Lesson Plan Booster: Surprising Origins of Famous Fiction

For many students, writing doesnt come easily. If they find the idea of forming a coherent
narrative intimidating, the idea of writing an entire novel might seem almost unimaginable.
Students may not know that some of the most popular works of fiction ever written--including
the Harry Potter series--actually sprung from their authors spontaneous ideas. Tall tales made up
off the top of the storytellers head have gone on to live in the pantheon of literature, proving that
one good idea and a solid grammatical base is all thats required to produce great fiction.
This discussion guide is appropriate for use in English, literature and writing classes.
Grade Level:

6-12

Student learning objectives

Students will gain a better understanding of the creative process and the origins of fiction.

By using examples of great works that have had humble or surprising origins, the goal is to
increase students comfort level with attempts to pen their own fictional stories.

Students will draw inspiration from authors J.K. Rowling, Mary Shelley and Lewis Carroll in
order to jump-start their own creative processes.

Preparation
1. Explore the differences between oral and written storytelling with the article Storytelling
and Writing by childrens author Rafe Martin. Here are sample quotes:
[Oral story]telling depends on 'presence,' 'vibes,' that indefinable something built of
silence, the bodys flow, voice-tones and rhythms, as well as on words and word-choice as
they extend into the thrust and flow of narrative.
In contrast:
The shape [of a written story] has to be strong enough to sustain re-reading through
which the hidden, at first overlooked details, and rich, subconscious layering and
patterning out of which the narrative emerges, can reveal itself. Novels also will especially
need complex characters that voice cannot easily sustain, as well as vivid action, interior
revelation, vast locales, and complex, back-and-forth dialogue.
2. Explore the idea of storytelling inspiration with the article Pep Talk for National Novel
Writing Month: Advice for Young Writers,by childrens author Rafe Martin. Heres a
sample quote:
If you do these four things: read, pay attention to your wishes and dreams, pay attention
to the world around you, and nourish your imagination, and if you like words and stories,
youll never run out of ideas for stories of your own.
3. Familiarize yourself with the origins of some of the most well-known books of all time.
Some examples are:
a. Harry Potter - Joanne (J.K.) Rowling was devastated by the news that her mother Anne
had become seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. The author has described how at one point
her mother was reduced to crawling upstairs. In these difficult years, Joanne worked a
variety of temporary jobs while beginning a parallel life as a writer.

It was during this period that the most important moment of her life occurred. In summer
1990, while traveling to London by train, Rowling said an idea took shape: "All of a
sudden the idea for Harry just appeared in my minds eye. I cant tell you why or what
triggered it. But I saw the idea of Harry and the wizard school very plainly. I suddenly had
this basic idea of a boy who didnt know who he was, who didnt know he was a wizard
until he got his invitation to wizard school. I have never been so excited by an idea."
The birth of Harry Potter was followed six months later by the death of Rowling's mother;
Anne Rowling passed away in 1990. Her mother's passing sent Rowling into a tailspin,
and she moved to Portugal to take a job as an English teacher. When not teaching, Rowling
spent her days in local cafes, writing in longhand the first draft of the first Harry Potter
book. She found love, albeit briefly, with a journalism student whom she married in 1992.
When the relationship went bad, Rowling returned to Scotland and struggled financially,
enduring a deep depression brought about by circumstance and frustration. She was forced
to fill in endless forms and attend demeaning interviews in order to secure a weekly
allowance of about $100 a week in public assistance. Only after a period of counseling was
she able to tackle her depression and begin writing again.
After a number of rejections, Rowling finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone (the word "Philosopher" was changed to "Sorcerer" for its publication
in America), for the equivalent of about $4,000 in 1996.Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone became hugely popular, attracting an audience of young boys and girls as well as
adults. With the public demanding more, Rowling quickly got to work on six more books.
By the summer of 2000, the first three Harry Potter books had earned approximately $480
million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages. The sixth
installment, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, sold 6.9 million copies in the United
States in its first 24 hours, the biggest opening in publishing history. Prior to its July 2007
release, the seventh and final installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows was the largest ever pre-ordered book at chain stores Barnes & Noble and
Borders, and at Amazon.com.
In 1998, Warner Bros. bought the film rights and since then extremely popular movies
have been made of the books. From the books, the films, and the merchandise bearing
Harry Potter images, Rowling has become one of the richest people in the world. Now
Britain's 13th wealthiest womanwealthier than even the Queenshe does not plan to
write any more books in the series, but has not entirely ruled out the possibility.
Compiled from excerpts of the following sources:
The J.K. Rowling story, from news.scotsman.com, June 16, 2003
J.K. Rowling Biography, from Biography.com, 2011.
J.K. Rowling from About.com, retrieved July 2011.
b. Alice in Wonderland - One of the most beloved tales of all time was a story a guy made
up off the top of his head to please a 10-year-old girl.
Author Lewis Carroll was home-schooled until adolescence, spoke with a stutter, was tall
and awkward, never married and counted mathematics and logic among his hobbies. These
are not necessarily the traits of a creative genius.

