Do Now

• Take a current event article from my desk• Read and answer the questions in your

reading section. Be prepared to discuss your reponses.

• Please do not write on these articles

Important Details from Prompt• Alice is tired and bored• She’s sitting on the bank of a river with her sister• Her sister is reading a book, but Alice doesn’t find the book

fun/imaginative• Hot day, she’s feeling “sleepy and stupid”• Thinking about making a daisy chain, but too lazy to pick the daisies• White Rabbit with pink eyes that is in a rush to get somewhere, can

talk, took a watch out of his waistcoat pocket• Out of curiosity, Alice follows him into his rabbit hole, fell for a long

time down what seemed like a deep well, sides of the tunnel were filled with cupboards, bookshelves, maps and pictures hung on pegs, an empty jar of marmalade

• Missing her cat Dinah, “Do cats eat bats? Do bats eat cats?”• Dozing off, dream-like• Fell on a pile of sticks and dry leaves

Important Questions to Consider

• How can we describe Alice’s personality?• What is the current conflict? How can we

continue/resolve it?

Other Questions You Might Answer• Where did the hole lead her? Is the hole magic? What is the

explanation for the hole’s length and weird features (cupboards, bookshelves, etc.)?

• Is Alice somehow special, or could anyone have fallen down the hole?

• Who is the White Rabbit? Where was he in a rush to get to? How/why is he able to talk?

• What does Alice encounter when she is in the hole and how does she react to these encounters? Is there a clear conflict and resolution?

• Does Alice eventually get out, or not? How does it happen?• Is Alice supposed to learn a lesson? What was “the point?” (theme)• Other details you could have included: her sister, her sister’s book,

being bored on the river bank, daisy chains, Dinah, “do cats eat bats?”

Plot

• Make sure something HAPPENS in your story. Does it have a beginning, middle, and end?

Example Storylines

• She is surrounded by nature. She falls back to sleep and wakes up shrunken down. She asks a cat for help and he says he will help her if she beheads the evil queen. Alice confronts the scary queen. As the queen’s guards are after her, she sees the white rabbit again and follows him into another hole. She wakes up in a hospital room. She was in a coma from the first fall (she is holding a stuffed rabbit with a watch, the nurse’s face looked like the evil queen, sees a similar looking strange cat outside the window, etc.) 3.5-4 pages

Example Storylines

• She is in a dark cave with a light at the end. She sees a creature running by and she thinks it’s Dinah but it’s actually the white rabbit. The rabbit agrees to get her back home if she can retrieve the Magic Carrot from the Wonder Maze. She looks around for the carrot and winds up in a desert with pyramids and the Great Sphinx. The Great Sphinx gives her more information about the different sections of the maze and a riddle to solve that helps her find the magic carrot. She finds it and the rabbit grants her wish by teleporting her back to her sister. (3 pages)

Example Storylines

• Alice winds up in a big room with a long hallway. She sees a sword stuck in the ground and pulls it out. She realizes she’s lost and alone and starts crying, but the rabbit from earlier sees her and assures her that all she has to do is climb the stairs, defeat the monster on each floor, and she’ll be able to return home. She puts on armor and begins climbing the stairs, defeating each new monster on each floor. She has one last epic battle with the biggest monster and when she wins, she is able to go through a door which leads her out of the same hole she originally fell down. (2.5-3 pages)

Example Storylines

• She wakes up in a dark room with one light. Shortly after, she hears a scream and her sister Sammy comes flying down the hole after her. They see the white rabbit from earlier and follow him into a room filled with nature. Sammy begins to recognize the surroundings as settings from the book she was reading. They begin to be chased by leopards and tigers, just like in the book. As the beasts are about to strike, Alice and Sammy jump and wake up on the river bank where they were before. (just over 2 pages)

1. Verbs must be in one consistent tense

1. Verbs must be in one consistent tense

1. Verbs must be in one consistent tense

1. Verbs must be in one consistent tense

2. Don’t put “had” in front of all your past tense verbs

3. Dialogue should be purposeful

3. Dialogue should be purposeful

3. Dialogue should be purposeful

3. Dialogue should be purposeful

3. Dialogue should be purposeful

4. Don’t repeat information we already know

4. Don’t repeat information we already know

5. Don’t start sentences with and, but, so, or…

6. Look out for sentence fragments

7. Look out for run-on sentences

Common Issues: Summary

1. Verbs must be in one consistent tense2. Don’t put “had” in front of all your past tense

verbs3. Dialogue should be purposeful4. Don’t repeat information we already know5. Don’t start sentences with and, but, so, or…6. Look out for sentence fragments7. Look out for run-on sentences

Other Comments

• Review MLA rules• Review rules for formatting dialogue• Write out numbers less than twenty• Avoid abbreviations in a formal paper

Questions?

For the rest of class…

• Return the final draft and rubric of your narrative to your portfolio

• Take out your scary story rough draft and start editing your own paper and/or find someone else to edit with (a classmate or myself)