I go volunteer in the classroom on Wednesday mornings, and recently I’ve been teaching story writing to my kids’ second- and third-grade class. Yesterday I wrote out a paragraph with six parts for them to fill in as a way to launch a story, and it struck me as something useful, startlingly clear, that I could share with you—and use myself.

A powerful way to articulate the simple elements that create tension, reader curiosity, character stakes—in short, story.

Once upon a time, in _____________(1)____________ filled with ______________(1)_____________, there lived a _________(2)____________ with __________(2)____________ who more than anything wanted __________(3)__________. But ____________(4)______________ were in the way, and ____________(5)____________ were determined to stop (2). Luckily, (2) had an ally: __________(6)___________.

1: Character hero and description (one key focus)

2: Setting and description (one key focus)

3: Desire/ want

4: Obstacles

5: Enemy/ enemies

6: Ally/ helper/ friend

This is the set up. The story follows from there.

We put the kids into groups of six, and each one chose one of the elements. I reminded them that a lot of their favorite movies, like Frozen and Big Hero Six, were made by story teams working together, bouncing ideas off of one another. One group of seven through nine year olds brought up the question of why their evil fairy wanted a camel. They discussed this and changed her desire to “a blue camel that would help her fly.” They were engaging the question of what’s at stake. Pick a desire, in other words, that your character cannot walk away from. Pick high stakes.

That might be added in here:

Once upon a time, in _____________(1)____________ filled with ______________(1)_____________, there lived a _________(2)____________ with __________(2)____________ who more than anything wanted __________(3)__________ because _________(stakes)____________ . But ____________(4)______________ were in the way, and ____________(5)____________ were determined to stop (2). Luckily, (2) had an ally: __________(6)___________.

Once you set up this initial paragraph, you’ve set your character up to go after what s/he wants and to run into obstacles and enemies. And that, my friends, as we’ve all known since we were small, is story, a necessary and delightful art to which we have wisely and bravely chosen to devote our busy lives.