+ Lars Farf had not always been excessively fearful.

Originally, he was just normally fearful. The one day he came in from the fields and found his house reduced to a pile of smoking ash. Where was his wife, where were his children? Fortunately for him, his wife and children were not at the bottom of the pile of smoking ash, but sprinting joyfully up the road, relieved to find that he wasnt at the bottom of the pile of smoking ash. But the damage had been done: He was now excessively fearful. When he rebuilt the house, he made some changes. The new house had no fireplace. No matches were allowed inside. The house had no stove, and all cooking was to be done in a little shack several hundred yards away. The family was not allowed inside the Cooking Shack. Every hour one of the servants was required to walk around the house, dousing the walls with water from a special Fire-Dousing Bucket, just in case.

Lars Farf had not always been excessively fearful. + Originally, he was just normally fearful. The one day he

came in from the fields and found his house reduced to a pile of smoking ash. Where was his wife, where were his children? Fortunately for him, his wife and children were not at the bottom of the pile of smoking ash, but sprinting joyfully up the road, relieved to find that he wasnt at the bottom of the pile of smoking ash. But the damage had been done: He was now excessively fearful. When he rebuilt the house, he made some changes. The new house had no fireplace. No matches were allowed inside. The house had no stove, and all cooking was to be done in a little shack several hundred yards away. The family was not allowed inside the Cooking Shack. Every hour one of the servants was required to walk around the house, dousing the walls with water from a special Fire-Dousing Bucket, just in case.

Excerpted from Lars Farf, Excessively Fearful Father and Husband by George Saunders

PARAGRAPHING + FOCUSING

When to start a new paragraph

(why do paragraphs matter?)
1.
2. 3.

When you have a new or slightly new idea

To emphasize a point, or make a contrast between points In dialogue, when a different person speaks

4.
5.

When your reader needs a pause

When you are ending your intro or conclusion

From the OWL and Tim Fredricks ELA Teaching Blog

PARGRAPHING ACTIVITY
In

pairs, examine the text given to you. These are all texts youve read for class. With your partner, decide where you think the paragraphs should go. Cut your text into paragraph pieces and glue them to your colored paper. youve finished paragraphing, Ill give you a copy of the original text. Compare your paragraphs to the originals. your paragraphs match the original? Where do they differ? Why do you think they are different?

When

Do

+
ELEMENTS OF A PARAGRAPH

UNITY COHERENCE DEVELOPMENT

UCD BASICS
UNITY: The entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus. No wandering around mentioning random things that have nothing to do with each other! COHERENCE: This means your paragraph is easy for a reader to follow and understand. You create coherence by building bridges between your sentences. DEVELOPMENT: Help your paragraphs reach maturity-dont abandon them in an awkward tween phase!

Use examples and anecdotes Define terms

Evaluate causes, examine effects

(There are more development methods but these are the most relevant to our narratives. See the OWL for more!)

BRIDGES
not just for the Blues Brothers and Spice Girls of the world VERBAL BRIDGES

Repeat key words in several sentences Use of synonyms in several sentences Pronouns referring to nouns in previous sentences Transition words linking ideas from different sentences
LOGICAL BRIDGES

Carrying your topic idea from sentence to sentence Parallel sentence construction

+ FOCUS!
Think of your narrative as something you can zoom in and out of. Choose the most important or meaningful moments to zoom in on for emphasis by creating a scene using description and dialogue. In between these major scenes you can zoom out and address the intervening time in summary.

SCENES VS. SUMMARIES

SCENE Elijah squatted down next to her. He moved a lot more smoothly than he felt like he ought to be able tohis heart was pounding. Your house got bombed, he said. I know, she snapped. SUMMARY Nicodemus Tolson, whom Elijah had always known as Nico at school, or Malacode online, would not be the first person youd peg to be a gang leader. When Elijah met him freshmen year, he looked like a perfectly ordinary, intelligent kid who was the vice president of the Technology Club and who wore suits to school that made him look a little like an Archangel.

Examples from Freedomland by Anne Bean

SCENES VS. SUMMARIES

So whats the difference? SCENE: Takes place in real-time, like a movie, usually contains dialogue between characters, and should be used for important interactions and events. SUMMARY: Moves quickly, giving the reader important highlights or reminders, and is used for background information. Bits of summary often occur within scenes.