1. ANALYZING A STORY IDEAS TO PRACTICE

2. DISCUSS Find a theme for the story. What is the author trying to say? What is the BIG idea? Is there more than one theme? How does the theme relate to what the author wants you to know?

3. SETTING Where does the story take place? Be specific! When does the story take place? Be specific! How does the setting affect the plot? Could this story take place in another time or place? Would it be as convincing if it took place somewhere else or in another time?

4. PLOT Draw a plot diagram for the story. Include any sub-plots (not the MAIN part of the story, but smaller stories within the bigger one) Look closely at the conflicts. Label them as internal or external conflicts. Is there a cliff hanger or does the story resolve itself?

5. THE REAL WORLD Look for connections to the real world! These may be historic or current These may have to do with technology or a science How did the real-world past (of the author) influence the story?

6. EMOTIONS Write a sentence or two that created an emotional response in you. Exactly what caused that response? How does it relate to the author’s style of writing? Did the emotion build up over the course of the story – or did it come as a surprise?

7. RESEARCH Discover the language, historical, and cultural issues that were brought up in the story? Were you aware of this before reading the story? Did you learn anything from the story? Does the story inspire you to discover more about these issues? How important are these issues to this story?

8. CHARACTERS Describe the characters using strong adjectives. How does the character’s state of mind (mood, feeling, outlook on life) impact the story? How do the characters’ past experiences impact the story? How does the setting/environment affect the characters’ lives?

9. BIASES Does the author show any biases in the story? What are those biases? How do the biases influence the story? How do the biases influence the outcome of the story?

10. MOOD What is the mood of the story? List words that the author uses that contribute to the mood.  Mood is often created by:  The setting  The author’s choice of words  Events  Pace

11. TONE What is the tone of the story? What words does the author use that contributes to the tone?  Tone is the writer’s attitude toward his audience and his subject. Tone is affected by:  Sentence structure  Word choice  Repetition  Rhythm (Pace)

12. ENJOYMENT Did you enjoy this story? How do the choices that the author makes influence your enjoyment? Length of the story? Vocabulary used in the story? Dialogue within the story? Descriptive passages in the story? Pacing of the story? (Did the story move along well or did it seem to take forever?)