Lesson overview

Introduction
Story - Narrative
Middle years and up
emotion
cause and effect
emotion behaviour loops
narrative
emotional meaning
characterisation
wants and needs
triggers
making sense
evoking emotion
revenge story
sequencing events
analysing emotion
motivation
emotional response
emotional reaction
thoughts
physical feelings
point of view
pov
fairytale
where the mountain meets the moon
grace lin
conflict
analysing graphic novels
One challenge in narrative is to write stories with convincing cause and effect, as opposed to a series of seemingly random events. In this lesson we explore how emotion helps us understand what characters want, and how it makes story events meaningful. We use an emotion-behaviour loop model to analyse sequences from graphic novels such as Grasscutter, Persepolis, Drama, and March. To conclude the lesson, we write a scene about a character who wreaks havoc on a community that has offended them, using a snippet from Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as model.