Writing Fiction (in High School)

Sharon Watson uses her engaging style and comprehensive approach to help students master fictional writing. Select your student’s assignments from one of two tracts: the All Writers or Manuscript track. With the Manuscript track, students will complete the All Writers assignments and the additional tasks, so that by the end of the course, they will have completed assignments to write either a short story or a novel. The course requires the student text, the Teacher’s Guide, and the novel  The Last Book in the Universe  (which is used throughout the course).

All aspects of designing and writing a story are explored through 13 chapters (a one-year course spanning 102+ lessons) The course covers some facts about fiction, point of view, characters and characterization, conflict, dialogue, description, words, theme, plot, scenes, beginnings and endings, and the final hurdle, getting published. Depending on the assignment, each lesson can span days or weeks. Students learn to create by observing examples: exploring fiction from many genres and styles and then applying these techniques in their own writing. Some of the material referenced and several assignments are designed for group settings to encourage discussion and open reading/critiquing of each other’s work. Students can follow one of two learning tracks: the first is for writers of all skill levels; the second is an optional track for writers who will create a manuscript. Both tracks are self-explanatory and self-directed. The Teacher's Guide includes a discussion guide, answer key, and a bibliography of all of the examples used in the student text (which is quite extensive). A Course Package is available, and includes the three required items: student, Teacher Guide, and the novel, The Last Book in the Universe. For details and parental notes on this dystopian novel, see our individual description. The publisher states this course equates to 1 elective high school credit. If you desire to use this course as a traditional full-year credit, add literature studies. Assignments include those that include movies (like The Greatest Showman; Cast Away; The Fugitive); short stories (like The Island, ScrewTape Letters, the Tell-Tale Heart, and The Prodigal Son parable); and others. In some cases, Internet links for reading assignments are written directly in the Teacher’s Guide. Since links change periodically, you’ll need to do a Web search for some individual works—which are typically well-known and easily found. ~ Ruth