Superior Submission Letters

Before a publishers accepts your novel, she likes to know something about you, the writer. she also wants to know what your novel is about. Publishers LOVE submission letters and that is part of your goal today. It doesn't have to be long, rather it needs enough information to intrigue the publisher to read your excerpt.

Here are the guidelines of what you should include in your letter:

1. Heading: this where you put your address and date you are sending the letter. Include your contact information.

2. Greeting: Dear So-and-So,

3. Background Info: Give a brief paragraph that tells who you are: name, age, school, and any info you think is relevant.

4. Novel Info: Give a brief summary of your novel - 2-4 sentences only.

5. Request: State very clearly that you want your novel excerpt to be published or that you want to receive an A.  Granted, she will know that is what you want, but it is always nice to ask.

6. Excerpt Info: Give a brief synopsis of the excerpt you are submitting and tell the publisher why this is a good excerpt from your novel.

7. Closing: Give a thank you and close your letter with a "Sincerely" and your name.

Testing Time, Testing Time, Testing All the Way! Hey!

It is the last week of school before winter break. What better way to spend out time together, but test!

Wednesday = Grammar Test on opening adjectives/adverbs and delayed adjectives/adverbs
Thursday = Writing Exam
Friday = Reading. For this test you will present one to two paragraphs of your novel to the class. You will work on presentation skills.

Happy Holidays!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Welcome back! Hopefully you worked hard over the weekend editing and revising your novel.

Here's the deal:

The Good: we are almost done and winter break is a few short days away.

The Bad: You need to have your novel finalized so that you can submit it for publication this week.

The Ugly: You need to submit your excerpt on Wednesday, 12/14/11, for a grade. It needs to meet the CALLS requirements (character, action, language, length, stands on its own). It needs to be 1,000 - 5,000 words in length (2-10 pages double spaced), 10-12 pt. font, Times New Roman or Arial. It should have MLA headers.

Literary Devices and Editing

Literary devices are tricks that authors use to help create images in our little brains. Have you included them in your novel?

In your notebook, today:
1. List at least 4 features you like to see in novels, such as, suspense, humor, surprises, dialogue that shows without telling, details about setting and character, interesting subplots, flashbacks, flash-forwards, or plot twists.
2. After you have listed the items, use one color to circle the features you included in your novel, and another color to circle the items you didn't use.
3. Then, name three ways you plan to enhance the features you did include.
4. What literary devices exist in your novel?
5. Where can you include more? And what types of literary devices do you need to include?

Finally, you are ready to edit. Now that you are done making big changes to your novel, use the following list to help you edit your novel:
1. Convert your Google Doc to Word
2. Spell Check
3. Change i to I
4. Find and Replace the following words:
    a. evil
    b. nice
    c. stupid
    d. awesome
    e. fun
    f. good
    g. bad
    h. any word you know you tend to overuse
5. Include at least 2 of each of the following:
    a. opening adjective
    b. opening adverb
    c. delayed adjective
    d. delayed adverb

Plot and Conflict

Nothing is more boring that a story without conflict, or a plot for that matter.

Today, map out your own story on the plot diagram, and answer the questions that follow.

Questions to consider:
1. In 1-2 sentences, describe the plot of your novel.
2. In 1 sentence, describe the conflict of your novel.
3. Think about how you plotted your inciting incident, rising action, and so on. Did you stick to your plan when writing? Does the plot still unfold in a way that makes sense? If not, do you need to include more action? Do you need to remove some action? Where exactly did your plot wander, if it didn't stay on track?
4. Based on what you now know about your novel's plot and conflict, what do you need to revise in order for your novel to be the best?

Don't forget to submit your exit slip for the day.

Revision Workshop: Voice and Writing Style

Day 2 of the hard work, well at least for those of you who really are working hard to revise.

Some of you moved entire chapters, decided to start with the action rather than description of setting. I must admit, there are some great stories developing. Also, some of you amazed me with the critiques you gave your partners. You were thorough and gave excellent suggestions. Keep up the support!

But, the work must continue. Today we will look at voice and style.

1. How would you describe your writing style?
2. Skim the first 5 paragraphs of your novel. Then, skip to the middle of your novel, and read 5 paragraphs. Finally, go to the end of your novel and read your last 5 paragraphs. Are all the paragraphs that you read written in the same style? If not, what happened? What does this mean for your revision process? Where does the style change?
3. What are 3 changes you plan to make as you revise for voice and style? (Maybe you need to not use a monster SAT word in every sentence, or maybe you need to add some monster SAT words to your writing.)

Finally, there is an exit slip today. Be sure to submit it prior to the end of class.

Revision Workshop Organization

Have you read your own novel?

Have you gotten lost by the story, realized there were spots where you couldn't even follow the action?

Then, it is time to begin revising that organization.

Spend at least an hour today revising your novel (we did have time in class!). Here is a link to the questions asked in class.

Opening Adverb Awards

We have been working with sentence structure variation for a while now. First, we learned about adjectives and how to create opening adjective statements and delayed adjective statements. Now, we are focused on adverbs, opening adverbs, and later, we will focus on delayed adverb statements.

I am listing a few of your classmates opening adverb statements below. If you want some extra credit, why not leave a comment with your opening adverb statement?

Student Examples:
Afterward, the teens ran over to the taco shop while the younger children stayed inside and ate Goldfish. - Ashley J.
That night, Jack, who had been crying all night, crept towards her window, holding a long silver knife. - Quin G.
Later, Satya, who had been sitting at her computer, laid in her bed, happy that she finished her novel. - Satya F.
Strongly, Raashid, the man who has defeated one thousand foes, stepped on the mat once more to face yet another foe. - Justin N.
Cautiously, Jasmine, who at this point was scared half to death, took the stairs one-by-one, the gun pinned to her hip. - Bre'Ahna J.
Immediately, Ariel, who had been swimming for hours, got out of the pool and grabbed her favorite towel, a SpongeBob one. - Kayleigh J.
Quickly, Wilfred, who smelled a fire over half a mile away, started going crazy trying to warn people. - Stuart M.
Sadly, Jessica, who didn't ahve any friends, sat there at lunch, blank as a wall. - Roy T.
Later, Mia ate lunch alone, and cried, sorrowfully. - Sherina D.

Workshopping Support

So, you have read through most of your partner's work by now. You have left comments on the text and not wasted your time talking, right?

Now, take a moment to fill out the Reader Review form. Do not hit the return button as you complete the form. When you are done, click submit. I will give you credit for your work and share the responses with your partner.

Then, don't forget to complete today's exit slip!

Have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to spend time finishing and revising your novel.

Work + Shopping = Fun Times!

Today we begin the workshopping process.

Please read the links below:

The Workshop pg. 72
Reader Review pg. 75

After reading the suggestions for workshopping, share your Google Doc with your workshop partner. Give your partner the ability to at least comment on your document. Then, get started. (Oooh, did you notice the opening adverb sentence structure?)

We will have two days for this, and then you will begin revising your novel. Next week, we will begin editing in Word and learning how to create PDFs. (Oooh, another opening adverb!) Did you think you would learn this much technology in an English class?