The Writing of The Secret Passage
The assignment was to write a story titled “The Secret Passage.” The guide in the grammar handbook asked the writer to brainstorm first.
“Okay, Xenia.” I told her, “You need to start out with a setting. Setting includes time and place.”
“It should be in the 1980’s”
“That’s when I was a kid.” I said, “How about 1984 when I was in third grade like you.”
“Okay.”
Xenia wrote her first sentence.
“Now you need characters.” I said.
“Who were your friends when you were a little girl?” she asked, “Wait, I already know.”
Amy was my best friend in third grade. Melanie and I met in seventh grade. I think Xenia put her daddy in there too because it felt right.
“Now you have to think of a problem like you find a passageway and it goes somewhere,” I said.
“There’s a creaking floorboard.”
“That’s good, but what’s the problem?”
“People have gone missing.”
“That’s interesting.”
“People and animals.”
Xenia wrote for a while.
“Xenia, you should add some emotion. Every action needs a reaction. Tell how the main character felt when her friends and pets had disappeared.”
Xenia wrote again.
“Now what?” she asked.
“You have to say where the tunnel lead to and how the friends and pets fell in.”
“It’s a big hole.”
“Like a well?”
“No not too deep or they would die.”
“How about a septic tank?”
“What’s a septic tank?”
“It’s a container that holds sewage, but you could say it was empty.”
“Okay.”
“Now say how they felt when the main character found them. You can also use what you just learned in writing dialogue and have them explain how they got stuck.”
Sophia came into Xenia’s room, “Mom can we go to Christian Brother’s now?”
“I can’t leave until Xenia finishes up her story. Let’s call them and make sure they are seeing drop in customers. Xenia finish up your story while I make this call.”
Xenia wrote up her ending while we left. The service place was open, but Mike and I decided to look at the headlights tonight to understand the problem better. Xenia brought her paper to us when Mike and Sophia and I were conferencing in the home office. It was the best story I’d read in a very long time.
The Secret Passage!
The year 1984 was the year of The Secret Passage. Marylee was living at the ranch house in Vancouver, Washington. For days, her guests and pets were going missing. Amy, Melanie, and Michael disappeared one weekend and her pet skunk, two kittens, and three dogs went missing three days after. Marylee went to the shed to cry. When she walked in, one of the floorboards creaked. She looked around and she saw her dog’s nose and ears stuck in the ground. She pried open the logs and got the small dog out. Then Marylee crawled through the wall and went through the passageway. She came to a tunnel which ended in an empty septic tank. Her friends and pets were happy to see her.
Melanie said, “We were running around when we fell into a hole that led here.”
Amy spoke up, “No! We were chasing a racoon when the ground gave way.”
Michael said, “Then the pets fell in after.”
Marylee went through the hole she made alone because her friends were too big and got her mom to get them out. Her mom got them out with a smiling chainsw, and they lived happily ever after until 2020! Dun dun duuuun!!!
The end!
The assignment was to write a story titled “The Secret Passage.” The guide in the grammar handbook asked the writer to brainstorm first.
“Okay, Xenia.” I told her, “You need to start out with a setting. Setting includes time and place.”
“It should be in the 1980’s”
“That’s when I was a kid.” I said, “How about 1984 when I was in third grade like you.”
“Okay.”
Xenia wrote her first sentence.
“Now you need characters.” I said.
“Who were your friends when you were a little girl?” she asked, “Wait, I already know.”
Amy was my best friend in third grade. Melanie and I met in seventh grade. I think Xenia put her daddy in there too because it felt right.
“Now you have to think of a problem like you find a passageway and it goes somewhere,” I said.
“There’s a creaking floorboard.”
“That’s good, but what’s the problem?”
“People have gone missing.”
“That’s interesting.”
“People and animals.”
Xenia wrote for a while.
“Xenia, you should add some emotion. Every action needs a reaction. Tell how the main character felt when her friends and pets had disappeared.”
Xenia wrote again.
“Now what?” she asked.
“You have to say where the tunnel lead to and how the friends and pets fell in.”
“It’s a big hole.”
“Like a well?”
“No not too deep or they would die.”
“How about a septic tank?”
“What’s a septic tank?”
“It’s a container that holds sewage, but you could say it was empty.”
“Okay.”
“Now say how they felt when the main character found them. You can also use what you just learned in writing dialogue and have them explain how they got stuck.”
Sophia came into Xenia’s room, “Mom can we go to Christian Brother’s now?”
“I can’t leave until Xenia finishes up her story. Let’s call them and make sure they are seeing drop in customers. Xenia finish up your story while I make this call.”
Xenia wrote up her ending while we left. The service place was open, but Mike and I decided to look at the headlights tonight to understand the problem better. Xenia brought her paper to us when Mike and Sophia and I were conferencing in the home office. It was the best story I’d read in a very long time.
The Secret Passage!
The year 1984 was the year of The Secret Passage. Marylee was living at the ranch house in Vancouver, Washington. For days, her guests and pets were going missing. Amy, Melanie, and Michael disappeared one weekend and her pet skunk, two kittens, and three dogs went missing three days after. Marylee went to the shed to cry. When she walked in, one of the floorboards creaked. She looked around and she saw her dog’s nose and ears stuck in the ground. She pried open the logs and got the small dog out. Then Marylee crawled through the wall and went through the passageway. She came to a tunnel which ended in an empty septic tank. Her friends and pets were happy to see her.
Melanie said, “We were running around when we fell into a hole that led here.”
Amy spoke up, “No! We were chasing a racoon when the ground gave way.”
Michael said, “Then the pets fell in after.”
Marylee went through the hole she made alone because her friends were too big and got her mom to get them out. Her mom got them out with a smiling chainsw, and they lived happily ever after until 2020! Dun dun duuuun!!!
The end!