While on a riverboat trip with a friends family, however, Carroll was asked by 10-year-old
Alice Liddell to tell her a story. Seeing that the girl was bored to tears, Carroll began a
story about a girl in a fantastical land, making the entire thing up as he went along. It
wasnt until Liddell begged him later that he wrote the story down.
The result of one little girls boredom was one of the most celebrated works of childrens
literature in history. It's been translated into 125 languages and has been adapted to film
dozens of times; most notably by the Walt Disney Company. It's responsible for
contemporary movies like The Matrix, and even a graphic novel by Alan Moore. Alice
also inspired music from the 1960s.
Source: The Alice Behind Wonderland, by Simon Winchester. Oxford University Press,
2011.
c. Frankenstein - The summer of 1816 was an extremely chilly one, due to a series of
volcanic eruptions in Indonesia setting off a worldwide temperature drop. At the time, a
19-year-old Mary Shelley and her then-boyfriend and soon-to-be-husband, poet Percy
Bysshe Shelley, were visiting Don Juan author Lord Byron at his estate in Switzerland.
Forced inside by the weather, the discussion eventually turned to the subject of Erasmus
Darwin's experiments with electrically re-animated frog parts. At this point Byron
suggested a scary story contest. In a matter of minutes, Mary came up with Frankenstein
and his monster.
In what can only be considered a literal stroke of genius, two of the most iconic characters
in literature were conceived by a teenager forced indoors because of poor weather.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tells the tragic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a humble scientist
whose only sin was his desire to create life from death. It was met with immediate popular
success upon its publication and, like all good novels, was immediately adapted for the
stage. Like Alice, Shelleys story increased in popularity with a film adaptation. While the
iconic Universal Pictures Frankenstein of 1931 is a controversial adpatation of Shelley's
work--turning her well-spoken, tortured creature into a bumbling green mutant--it remains
as the model for the creature and countless Halloween masks.
Additionally, Byrons entry into the contest was a vampire story, which was the first ever
to portray the villain as an aristocrat who targeted the well-to-do. This essentially recast
the mold and set the standard for nearly every vampire story written since.
Source: Preface and intro to the 1831 electronic edition of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.
Introducing discussion to students:
Were going to talk about some famous and very successful works of fiction to examine how the
authors came up with their story ideas. Often hearing about someone elses inspiration helps to
inspire us as writers. Were going to see what we can learn from these authors, and try applying
some of their creative techniques to our own fiction writing.
Options for student discussion questions:

Comparing oral stories and written stories

1. Do people today still tell oral stories? How are oral stories different from written
stories? (Reference Rafe Martins Storytelling and Writing.)
2. Who do you consider a good oral storyteller? What is it about this person that makes
him/her a good storyteller?
3. Who do you consider a good author? What is it about this person that makes him/her
a good author?
4. Can you think of any examples of contemporary works of fiction that began as oral
stories?
5. How is being a good oral storyteller different from being a good story writer?
(Reference Rafe Martins Storytelling and Writing.)
Exploring inspiration
1. What is similar or different about the context in which Rowling, Shelley and Carroll
came up with the ideas for their stories? Do you think its true that difficulties,
tragedy or rejections that occur in a persons life can often prompt creativity? What
do you make of the fact that all three authors were involved in trips/travel or
transition at the time of their inspiration?
2. Mary Shelley used the news of the day (the Darwin frog experiment) to develop her
story. How would Frankensteins story have turned out differently if he werent using
electricity to re-animate the monster?
3. Have you ever told scary stories (around a campfire or at a sleepover)? How difficult
would it be to put these stories down in writing?
4. Is there a book, movie or song you read/saw/heard that made you want to write a
story of your own?
5. Have life challenges or current events ever inspired you to begin writing? (Reference
Rowling, Shelley and Carrolls sources of inspiration.)
6. What have you wished for, dreamed about or imagined that could be expressed
through characters in a story? (Reference Rafe Martins Pep Talk for National Novel
Writing Month: Advice for Young Writers.)
Beginning our own writing process
1. Can an oral story easily translate into a written one? What are some ways to begin
this translation process?
2. Whats easy about writing fiction? Whats difficult? What are some tips or techniques
that can help us with the difficult parts?
3. Have you ever thought about writing a work of fiction? If so, what kind of story
would you write? How would you begin the process?
4. How do we connect the dots from inspiration/idea to a written story? What are the
steps? (Reference Rafe Martins Pep Talk for National Novel Writing Month: Advice
for Young Writers.)

5. What are some ways to pay attention to the world around us that will help us begin
writing? Ideas include: (1) eavesdropping on others conversations and using them
to jump-start writing of characters dialogue; (2) viewing an ordinary object with
heightened senses and then writing a richly descriptive paragraph; (3) tuning into
your thoughts and feelings and trying to put them down on paper; and (4) watching
other people and trying to imagine what they are thinking and feeling, as well as what
underlies what they actually say and do.