Prewriting: Planning your fable
1) Choose a moral
All fables have a moral. What lesson will you teach? You can use a saying or make one up.
2) Invent characters
Who will be in your fable? Your characters can be animals, people, objects, or anything you like. Use personification to make your characters more believable. What are your characters like? How do they act?
3) Find a setting
A fable can take place anywhere or anytime. The setting can be real or made-up. Morals teach lessons that are true all of the time, no matter where you are!
4) Create a plot
All stories need a plot. What will happen to your characters? What will be the conflict? How will they learn their lesson?
Writing the First Draft: Getting it down on paper
1) Introduce the characters and setting
Describe your characters so that the reader knows what they are like. You should describe what they look like, how they act, and what they think. Describe the setting so that the reader can see it.
2) Explain the plot
This is the part where you write the actual story. What happens to the characters? How do they respond? The story should have a beginning, middle, and end.
3) End the fable
This is the part where your characters learn their lesson. You should end your fable with the moral.
Revising: Improving your writing
1) Let it sit
After you've written your fable, let it sit for awhile. Then, when you read it again, try pretending someone else wrote it, and see what you think. You should be able to see it more clearly, even if you can't completely trick yourself.
2) Share your first draft
Listen to the questions you partner asks about your fable. This can be hard to do. When you write, you want others to understand it.
Editing and Proofreading: Polishing your writing
1) Edit
After you have made all of the major changes, take a look at the words and sentences in your story. Have you picked the best words to describe the setting, characters, and plot? Are your sentences interesting and clear? Have you used enough dialogue and punctuated it correctly?
2) Proofread
Check your final draft for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling errors, and fix any that you find. Have your partner proofread your final draft, too.
Modified from: Kemper, Dave, et al. “Writing Fantasies.” Writer's Express . Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1995. (pp. 158-159).
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