WritingFix: a 6-Trait Writing Lesson that uses Brave Margaret by Robert De San Souci

Press the buttons below until you find three nouns you can fit into one opening paragraph. Your writing goal today is to make an opening paragraph that is just as interesting and full of details as the first paragraph in Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure by Robert De San Souci.

What will your opening paragraph need in order to invite your reader to want to know the rest of the story? How will you let your read know that something big and important is about to happen to the character you introduce us to?

As you create your perfect opening paragraph, use lots of interesting details that a reader might remember after he or she puts your story down.

Here's a challenge, if you dare. Can you write a paragraph that is so interesting that you absolutely want to write the rest of the story? We think you can!

Interactive Choices for Writing:

If you're struggling to start, click the buttons below for some ideas that might inspire you to launch your piece of writing.

Keep clicking the three buttons until you find a person, place, and thing that you might put together in an interesting story.

If putting a descriptive adjective in front of any of your nouns helps, then do that! A broken flashlight might be more interesting to you than just an ordinary flashlight, for example.

When you have your person, place, and thing selected, write them down somewhere safe so you can put them together in a paragraph later on.

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