Creative writing post #7

Part 1: Why in Childhood?

Stories are so important to childhood because they actually can shape the experiences of children. Children can be shaped so easily at a young age that anything they take in has a high probability of having an effect on their life. When kids hear these stories, they take the morals and apply them to their lives without knowing it. When I was young, I read a book called Regina's Big Mistake. It was about a girl who drew something badly, but then fixed it and made everyone in her class think she was a great artist. From then on, I didn't worry about things too much in school because they could always be fixed.

Part 2: Why later in life?

Older people (high school and beyond) read stories because they can also have great themes and/or morals. It also is a way to relax for them and take their mind off of some of the stress they could be dealing with in their real lives. I think that any story can make older think about different situations and possibilities in life. When I read The Da Vinci Code for an outside reading project my sophomore year, I started thinking about all of the possibilities that there were about the meaning of historic artifacts. The book didn't really change what I thought about these things, it just brought up different views.

Part 3: Why in our nation?

I think that stories are so important in our nation because they connect people to each other without physically bringing them together. If a book is on the NY Times bestseller list, tons of people will go buy it and all of those people will have something in common. They fit into our national identity so well because they are so different, just like our population is so diverse. Many discussions are brought up due to books as well. For example, The Kite Runner really made people think about the horrible events going on around the world. The author of the book appeared on the morning news to discuss his book and talk about some of the content. Stories allow the readers and writers to take the same look on issues with many different viewpoints for once, instead of everybody thinking that they are right.

Part 4: Your stories...

There are a couple stories that stand out from my childhood. Green Eggs and Ham and basically any other book by Dr. Seuss stood out because they flowed so well, and flowing really catches the attention of younger children because they enjoy things that are pleasing to their ears. I directly connect my parents to these stories because they were the ones that always read them to me. Another story I remember is one that my youth supervisor at Kids' Club at Cornelia told us about monsters. I thought those monster would find me and hunt me down, so that one stayed solidly engraved in my memory.

Part 5: Characteristics of a well-told story...

1. Background info of the main characters that reveals why they are the way they are.
2. An interesting setting. Nobody wants to read a story about someone who sat at their house.
3. Interesting characters. I can see normal people in school any day, so I need a more interesting set of people to keep my attention.
4. Fluidity. I don't want to read a story that jumps around from place to place and is confusing.
5. Conflict. Conflict is what keeps everyone's interest in a story. Who will keep reading on if nothing ever presents itself as a challenge for a character?
6. Climax. If a story didn't have one defining moment, I would feel like I wasted by time reading it.
7. THEME/MORAL. I feel that for a story to be worthwhile, it needs to teach me something important that I don't already know.