Picture Shakespeare sitting at his desk about to put his pen to a blank piece of parchment… You are now in that same position—on the verge of greatness.

Every Story Begins With an Idea

Sometimes the hardest part about writing is deciding where to begin. Luckily, you have already chosen a topic to inspire the narrative you will write. The pre-writing process will help you build on that topic to develop your ideas and plan your writing.

During the pre-writing process your focus is on three of the six traits of writing

Add the topic you selected for your story to the Pre-Writing graphic organizer to begin the pre-writing process. Need a reminder of the topic choices? See below.

Reminder of Narrative Topics—Choose One

· Banquo has been murdered; discussions and suspicions regarding his death can be heard throughout the castle. Write a narrative that tells a story about what you think transpires between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they prepare to attend Banquo’s funeral.

· During a visit to Macbeth’s castle, Macduff discovers that King Duncan has been murdered. What if the weird sisters had appeared and spoken with Macduff at this moment? Write a narrative that tells a story about what might have transpired between Macduff and the weird sisters.

· You are a guest at Macbeth’s coronation; during dinner, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost. Using first person point of view, write a narrative that tells a story about the events at the coronation

· You have gotten to know the characters while reading Macbeth; now it is time to give them starring roles in your story. To start generating ideas, determine which characters need to be featured in your narrative. Your story is inspired by Macbeth, so your characters need to reflect those created by Shakespeare. List the characters and some of their traits on yourPre-Writing graphic organizer.

Generating Ideas: What?

The next step is to determine the conflict that is driving the story.

· What is happening at this time in the play?

· What are the characters thinking and feeling?

· What decisions are they making?

The characters encounter conflict with each decision they make. There are four types of conflict:

Man vs. Man (external) Man vs. Nature (external) Man vs. Society (external) Man vs. Self (internal)

Think about the conflicts that are affecting the characters in your scene. Add some reflections about them to your Pre-writing graphic organizer. Use those ideas to plan how your characters will act and react to the events in your narrative.

Generating Ideas: Where?

Now is your chance to think about the setting of your narrative. What type of scenery fits the backdrop of your story? You can probably picture what it would look like, but you might try finding an image that can inspire even more ideas about physical aspects of the setting.

Another thing to consider is how the setting feels. As a writer, you can use mood and imagery to give your reader the feeling of being in the scene with the characters.

Mood