The Fictional Narrative: Resolution to End

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

You have had your share of cuts and scrapes that were covered with one of these, right?

When you get hurt, a bandage (and sometimes a hug) is usually all it takes to make everything better. Sometimes, however, bandages just aren't enough.

• Can a bandage fix a tummy ache?
  
  
• Can a bandage fix a skinned knee?
  
  
• Can a bandage fix hurt feelings?
  
  

Welcome to the sixth and final lesson on writing The Fictional Narrative. If you missed, or need to review, the previous lessons, you can find them under Related Lessons in the right-hand sidebar.

If you made it this far, way to go! You're almost done with your story book.

Your dwarf was in a bad situation when you left him. Remember, a story structure is like a roller coaster or a sliding board. It takes a while to get to the top; then you're stuck up there for a bit, but getting down (although sometimes a little scary) is the quickest part. Now, it's time to get your dwarf out of his mess and back down on the ground where he belongs.

Unfortunately, there isn't a standard, bandage-like fix for every story (just like they can't fix all the things that hurt). However, much like a bandage, the faster you pull it off, the easier it is to do. You already spent your time building up to the problem. Your poor dwarf can't take a slow, painful ride to the bottom.

Once the Evil Queen gives Snow White the poisoned apple, and Snow While falls asleep, the Dwarfs have no idea what to do. They don't even know about the prince, so they spend their time by her side — Until one day, the prince, who had been looking for Snow White, was able to wake her with a single kiss.

Settle down for a few minutes to watch the end scene of the movie:

Snow White And the Seven Dwarfs _ A Happy Ending from Noah Kiiko:

Wrap things up nicely and neatly in your story, too!

First, go back and study your climax, or major problem. If you recall in our example, Sleepy is in a great big mess because he is in a fight with Lola (the girl he loves) and his best friend, Grumpy.

• How can you fix this double-trouble problem?

Well, it is fiction, so brainstorm your options. Here are some ideas:

• Apologize to Grumpy and Lola.
• Take them both out for a picnic.
• Give Grumpy his pillow, and tell Lola that he is sorry for fighting and that he gave up his favorite pillow for his best friend.
• Use magic.
• Tell them both how sad he is.

Discuss with your teacher or parent some other ideas for fixing the situation.

Now, think of some things the other characters may do to help solve the problem. It isn't all Sleepy's fault, after all.

• Grumpy says he's sorry for trying to steal Sleepy's pillow.
• Lola buys both friends new, matching pillows.
• Snow White comes to visit and makes them all apologize to each other.

Once you have some ideas on how to problem solve in fiction, it's time to start making your dwarf's life easier.

• How do you do that?
• Did you say with a graphic organizer?

You are absolutely right!

It's time to grab your blank paper and colored pencils!

Let's begin with a circle that says "Solution" in the middle:

Next, think of all the things your character can do to help solve the problem. Write them down in purple, and draw a red box around them. Then, draw a line to connect the boxes to the circle.

Your page should look something like this:

Great! Now, write down all of the things the other characters can do to help resolve the problem. Use blue to write the solutions this time, and draw green triangles around them. Then, connect your triangles back to the main circle.

Your page should look something like this:

Now, you have to sort through your ideas to see which one works best in your story. You will also need to include three lines of dialogue in your resolution to make it more realistic. Dialogue is when you write down the words that someone speaks.

For example,

After thinking about it for a while, I grabbed my pillow and went downstairs to find Grumpy. I walked up to him and held out the pillow.

"Here," I said. "I want you to have this."

"No," Grumpy said grumpily. "It's yours, and I'm sorry I tried to take it."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Happy opened the door. It was Lola.

"Look what I have!" she said excitedly.

She held up two brand-new, matching pillows: one for me, and one for Grumpy. I am the luckiest dwarf in the world!

Read over the passage a few times.

• What do you notice about the lines that are spoken out loud by the characters?

Look at each line of dialogue and make a list:

"Here," I said. "I want you to have this."

• Notice that this line is indented, like it is a new paragraph. We indent first lines of dialogue and when a new speaker begins speaking.
• The next thing you probably notice is that the words spoken out loud have quotation marks (" ") around them.
• Many quotes also have a tag or a line that tells who is speaking and how they are saying the words. Notice the punctuation when you have a tag, such as the one after the word "Here." There is a comma inside the quotes, and a period after the tag "I said."
• As a general rule, keep your punctuation inside the quotes!

Let's look at the next line of dialogue:

"No," Grumpy said grumpily. "It's yours and I'm sorry I tried to take it."

• Again, this line is indented because a new speaker is speaking.
• This time, there is an adverb along with the tag telling how Grumpy said what he said (grumpily, of course).
• All punctuation is inside the quotation marks.

Finally, Lola's quote is just a little bit different from the others:

"Look what I have!" she said excitedly.

• Lola's quote is an exclamation and uses an exclamation point.
• Look very closely at the punctuation and capitalization used within this quotation.
• When you have an exclamation or a question and use either an exclamation point or a question mark, you do not use a comma before the tag.
• Notice that although exclamation points and question marks are end punctuation, they are only ending the quotation in the case of dialogue and not the whole sentence. Therefore, DO NOT use a capital letter for the tag; and remember to put a period at the end of the sentence after the tag.

Wow, you just accomplished a lot! Take a minute to let it all soak in.

• Are you ready to go practice, and get to work on that rough draft?

Then move on to the Got It? section for more practice and your rough draft!