2.4 Planning: Brainstorming Ideas
2.4 Planning: Brainstorming Ideas
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Brainstorm ideas for a story plot
A. What is a Process?
B. The Writing Process
Good writers go through the writing process to compose text. The writing process is a series of steps that writers follow in order to create a written work1.
The writing process includes 5 stages: Planning, Drafting, Editing, Revising, Publishing1.
In this lesson, we will focus on the planning stage of the writing process.
1. What is Planning?
During the planning stage of the writing process, we brainstorm ideas. When we brainstorm, we put on our thinking cap! Brainstorming is thinking creatively, forming new and exciting ideas to create our own stories2.
Brainstorming is like making a big pot of soup.
You gather all the different ingredients like thoughts, ideas and inspirations, and blend them together to get that delicious, satisfying and unique flavour3.
You can add a spoonful of adventure, a pinch of humour, and a sprinkle of imagination to make your soup (story) tastier.
The big idea here is to create a list of as many ideas as you can think of to spice up your story.
2. Why is it Important to Plan?
Planning helps us:
Focus on the writing topic
Create a list of a variety of original ideas
Enable a fresh flow of ideas before solving a problem or writing about the topic
C. How to Plan for a Graphic Novel?
One can easily plan using these steps5:
D. Examples of the Planning Stage of a Graphic Novel:
Below are two examples showcasing the planning stage of a graphic novel using two distinct types of organisers.
1. Stage 1: Planning/Brainstorming
Using a Graphic Organiser6
2. Using a Plot Map6
To revise and summarise brainstorming of a graphic novel, watch the video below:
Glossary
Glossary
extinct: a species that doesn’t exist anymore
dodo: an extinct flightless bird that was native to the island of Mauritius
sanctuary: a place where birds or animals are cared for and protected
flamingo: a type of bird with long legs, long curved neck that are famous for their pinkish or red feathers
phoebastria albatrus: a rare species of seabird
hummer: motor vehicle
terrible: extremely bad
millionaires: people who are very rich
foiled: defeated
Summary:
Summary:
Writers use the writing process to compose a graphic novel.
During the planning stage, writers brainstorm to generate ideas to write about.
When brainstorming we:
use graphic organisers/mind maps to write down ideas
choose a theme/topic
decide on the character(s) and setting
create a plot for our story
consider the elements of a graphic novel and their use
References
1 Teaching Elementary School Students To Be Effective Writers. The Institute of Education Sciences (2018) (link)
2 What is brainstorming? Twinkl (2014) (link)
3 Brainstorming: A Big Pot of Soup. Samantha S Bell (2014) (link)
4 Brainstorming: Pressbooks.Pub (n.d.) (link)
5 Writing Process: Academic Writing Success (2020) (link)
6 Science Adventures with the Thunderbolt Kids Chp. 5: Siyavula and the Shuttleworth Foundation (n.d.) (link)
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