Fiction - Horror/ Suspense
Mentor Texts:
Mentor Texts:
- The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs (Horror)- In this text, Jacobs tells the story of an older couple, their adult son, and a visitor who brings them fantastic stories and a mysterious souvenir from his travels in India.
- The Landlady by Roald Dahl (Horror)- In this short story, a young man in search of lodgings is taken in by a seemingly kind and gentle landlady. A great example of how the author lays small details in place throughout the story to foreshadow and build readers up to a conclusion. Another strong example of a vague ending where readers are forced to draw their own conclusions. Pay special attention to how Dahl develops the Landlady's character.
Other Resources:
Other Resources:
- Fiction Brainstorming Help - Ideas for Stories:
- Fiction from Art
- Fiction from Life
- Fiction from News
- Fiction from Fiction
- Shadow Fiction - A writing exercise where you come up with ideas by shadowing your favorite fiction passages
- Character Development Resources - Create Strong Characters:
- Master Class: Creating Characters with Flannery O'Connor
- Character Development Questions
- Creating Conflict - Your characters vs. ???
- Conflict Questionnaire - A writing exercise to help you create conflict with your characters
- Drafting Dialogue - How to get your characters to speak
- Point of View and Voice - What does your story look like to the reader?:
- Point of View - What's the lens of your story?
- Point of View Writing Exercise
- Hearing Your Story's Voice
- Finding Your Story's Voice Writing Exercise
- Revising Your Story
- Seeing Your Story Through New Eyes
- Revision Questionnaire - Give this to a trusted person to read and review your story
- Handling Feedback - How to get and use the best feedback for your piece
- Back to the Drawing Board - Hitting refresh on your story
- Editing Your Story
- Grammar Survival Guide - Great resource for editing your piece
- Punctuation Guide - Semicolons and hyphens
- Sentence Structure Guide - Make sense of your sentences
- Publication - How and Where to Publish Your Work
- Submitting Your Work for Print Publication - A guide
- Watch out for Plagiarism! - A guide to help you make sure you aren't plagiarizing when you publish.