A Story is about a Character Who Wants Something (Part 2)

I'm telling you...this simple question is a game changer.

"What does your character want?"

Asking students to really think about this question and to reflect on whether they had really answered it in their memoir certainly encouraged them to revise. And it encouraged THINKING!

Students very quickly realized that when they couldn't answer that question, what they had written was a recount, not a memoir.

You could see the light bulbs going off.

Oh what a day!

This idea is found on p. 68 of "No More: How Long Does It Have To Be?"

-Sonja