 12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Marion Dane Bauer is an award-winning author who also teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College. Among her Clarion titles are ON MY HONOR, a Newbery Honor Book; A BEAR NAMED TROUBLE; and RUNT: THE STORY OF A WOLF PUP. She lives with her partner, Ann Goddard, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Introductionix
1.The First Step ... A Story Plan1
2.Choosing Your Best Idea8
3.Character ... The Key to Good Stories17
4.Bringing Characters to Life28
5.Focusing Your Story37
6.Getting from Beginning to End ... The Plot46
7.Choosing Your Point of View57
8.At Last ... The Beginning68
9.Something to Talk About ... Dialogue78
10.Story Tension ... Keeping Your Readers Hooked87
11.Endings ... Expected and Surprising95
12.Just When You Thought You Were Done ... Revising102
13.The Final Step ... Polishing111
14.A Career as a Fiction Writer118
An Afterword ... On Using This Book127
Index131
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