1. Historical Fiction Writing

2. Standards
7-W.3.1 Gather ideas from texts, multimedia, and personal experience to write narratives that: a. develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences; b. engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; c. organize a sequence of events that unfolds naturally and logically; h. provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
7-C.2.1 Gather relevant information from diverse print and multimedia sources to develop ideas, or perspectives emphasizing salient points in a coherent, concise, logical manner with relevant evidence and well-chosen details.

3. What Is It?
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. The setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons The main characters tend to be fictional. Writers of stories in this genre attempt to capture the manners and social conditions of the persons/times presented in the story

4. Template for HF Writing
See MLA Format Handout
Heading Procedure at Top Left
Double-Spaced Text
12-point Times New Roman Font
Simple Title
Header with Last Name & Page Number
IF YOU HANDWRITE YOUR PAPER, YOU MUST USE BLACK OR BLUE INK – NO PENCILS!

5. First Paragraph:
Introduce the setting (time and place) and the character:
The year was __________.That was the year I turned _____________. My name is _________ . At the time, I was living in ____________. __________ was a fascinating place to live. It had _____________, ______________, and _____________. At that age, I spent most of my time _______________________________________________________________________________________________________. Before now, nothing special had ever happened to me. That would soon change.

6. Second Paragraph
Begin your INCITING INCIDENT (the character starts the day doing regular things but begins to notice a change somewhere):
The day began like any other. I _____(talk about a routine, an errand, or an event the character interacts with)... Then, something strange happened. I noticed ________________ …
DON’T FORGET: How does your character feel?

7. Third Paragraph
Begin your RISING ACTION (event that occurs right before the historical event takes place):
I could not take my eyes off ____(people, cars, machines, actions that build up the historical event)_____. They seemed out of place. They looked like they were ____(what did they look like they were about to do?)____. I had a feeling something big was about to happen.
DONT FORGET: How does your character feel?

8. Fourth Paragraph
Begin the CLIMAX of the story (The most exciting moment of your historical event):
The next thing I knew, ________(the historical event; what does the character see, hear, smell?)_________ [Write at least 4 sentences]. I could not understand why this was happening.
DON’T FORGET: How does the character feel?

9. Fifth Paragraph
Begin your Resolution and Lesson (How does the event/story end?)
I could not believe what I had just witnessed. There were _____(Discuss the ultimate outcome: were people injured? did people escape? what does the character last see?)____. After watching all of these events occur, I realized ___(lesson of the story)____.