Topic (see examples below) = What will your writing piece be about? What theme could you pull out of it after you read it? Sometimes this is a guess, sometimes it's a mystery at this point of your thinking, but having an idea, even if it changes, is a part of the process. Here's a document with ideas about themes out there in world reading and writing.

Purpose (see examples below) = What do you want to show your readers with your writing? What story are you going to tell with your example?

Genre* (see examples below) = What kind of format will you choose to write in? News article? Quote collage? Wanted poster? Narrative Scene? A poem?

Relation to the Novel (see examples below) = How does your creative writing piece connect to the novel? What character, event, theme, or decision from your reading inspired your own writing piece?

Brainstorm (see examples below) = Put your thoughts down for your new writing piece. Think about the connection you have to your story and develop some ideas. Freewriting, lists, graphic organizers, anything, can work in this process. Just brainstorm some thoughts for your writing that will help you get started.

*This will take some thinking, but that's part of the process in writing. You might need to do some brainstorming before you're able to get everything filled out. Identifying the genre first, however, needs to be done— you have to know what format (genre) you're going write in.

Flash Fiction Narrative - This is a short story about a young man being lured into a fight by the school bully and his decision to fight back. It shows a character’s “loneliness,” while building symbols that show a relationship between present time and to things in the past. I wanted to create a dynamic character whom, by the end of the story, the reader understood. I wanted the reader to see the themes that make David who he is. I also rely on the reader to fill in the blanks with the answers about David that aren’t in plain view. This story was inspired by The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eight Grade Bites from Heather Brewer’s novel The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites. Like David, Vlad was bullied in school and remains a creation of his past. He is the person that his past created.

Dramatic Scene - The fictional scene created here was inspired by the award winning book Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. This piece, like the other two writing pieces in this paper, uses the theme of “loneliness” to drive the narration. The connection with the novel evolved from the main character, Nailer, who does feel alone, different, and out of place within the content of the story. It also uses the word “ship” from the book’s title as the setting of the scene I created. The scene I wrote is about a sailor who has been searching for something, although it is not completely known what he is looking for. The ship the nameless character is on is being tossed around by a horrific storm. As his ship comes apart and the men on the boat disappear, he comes to terms with not achieving his goal and not finding what he is searching for. He finds his body affected by this realization and he succumbs to the fate of the storm, like so many other sailors the sea has seen. The title “The Floating Coffin” foretells that the end will not be happy or enjoyable.