Skip to Main Content

Lesson 4

We will draft the middle scenes of our narrative. In preparation, we will view a Pixar video, “Act 2,” which focuses on how to develop conflicts and complications in the middle parts of a story, and we will discuss ideas with writing partners.

Lesson Goals

  • Am I progressing in the development of my narrative?

  • Can I provide and utilize constructive peer feedback in the process of developing a narrative?

Texts

Optional

  • Digital Access
    • “Act 2” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: View

We will begin thinking about the body of our narrative: the events, characters, conflicts, and complications that will be developed.

Watch "Act 2," thinking about what the video tells you is important in developing the middle of your narrative: its rising action, plot events, and character development, as well as the conflicts and complications that give the story substance.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will discuss our story ideas with a writing partner.

With your writing partner, review your story plans and drafts and discuss ideas for developing the middle of your story. Discuss what you recorded in the Complication section of your Storyboard Planning Tool.

Activity 3: Write

We will draft the middle scenes of our narrative.

Using your story outline or storyboard as a guide, draft the body of your narrative.

As you conceive and write the middle scenes—the complication for your story—think about how to develop characters, conflicts, and complicating events.

  1. Introduce and describe events and character actions that develop your storyline.

  2. Further develop your characters by suggesting their internal characteristics: the wants and needs that motivate them.

  3. Develop conflicts that challenge or change your characters. These can be conflicts with other characters, with nature or other forces, or within themselves.

  4. Use dialogue to highlight your characters’ development and interactions.

  5. Build suspense and interest through the sequence of events. If your narrative is not chronological, bring in flashbacks or foreshadowing.

  6. Build toward a climactic scene or event that will present a turning point in your story.

Activity 4: Write

For homework, we will continue working on the body of our narratives.

For homework, continue writing or revising the middle scenes of your narrative.

Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you have studied and incorporate it in your narrative.