Shoe Story ~ Creative Writing
Miss Berndl's Fabulous Fours

Pretend the shoe that you have been sketching in class, or the shoe you decorated in Art could speak and write a story. Write an adventure that your shoe had. Make it sound like the shoe is telling the story. Illustrate the story. Your final story will be a picture book similar to the short stories written by Robert Munch.

Planning:
To start, make a storyboard. Your story can be between 8 and 16 pages in length. This is the planning stage of writing your story. Divide a sheet of paper into 8 sections like this:

Decide what will happen in your story & write something in each panel. You can use pictures if you want. Don't spend a lot of time on the pictures at this point. Go up to 16 pages if you need to. Remember that every story has to have a beginning, middle & end. There has to be something interesting happening in your story. Figure out what the "adventure" of your shoe will be. Tell a classmate what the story is about.

Rough Copy:
Write out the exact words that will appear in your story. Use a pencil so that mistakes can be easily corrected. After you are done, read your story to a classmate. Ask for suggestions. Does it make sense? Is there enough description? Did you use interesting words? Should you change, add or delete anything? Go back and do an edit for content.

Now read your story looking for technical mistakes - things like spelling, capital letters, punctuation, incomplete sentences etc. Have a classmate or your parent go over it after you have done the best that you can do. Fix everything.

Good Copy:
You will be printing your story out on blank bond paper. To make your writing look good, use Magic Lines. They will help you print straight. Use your best printing and use a pen so that your writing is dark. Use dark coloured ink. If you make a mistake, don't use white out - use your creativity to turn your mistake into a bug, a flower or an artistic design. Your story needs to be between 8 and 16 pages long.

Illustrations:
Each page of your story needs to have a picture. You can draw a picture on the same page as your words or you can draw a picture that will be on the opposite page when your book is open. You may use pencil crayons or markers. Remember that markers can "bleed through" to the other side of the paper. Test first before you start. Your pictures need to have the background shaded in - hardly any white should be left in your pictures. Take a look at picture books to get ideas.

Publishing the Book:
After you have finished writing & illustrating the story, you need to complete the other parts of the book. They are:

1. Front Cover - Use cover stock. The front cover has to have 1) The Title of the story  2) Written & Illustrated by your full name. Optional: It can also have a picture on it but it does not have to.
2. Back Cover - Use cover stock. The back cover has to have 1) About The Author - a 30 to 40 word biography about you written in the third person. This can be printed on paper and glued on to the cover. 2) An ISBN number and a bar code. Optional: It can have a photo or sketch of you, to go along with the About the Author article.
3. Title Page - Use bond paper. The title page is often very similar to the front cover but it also has extra information. Your title page has to have:1) The Title of the story 2) Written & Illustrated by your full name 3) Name of Publishing Company - make up a name for your own personal company 4) Richmond Hill, Canada - this is the location of where your story was published 5) © and the month & year  - this is the copyright symbol you find in many books because it shows that the work belongs to the author. Optional: It can also have a picture on it but it does not have to.
4. Dedication Page - Many books have a page where people are thanked for helping the author or where the author dedicated the book to someone. You need to make a dedication page. It is up to you who you dedicate it to and how much you write. Take a look at a number of books to get some ideas.
5. Reader Response Pocket - Use cover stock. At the back of the book, you will have a pocket which will allow classmates to write you a Reader Response Postcard. If you wish you can decorate this pocket, or write a short message to your readers on this pocket.

When all the parts are done, your book will be bound and ready for circulation. You will need to get at least 6 Reader Responses - 3 girls & 3 boys from the class.