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SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER

Module I: Obsessed by a Story

Curriculum Connections: Student Handout

Jean M. Auel Best-Selling Author
Video: Low High Audio: audio		Well, I think it is kind of interesting if you are talking about whether or not you are writing from the point of view of the story line or from the point of view of the characters. I think the best books are actually character-driven. Because what happens is that the character starts to develop and it starts to tell its story, in a sense. I think certain kinds of books can be plot-driven, particularly mysteries. I think, can be plot-driven because you kind of have to have some sense of where the story is going. I think of lot mystery writers really do plan it out in advance. But I think my favorite books tend to be books that pick me up and put me down someplace else, that tell me about a different world in a different time, but that are character-driven. Successful author Jean Auel presents two different ways for a fiction writer to construct a story. Some authors focus on character. They develop memorable characters that drive and tell the story. Other authors write stories that are plot-driven in which the action or events are planned out from beginning to end. The events drive the story.

In your small group identify and discuss stories or novels you have read that fit either of these two categories:

CHARACTER-DRIVEN	PLOT-DRIVEN

Review the examples above. Discuss the positive elements of each type of story. Decide individually which approach you would use to write a story. Explain to the group why this approach would be your choice.