Introduction: Before You Begin
About Respond to Literature.......................................................................................................... 5
About the Writing Process.............................................................................................................. 5
Evaluating Your Writing.................................................................................................................. 7
Respond by Identifying
CHAPTER 1
Writing About Plot....................................................................................... 8
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify, Select, Organize...................................................... 10
Organizing Pattern: Chronological Order
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 15
Fluency Tip: Transitions That Show Time Order.................................... 16
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 17
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 19
CHAPTER 2
Writing About Setting.................................................................................. 20
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify, Explain, Organize.................................................... 22
Organizing Patterns: Block Arrangement, Chronological Order
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 27
Fluency Tip: Word Choice—Specific Nouns........................................... 28
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 30
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 32
Respond by Analyzing
CHAPTER 3
Writing About Character.............................................................................. 33
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify, Select, Organize...................................................... 35
Organizing Patterns: Order of Importance, Chronological Order
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 39
Fluency Tip: Word Choice—Action Verbs............................................... 40
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 42
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 44
CHAPTER 4
Writing About a Literary Device: Irony....................................................... 45
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify, Select, Organize...................................................... 49
Organizing Patterns: Block Arrangement, Chronological Order
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Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 53
Fluency Tip: Word Choice—Overused Words........................................ 54
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 56
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 58
Respond by Interpreting
CHAPTER 5
Writing About Point of View....................................................................... 59
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify, Select, Organize...................................................... 61
Organizing Patterns: Block Arrangement, Chronological Order
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 66
Fluency Tip: Transitions That Show Contrast......................................... 67
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 69
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 71
CHAPTER 6
Writing About Figurative Language: Similes............................................. 72
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify and Select, Brainstorm, Organize........................... 74
Organizing Patterns: Block Arrangement, Order of Importance
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 78
Fluency Tip: Transitions That Add Information...................................... 79
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 81
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 83
CHAPTER 7
Writing About Theme.................................................................................. 84
Lesson 1: Prewriting: Identify and Select, Select, Organize................................... 86
Organizing Pattern: Chronological Order
Lesson 2: Writing Your First Draft............................................................................. 90
Fluency Tip: Word Choice—Vivid Adjectives . ....................................... 91
Lesson 3: Revising Your Draft................................................................................... 93
Lesson 4: Writing Your Final Draft............................................................................ 95
© New Readers Press. All rights reserved.
Appendix: Fluency Tips................................................................................ 96
chapter 3
Writing
About Character
In this chapter you will practice responding to an assignment about a character
in a novel or short story. Read the following assignment and then find out what
you need to know and do to complete the assignment successfully.
Select a novel or short story that you have read this year. What do the
actions of the main character reveal about him or her? Write a fiveparagraph essay describing the main character. Cite evidence from the
story to support your answer. Be sure to include specific details.
What You
Need to
Know
for This
Assignment
• Character traits
• Descriptive essay
• Specific details
• Best organizing
pattern
When an assignment asks you to describe a character, it is asking
you to write about the person’s character traits. Character traits
are the qualities or things that make a person stand out from
everyone else. Courage and loyalty are two examples of character
traits. So are greediness and laziness.
A descriptive essay about a character describes the person’s
character traits. It uses examples and details to show the reader
what the character is like.
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Specific details add information that can make your writing more
interesting to the reader. Specific details about characters describe
how people look, what they are doing, and what they are feeling
very precisely. Your choice of language determines how clear and
interesting your essay will be. If you use simple, ordinary words such as, “The
car went down the street,” your writing will not be very interesting. Write, “The
red convertible roared down the street,” and your writing will be very clear. It
will also create vivid mental pictures for your reader.
Writing About Character
33
You will need two organizing patterns for this essay. The main pattern is order of
importance. You can arrange the character traits from most important trait to least
important trait or the other way around. How they are arranged depends on their
order of importance to you.
Because you are using events from a story, you will also need to use chronological
order. Chronological order, or time order, is the order in which events happen in a
story. You will arrange the details about each character trait in chronological order.
Listing, a chart, and an outline are three tools that will help you pull together the
information for your essay.
Reread the assignment to make sure you understand what to do.
Try It!
Select a novel or short story that you have read
this year. What do the actions of the main character
reveal about him or her? Write a five-paragraph essay
describing the main character. Cite evidence from
the story to support your answer. Be sure to include
specific details.
