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ACT English Practice: Paragraph Organization Many students struggle with ACT paragraph organization questions, but with the right strategy for approaching them, they're really not that bad. Learn how to tackle them and get some practice here. Explore our library of over 10,000 lessons Click "next lesson" whenever you finish a lesson and quiz. Truths About Fiction The following essay was previewed in the class that Stephen Graham Jones taught for LitReactor, Your Life Story Is Five Pages Long. 1. The reader should never have to work to figure out the basics of your story. Who’s whose wife or husband, what the time period is if that matters, why these people have broken into this house, and on and on, just the basic, ground-level facts about your story. If you don’t relay that stuff up-front, as quickly and efficiently as possible (and please don’t be fancy), then your story becomes a game of three-card-monty, with you hiding information under this or that shell, trying to keep everything moving fast enough that nobody knows what’s going on. Which is to say your story becomes about the reading of the story, not the experience the story is trying to get the reader to engage.

New York State Elementary Test Prep- ELA Grade 3 1. Word Analysis & Vocabulary Dev. 2. Fluency and Motivation in Reading 3. Comprehension Strategies 4. Literary Response 5. Writing Killer Fight Scenes Fight scenes are dangerous territory for writers. On the surface, they seem as if they’re guaranteed to keep the reader glued to the action in the same way as they often do at the movies. In reality, though, readers tend to skip over fight scenes – skimming the long, tedious, blow-by-blow descriptions in favour of getting back to the dialogue and character-driven drama that truly engages them in the story. Text Structure Worksheets Identifying Text Structure 1: Read the passages. Identify the text structure. Write information from the passage into the appropriate graphic organizer. Graphic organizers are available at the top of the page. Suggested reading level for this text: Grade 6-10Identifying Text Structure Worksheet RTFIdentifying Text Structure Worksheet PDFPreview Identifying Text Structure in Your BrowserView AnswersText Structure Practice 1 | Ereading Worksheet Identifying Text Structure 2: Read the passages and put the information from each passage into an appropriate graphic organizer.

Fictional Culture The way I build worlds is by collecting cool stuff from the history, myth and people around me. I blend these details with my own imagination, and create my own cultures. Culture is a vital part to realistic worldbuilding. Normally there are a few particular cultures that interest me at a given time. I read whatever I can find about them, their environment, their traditions and their myths. Young Writer's Workshop: Lesson on Writing an Argument Let's Argue A Young ESL Writers' Workshop: Originally, the Young Writer's Workshop was the 2001 March lesson plan, a mini- workshop consisting of three writing projects: Weighing an Argument, Building an Argument, and Refuting an Argument, students examine issues and are asked to write about them in a clear, logical manner. This workshop has expanded to include paragraphs on writing reasons, problems, ways, and others will be added in the future. Teaching writing to middle school ESL students can present a challenge.

Naming Your Novel Note: How careful you have to be naming your novel depends heavily on if you are planning to sell it, and how you are planning to sell it. If you are an unknown who is self-publishing and you want a lot of people to read and buy your novel, you need to do extensive research on the market. This article only covers a few tips, and I am in no way a publishing expert. But, even if you don't plan on going mass-commercial, that doesn't mean you shouldn't spend some time deciding on a name for your labor of love and I hope this article provides some useful ideas.

Paragraph Transitions Transitions help readers understand the connection from one idea to the next as they read. This page has information about two types of transitions: transitions between the sentences within a single paragraph and transitions between one paragraph and another. Click on the links below to learn about each type of transition. Sentence Transitions (Transitions within a Paragraph) 20 Tips For Writing a Captivating Short Story (Part 1) by Mindy Halleck Today, as I edit, trim, cut, and otherwise obliterate a short story I wrote that ended up to be 8,000 words, but needs to be 5,000 words, I am reminded of this quote: “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.” -Henry David Thoreau Wise man.

Introductions and Conclusions Sometimes when we write an essay we forget that we're speaking to someone (a reader). We also forget that the beginning of our essay is technically the first impression that we make on the reader, while the conclusion is our last chance to get the reader's attention. Rather than focusing on writing an essay that is simply "correct" (in terms of grammar, following your assignment requirements, etc.) good writers also consider whether or not they've left a lasting impression on their reader. Think about it: the movies you've seen and the books you've read, the ones that really stand out in your mind, probably had an intriguing opening and a compelling ending.

Things Writers Forget When Writing Fight Scenes Recently, I attended VCON, a science fiction and fantasy conference in Surrey (part of Metro Vancouver) and attended a session called “Writing About Fighting.” The panel consisted of writers and experts who were disciplined in multiple martial arts, including authors Lorna Suzuki and T.G. Shepherd, and Devon Boorman, the swordmaster of Academie Duello in Vancouver. (I lost my program, so if you remember who else was there, please leave it in the comments, below) Authentic Assessment Toolbox Home Page to the Authentic Assessment Toolbox, a how-to text on creating authentic tasks, rubrics, and standards for measuring and improving student learning. Inside, you will find chapters on A good place to start -- In this chapter I identify the characteristics, strengths and limitations of authentic assessment; compare and contrast it with traditional (test-based) assessment. Why has authentic assessment become more popular in recent years? When can it best serve assessment needs?

How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life By the end of this post you will have a nagging urge to use an excel spreadsheet. Don’t make that face—I know you’re a writer and not a data analyst. Or if you are a data analyst—I get that you’re on this blog to get away from your day job.