Mystery Writing and Reading
As we all know, when we are writing in a genre we must be reading in that genre (or have recently read in that genre) in order to have the most schema possible to apply to our writing.
It's a mystery as to what each student will come up with in this 'Mystery' writing genre, but I'm sure it's going to be fantastic. We have been studying a variety of craft moves that Mystery Writers use and have developed a 'guideline' sheet in order to help us plan out our story before putting words down to paper.
The guideline sheet is something that I have created as I did my own research and reflected on how to best teach this story-writing process and genre. Our first lessons have been on making sure that we actually start at the end of the story, know how our mystery is going to be solved, and know what is going to lead our detective to a solution.....way before we start writing out that beginning. Page 3 first? Yes!
The story can be written in either a chapter book style or a picture book style. That is a personal decision to each writer. They will want to take into consideration their own writing skill, style, and what their story may lend itself towards. There is not a "better" way than the other. Some picture books (or chapter book styles) may include codes, maps, scavenger hunts, ransom notes, clues etc. left and written in that reader will have to solve before moving on, so the author needs to be able to pick a format that their idea will best fit.
The guideline sheet has been posted in the event your writer wants to work on this at home, or so you, the parent may better understand what it is that your author is being asked to "give a go" with during our Writing Workshop time.
Mysteriously Yours,
Tulley