1. What type of essay are you asked to write?
What You
Need to
Do to
Complete
This
Assignment
2. What are you supposed to write about?
4. What two things are you told to include in your essay?
34
Chapter 3
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3. How long is your essay supposed to be?
lesson 1
Prewriting
o
Step
1.Identify
the Subject
The assignment does not tell you what novel or short story to write about. It leaves
the decision to you. When you need to write an essay about a character, you should
choose a story with a character that has interesting character traits. Do not simply
choose a novel or short story that you remember well. If you do, you may end up with
a weak essay about a boring character. You need to think about criteria that would
make your essay about a character interesting to your reader. Use the following
process to make a good decision on which story and character to write about.
1. In column 1 below, list three novels or short stories that you have read in class
this year. Each should have an interesting main character.
2. In column 2, list the main character of each novel or short story.
Novel or Short Story
Main Character
3.To help you narrow your choice to one character, answer the following questions.
They are based on criteria about the main character.
• Which character is the most interesting?
• Which character is your favorite?
• Which character do you remember the best?
• Which character do think would be the easiest to explain?
• Which character would you like most to write about?
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Place a checkmark next to the name of the character that best answers each
question.
4.Count the checkmarks. The character with the most checkmarks will be the best
choice for your subject. Circle the name of the character that will be the subject
of your essay.
5.Write the author’s name next to the title. You will need to identify the title,
author, and main character in the introduction of your essay.
Writing About Character
35
o
Step
2.
Select Traits and Details
In Step 1, you completed the first two parts of the assignment. You identified the
novel or short story and the main character to write about. The next part of the
assignment asks you to describe the main character. To do this, you need to select
some character traits of this person. The assignment does not tell you how many
traits to write about. However, it does tell you to write a five-paragraph essay.
Selecting three character traits, one for each paragraph in the body of the essay, is
a safe choice.
1.Write the name of the main character here.
2.What personality traits, or qualities, do you think describe the main character?
Read the following list of character traits. If you do not know what some words
mean, look them up in a dictionary.
honest
funny
humble
confident
energetic
talented
thoughtful
serious
friendly
successful
cheerful
responsible
bright
intelligent
creative
patriotic
loyal
hard-working
courageous
bold
compassionate
helpful
fearless
resourceful
Circle the traits that describe the main character you selected.
3.If you do not find traits listed that fit your subject, add your own ideas.
4.Reread the traits you have circled and any you wrote. Select the three traits you
want to use to describe the main character. You should choose the three traits
that you think best describe the main character.
36
Chapter 3
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Write the three traits.
What events and actions in the story made you decide that these three traits
best describe the main character? For example, how do you know that the main
character is brave, or loyal, or funny?
5.In column 1 of the chart below, write the personality traits that you selected on
page 36 to describe the main character.
6.In column 2, write the event or action that illustrates this trait. You do not need
to include details at this point. Just write the event or action such as “landing
the plane.” Be sure to list at least three examples for each character trait. Write
each example on a separate line.
Character
Trait
Events/Actions as Examples of the Trait
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Writing About Character
37
o
Step
3.
Organize the Information
This essay requires two patterns of organization. You should develop the overall
essay by order of importance. You can arrange the traits from either the most
important to the least important, or the other way around. Each paragraph within the
body of your essay should be organized by chronological order. It is the best way to
retell examples from a story.
1.Write the three character traits on the outline in the order of importance you want
to use. Write them on the lines marked with Roman numerals I, II, and III.
2.Write the examples for each character trait in chronological order. List them on
the lines marked A, B, and C in the order in which they happen.
I. A.
B.
C.
II.
A.
B.
C.
III.
A.
B.
C.
3.Reread your examples. Could they be clearer and more interesting? Add specific
details. For more space, copy this outline onto another sheet.
38
Chapter 3
© New Readers Press. All rights reserved.
lesson 2
writing YOUR first draft
Before you begin to write, review the rubric on page 7. It is important
to know how your writing will be evaluated. This will help you focus
on what you need to include in your essay.
