Creative Story Writing Using Magazines
Old Publications Help Students Create the Elements of a Short Story
Jul 9, 2009
Glossy hunting, news, garden and glamor magazines can be the inspiration for middle school students' next short story. The pictures and even some of the titles can be a springboard for a creative writing masterpiece.
Gather Magazines and Materials
Before starting this lesson, ask colleagues, parents of students and friends to donate old magazines to the classroom. It is best if addresses are ripped off or marked out before students start using the magazines. In addition, students will need scissors, markers, colored pencils, construction paper, tag board, and glue sticks.
A Short Story is Short
Students need to remember that a short story should be read in one sitting. That means that their writing should tell a story from beginning to end, but it should not take days to read. It could take minutes or at most, a couple of hours.
Review or Teach Short Story Elements
Before beginning, make sure that students understand the elements of a story: characters, setting, conflict, plot twist, resolution, point of view and theme.
The main characters will be either protagonists or an antagonists. The protagonist is in the center of all the action. The antagonist is against the protagonist and causes problems or conflict.
In addition, the setting is the time and place of the story. A plot twist is a change in the direction of the plot that is unexpected. The point of view is how the story is being told. The resolution is the ending of the story where all of the loose ends are tied up. Last, the theme is an underlying meaning or universal idea in the story.
For a more detailed explanation of the elements, check out the Short Story Elements website.
Make Short Story Elements Collage
Once students understand the short story basics, they need to make a collage of story elements they will use in their own original short story.
Step 1: Students need to find a picture or headline from magazines for each story element: characters, setting, conflict, plot twist, resolution, point of view and theme. They can use one or many magazines to find the perfect picture for each element. Each item should be cut out neatly.
Step 2: Direct students to glue down the pictures and/or headlines for each story element on tag board or construction paper. All of the pictures need to be labeled with marker or colored pencil. The collage needs to be interesting, colorful and creative.
Step 3: Tell students to use the collage of their story elements to help them to write an original short story.
Step 4: Ask students to share their short stories with the class and to show the collage they used for inspiration.
This lesson is a creative way to help students to develop a short story. Having a variety of magazines at their disposal will help spark their imaginations and hopefully help them to write some great short stories.
Other relevant articles: Short Story Writing Using Ala Carte Elements, Use Toys to Inspire Imaginative Short Stories or Plot Elements Lesson
