Brushstrokes

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Brushstrokes

• A Writers Tools!!!

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How is a writer like an artist?
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(No Transcript)
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Does It was cool tell or show?

• It TELLS!
• What would be a better answer?
• What you think is cool might not be the same
  thing as your reader!
• You might think eating pizza is cool, but your
  friend doesnt!

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Telepathy Power!

• You must be specific with your words so that your
  reader sees the same image that you see!
• You might paint an inaccurate picture.
• You could confuse your reader.

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Character Card Activity

• Its time to practice your telepathy skills!
• Try to guess the character trait that is taped to
  your back.
• Your peers will provide the clues.
• Once you have guessed the trait that is on your
  back, please sit down.
• You may NOT use the word in your clues!

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Practice

• Bob has FUNNY on his back.
• Potential clues
• Cracking jokes
• Making people laugh
• People laugh because of you
• Can you think of anything else?
• Lets Begin!

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Read My Brain!

• Now find a pal with a character card that is the
  same color as your card.
• Move around the room so you are sitting IN A DESK
  next to your pal. You have thirty seconds to get
  seated!
• Now listen for directions!

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Create Character Clues!

• Pacing around the classroom, Mrs. Millard gnawed
  on the stubby pencil. Suddenly, she glared at
  the overhead projector and began to shriek.
  Smashing the glass of the projector, she threw
  the Sharpie markers all over the room. Startled,
  her class shifted quietly in their seats.

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The Fabulous Five Brushstrokes

• The participle
• The absolute
• The appositive
• Adjectives out of order
• Magic three

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Examples

• The fish tried to escape the alligator.
• The fish, a slimy mass of flesh, felt the
  alligators giant teeth sink into his scales as
  he struggled to escape.
• The return of the appositive!

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The Appositive

• Adds information and detail to a noun or pronoun
  in the sentence.
• The fish, a slimy mass of flesh, felt the
  alligators giant teeth sink into his scales as
  he struggled to escape.
• The old Navajo woman, a weak and withered lady,
  stared blankly.

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Paint a word picture using an appositive!
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The Participle

• Evokes ACTION!
• A verb ending in ing or ed or d form
• Ex running, playing, opened, jumped, laughing,
  exploding
• Gripping the shovel, I went to work.
• Finishing up, we strolled inside to warm our
  hands.

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Examples

• BORING The pizza was good.
• Dripping with gooey cheese, the pizza satisfied
  my raging hunger.
• BORING The Olympic athlete jumped.
• Flying through the air, the Olympic long jumper
  thrust the weight of his whole body forward.

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More Examples!

• JUST OKAY The diamond-scaled snakes attacked
  their prey.
• Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the cold
  diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey.

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The Absolute

• A two-word combination
• A noun and an -ing or -ed verb added onto the
  beginning of a sentence.
• The cat climbed the tree. BORING!
• Claws digging, feet kicking, the cat climbed the
  tree.

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Examples

• Mind racing, anxiety overtaking, the diver peered
  once more at the specimen.
• Jaws cracking, tongue curling, the kitten yawned
  tiredly, awaking from her nap.

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iTry
ING VERBS (PARTICIPLES) Racing Pounding Stretchin
g Working Hunching Darting Staring Exhaling Kickin
g Swimming Cracking Building Curling Stiffening Be
ating Lifting Shaking Trembling Hanging Screaming

• NOUNS
• Mind
• Jaws
• Tongue
• Anxiety
• Arms
• Legs
• Heart
• Eyes
• Breath
• Mouth
• Tail
• Legs
• Hands
• Fur
• Back
• Feet

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Capture this scene using the absolute!
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Adjectives Out of Order

• Skillful writers shift two adjectives after the
  noun.
• Correct the overload by shifting your adjectives.
• Yuck The large, red-eyed, angry bull moose
  charged the intruder.
• Yeah The large bull moose, red-eyed and angry,
  charged at the intruder.

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iTry

• The old, aged, wrinkled woman smiled upon her
  newborn great-grandson with pride.
• The old woman, aged and wrinkled, smiled upon her
  newborn great-grandson with pride.

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iTry Again!

• The twisted and tormented boxer felt no
  compassion for his contender.
• The boxer, twisted and tormented, felt no
  compassion for his contender.

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iTry Again!

• The tired and hungry cheetah stared at the
  gazelle, which would soon become his dinner.
• The cheetah, tired and hungry, stared at the
  gazelle, which would soon become his dinner.

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Use shifted adjectives to capture this picture!
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Magic Three

• Automatically creates action!
• A series of three phrases in a row
• Each phrase should begin with a verb and contain
  at least 3 words
• Make sure each verb is the same tense
• Ex The girl smiled at the boy, opened her
  locker, and knocked herself in the head.
• All past tense ?
• Commas should be used correctly!

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• The gravel road curled around to the left of the
  barn, threw dust at the speeding car, and baked
  in the hot sun.
• She bounced the ball, tossed it in the air, and
  sent it sailing across the net.

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Now You Are Masters!

• iTry time Identify the brushstrokethen you
  will create your own!

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The flying squirrel, brave and daring, catapulted
off the branch after running away from a
formidable chipmunk.
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The sad ape, a creature with an enormous amount
of hair, glowered at his enemy below the cliff.
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The jellyfishs tentacles flailed about freely,
searched for victims, and flowed through the
midnight ocean.
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Eyes opening, paws searching, the tiny monkey
babies wakened from their slumber.
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Combine Your Strokes!

• Then it crawled in. A spider, a repulsive,
  hairy creature, no bigger than a tarantula,
  crawled into the room. Crawling across the floor
  up onto his nightstand, it suddenly stopped, as
  if it were staring at him. He reached for a
  nearby copy of Sports Illustrated, rolled it up,
  and swatted the spider with all his might.
• He looked over only to see a hideous mass
  of eyes and legs. He had killed it. Just then,
  another one crawled in, following the same path
  as the first. He killed that one, too. Then
  another one came, and another, and another.
  There were hundreds of them! Hands trembling,
  sweat dripping from his face, he flung the
  magazine left and right, trying to kill the
  spiders, but there were too many. He dropped the
  magazine, collapsed in terror, and became a tasty
  dinner.