It's so easy to fall into the pattern of "bed-to-bed" stories or narratives that use "in the beginning...in the middle...in the end." For a writer that is simple to do to tell our stories, but for our readers, it's repetitive. The purpose of writing is to share our stories, explorations, and questions that occur during our life. Our readers are who we are trying to write for! In order to make our narratives into something that is captivating and hard to put down, Mentor Text: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature K-6 by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli.

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HOW TO PULL YOUR AUDIENCE IN

The first sentence or the first few sentences of your story is what makes your reader interested in reading the rest of what you wrote. It's the same way with any book, any movie, any song, any introduction to meeting someone. The first line is what pulls you in or turns you away. As a writer, it's easy to write "Last Saturday I..." or "This is a story about..." But as a reader, that isn't something that makes me want to read more. I want there to be a hook that pulls me in and makes me question what the story is all about. Here are some strategies that Dorfman and Cappelli listed to make you a great hook writer!

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• Onomatopoeia ("Boom! It was gone")

• Snapshot of the Setting ("It was so hard to walk through the crowds of strollers when walking around Disney World")

• Snapshot of the Character ("John was not a funny guy.")

• Foreshadowing ("How were they supposed to know that was going to happen?")

• Simile (The rain was like a bucket of water being dumped on your head.")

• Short, Choppy Sentences ("Yes! Great! Wonderful!")

• Question ("Did you know that it was possible you can have a day where everything actually goes wrong?")

• Name Statement ("I, Laura, will always love tea")

• Action (Suspense) (As I turned, all I could see was it falling in slow motion, yet it was too fast to stop.")

• Thoughtshot ("Why am I so bad at confrontation?")

• Dialogue ("Are you seriously going to do that?")

• Exclamation (Look!)

• Metaphor ("It was a beautiful day, but windy enough to send wispy cloud ships sailing through the blue-ocean sky.")

• Personification ("The wind whispered all night long.")

• Appeal to the Senses (other than sound and sight) ("There was something in the room that smelled stinky, but I couldn't figure out what it was.")

• Creepy Statement 

• Weather ("The cirrus clouds were telling us that something was about to change.")

• Quote from someone else ("My dad always told me to be kind to others and to try my best.")

• Controversial Statement ("Gum is honestly the worst creation ever.")

• Taking a Reader into the Past ("When I was three years old, I had a huge change happen in my life.")

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I'm including this list because as someone who struggles with introductions to literally anything (especially job application essay questions at the moment) this is something I found VERY useful. Providing a list of choices doesn't necessarily take away creativity, it just gives you a spark of interest to help you pull in the reader. All of the examples provided are stories that I could start just because I was able to think of an introduction sentence. The opportunities are endless when provided a little guidance! Personally, I struggled the most with figurative language introductions because I felt I wasn't creative enough YET to be able to do that, but with practice and inspiration from mentor texts, I could work up to it. Even just going through the list, I felt myself improve with creating better introductions.

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I'm going to specifically focus on the question strategy for this lesson. I think a great question stem that could be used for any introduction is "What if..." This question has readers really thinking of their answer to this question stem. This builds their interest to find what the writer thinks. People are always wanting to compare their answers and opinions with one another, therefore this is a great way to do it! Click here for a lesson based around the "What If..." question stem with the mentor text My Teacher is a Monster by Peter Brown.

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A hook could also be referred to as a lead, grab, pull, or a YANK (Calkins, 2006). This doesn't just happen through practice. Mentor texts are a great way for writers to see what professionals do and use it to improve their own writing. Just like anything you do, you always have mentor or a role model that leads you to do better. That's why mentor texts are so important for beginning writers. In Calkins' A Guide to the Writing Workshop, she mentions how important it is to reward modeling behaviors. She believes that through editing after presenting a mentor text will allow students to see growth in their own writing. Conferencing and publishing their work to show it off also builds the self esteem of beginning writers. 

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In my own experience with writing in elementary school, I do not remember a time where I ever shared my writing with my classmates. It always seemed like an academic requirement rather than a fun activity. I think if I had teachers who decided to publish and show off my work with others, I would've appreciated writing a lot earlier. Talking about your work with classmates and teachers allow for you to grow on not only your confidence with writing, but also allows for you to grow off of others writing. During this course, I've had so many opportunities with speaking with others or following other classmate's teacher instagram accounts to allow for me to find inspiration. It's almost impossible to write without inspiration. Provide students with opportunities for dialogue, exploration, and mentor texts to give them a chance to create their best work.

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BUILDING A BRIDGE

Alright, you got an introduction? Now what? I do very well with checklists and going through activities step by step. That is what I believe I end up going through stories very quickly. I'm not giving myself enough time to ease into the story. That is what a bridge is for. A bridge is "a way to ease into the part of the story where all the action is instead of leaping ahead." This is where you provide more details of the setting, character and other descriptors of the story to lead into conflict and resolutions. I think this is so important to consider and teach writers because creating such a wonderful hook could be hurt by going through the story too quickly. It's not meant to be a punch line! It's supposed to make your reader want to read more and more. Give them more to read. Get them immersed into the story before the plot really sets in.

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Like I mentioned before, give students a chance to share their bridges too! We talk a lot about beginning and endings when we are writing. The middle is often forgotten, therefore a lot of writers don't know what it looks like. Modeling is always important as a teacher, but providing inspiration is just as equivalent. Don't be afraid for students to copy other's work. This is something that I have learned from research and lectures. I always thought it was bad for students to copy work, rather I should be celebrating the fact that they are finding the inspiration useful. Of course, if the copying continues and isn't their own stories, then there should be a fix. This is just the beginning levels of writing. Finding inspiration or a pull to write is what we want from our writers. Don't fight any behaviors that they are showing when they are writing!

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END IT 

This is the last thing your reader will remember about this story, make it worth it! I know this is YOUR story you are writing, but like I said before, you are writing for the purpose to share your stories. Stories can be told in many different ways and in many different mediums. Endings of a movie or a song is what makes you want to watch/listen again. Your goal is to leave your reader wanting more. These strategies from Mentor Text are also paired with books that can help mold and guide writers to follow author's words.

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