Story and Writing Game for Kids–a Great COVID Game

Get Ready for the STORY &WRITING GAME FOR KIDS AND YOU WILL BE AN AUTHOR!

 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:

One or more writers and readers can play at once.

The most important instruction is that no one is allowed to criticize, blame, or judge anyone’s writing or reading. If you want a rule to be followed better or have a suggestion, you can only say that in a kind fun way.

 Rules of the Essay or Story Writing Game

 RULES FOR THE FIRST PARAGRAPH

Every essay or story begins with a FIRST PARAGRAPH THAT HAS RULES TO THIS GAME.

 RULE 1

 Every paragraph begins with a catchy first sentence to grab the reader’s attention.

 RULE 2

Each sentence has a subject and a predicate. 

example: The boy runs.  

The boy is the subject and what happens to him or what he does is the predicate, runs.

 RULE 3

The catchy first sentence of the first paragraph is leading to the middle and end of the paragraph.

 The first paragraph is on a particular topic or theme.         

 If you were building a house, we could say it’s the foundation. 

 RULE 4

 We want the whole house to eventually look good or make sense, so the next paragraph builds on the first one.

 It also has a beginning sentence, a bunch of middle sentences, and an ending sentence tying the paragraph together.

 Make sure you ask yourself “Does my last sentence in the paragraph have to do with the first sentence?”

 RULE 5

 Reread each paragraph before you go to the next one to make sure it can stand alone which means you’ve begun to write about something which is a topic or a theme or thread that you are going to keep building just like the house. 

 Instead of using cement and wood, you use words and sentences to do the building and they must make sense together or the house will fall down.

         RULE 6

After several beginning paragraphs that are building the topic or story you eventually get to the middle paragraphs.

 RULES FOR MIDDLE PARAGRAPHS

 RULE 1

Some new information or idea makes the reader want to keep   reading.

 RULE 2

 The reader is your audience and you want to hold their attention and not get bored because then they’ll stop reading.

 RULE 3

   The middle of the essay or story is very important.

Each paragraph follows the same rules—beginning sentence,   middle sentences, and last or concluding sentence.

BUT NOW THE ESSAY OR STORY IS GETTING MORE AND MORE AND MORE INTERESTING.

The reader is learning something NEW about your topic in an essay or something MORE about what happens to the characters in your story.

 RULES FOR ENDING PARAGRAPHS

Rule l

The most fun part is the ENDING which may be several paragraphs that still follow the paragraph rules.

Only now you’ve got your reader’s ABSOLUTE ATTENTION and they are wondering

“What is going to happen next?!”

 They can’t wait to turn to the next page.

(If they’re called to dinner, they don’t want to come because they’re so caught up in what they’re reading.)

They say, “NO. NO. I CAN’T EAT NOW. I HAVE TO FIND OUT THE END.”

RULE 2

We want the essay or story to by now have some SUSPENSE.

Suspense means the reader is surprised and maybe even confused  because he is finding out something he didn’t expect.

The ending may just conclude the information in the essay like a well-built house where every paragraph leads to the next paragraph holding the house up

OR

twist to something surprising in the last part that the reader didn’t expect.

This happens more in stories but can also happen in essays.

RULE 3

In a story especially, you want to SURPRISE EVEN SHOCK the reader at the end.

You still follow paragraph rules like you did in the beginning—the middle has made the essay or story or house grow taller and bigger and  more exciting—

but NOW you want the reader to be so excited

he can’t wait for the ENDING!

 

EXTRA IDEAS

Did something unexpected happen to the characters or to the subject of the essay?

Is there new unexpected information that makes THIS ESSAY really stand out?

Does a character do something no one anticipated that makes THIS STORY really stand out?

 FOLLOW ALL THE RULES JUST LIKE IN A GAME AND YOU, THE WRITER—THE AUTHOR—WILL BE THE WINNER!

 IF YOU WANT YOUR STORY OR ESSAY TO HAVE MANY READERS PUT IT IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW.

HAVE FUN!