Guide
Introduction
PARAGRAPH 1
• States the main
idea of the essay
• Includes the title
and author
• Identifies the
main character
• States the three
character traits
Body
PARAGRAPH 2
• Describes the
first character
trait
PARAGRAPH 3
• Describes the
second
character trait
PARAGRAPH 4
• Describes the
third character
trait
Conclusion
PARAGRAPH 5
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• Restates the
main idea of the
essay
• Connects the
ideas with a final
statement
Writing About Character
39
Fluency
Tip
Word Choice:
Action Verbs
Action verbs are
verbs that show
action or activity.
They add energy
and interest to
your writing.
They help the
reader create a
mental picture of
what you are
writing about.
The following are
some examples
of action verbs:
chant
hum
serenade
fling
hurl
pitch
toss
© New Readers Press. All rights reserved.
Using active
voice is another
way to make sure
that your writing
is filled with
action verbs. For
example, “The
winning goal was
scored by Jake”
is a weaker
statement than
“Jake scored the
winning goal.”
40
Chapter 3
© New Readers Press. All rights reserved.
41
Writing About Character
lesson 3
REVISING YOUR DRAFT
In the revision step, think about your writing and ask yourself questions
about it. For example, how clearly did you state the focus of your writing?
Did you include at least three events or actions to support each character trait? Did
you use action verbs to add energy to your writing? Compare your draft with the
following model essay. Notice how another writer completed the assignment.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Brian Robeson is the main character of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Brian is on a plane with only
the pilot on his way to visit his dad. The pilot has a heart attack and Brian crash-lands the plane in the
wilderness. All he has with him is a hatchet that his mother gave him. Throughout the story, Brian is
brave, resourceful, and intelligent.
First, Brian is brave. There are several times when Brian could have panicked, but he did not.
The pilot asks him if he wants to fly the plane, and he tries it. When the pilot has a heart attack and
dies while the plane is in the air, Brian keeps his cool and tries to land the plane. Later in the story
he does not panic when porcupine quills pierce his leg. He calmly pulls them out before he reacts to
the pain. Even when Brian is scared and lonely, he still fights to survive. He never gives up.
Second, Brian is resourceful. One of the first things he does when he gets out of the wrecked
plane is investigate his surroundings. He searches for water and food. Then he checks for what he
has that will be useful to him. He discovers he has his hatchet, the clothes on his back, including
tennis shoes that are in pretty good shape, a belt, a watch, and himself. He remembers a teacher
telling him that he is his best resource.
Finally, and most importantly, Brian is intelligent. For example, he figures out how to work
the radio in the plane to try to get help after the pilot dies. Then he figures out how to crash-land
the plane as safely as possible. Once he crash-lands the plane, he determines direction based on the
position of the sun. Also, he manages to keep himself alive until help comes.
Brian is an amazing character. I bet that not many 13 year olds could survive in the wilderness
the way he did. Throughout the novel, Brian shows how brave, resourceful, and intelligent he is.
1.What is the main idea of the model essay?
2.What is the main idea of your essay?
42
Chapter 3
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Complete the following chart to continue comparing your essay with the model
essay. Fill in the column for the model essay before you complete the column for
your essay. The chart will help you see areas that you could improve.
Comparison Check
Model
Essay
My
Essay
3. Is the main idea stated clearly in the introduction?
4. How many character traits are discussed in the essay?
5. How many examples are used in paragraph 3 to describe
that character trait?
6. Does the essay have a conclusion?
7. Is the main idea of the essay restated in the conclusion?
8. Does the conclusion tie up the details and make a final
statement about the character?
9. Are there at least four action verbs used in the essay?
Underline the action verbs in the essay.
10. Circle any answers on the chart that show you need to improve your draft.
11. Explain what you can do to improve your draft.
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12. Even if you included everything that the assignment tells you to include, how
could you make your essay even better?
Writing About Character
43
lesson 4
Writing YOUR FINAL draft
Before you write your final draft, review what you have learned
and practiced in this chapter.
1.What is a character trait?
2.What type of writing did you do in response to a piece of literature?
3.What three steps did you use to organize your essay?
4.What three tools helped you organize the ideas for your essay?
5.What do you like about your essay?
Before you write your final draft, reread the rubric on page 7. Are you having
trouble completing any part or parts of the rubric successfully? Concentrate on just
one part as you revise this essay.
© New Readers Press. All rights reserved.
WRITE YOUR FINAL DRAFT ON SEPARATE PAPER, OR USE A COMPUTER.
44
Chapter 3