When the students have plotted the action and have looked at their stories as they unfold from the point of view of the different characters, they are ready to present their stories to other groups or to the whole class. Ask each member of a group to recount the story from their perspective or have the group as a whole act out the story's crucial encounters. Students should be able to respond to the stories by identifying the character traits of the person speaking in the narrative, and by isolating and commenting upon the key interchange or action in the story. By using the adjective lists as a check on both action and character, the students can see more clearly who and what they are writing about. In this way they can use the implications of setting and character to establish action and substantiate conflict.
Students often have difficulty initially choosing a story line that involves conflict.
If the teacher overemphasizes the idea of conflict, students tend to reduce all situations to conflicts. Therefore it is better to work with whatever the students choose, with the teacher guiding the students to an understanding of the situation and the potential conflicts that exist between the people they are writing about. At first students may not understand that they are being asked to identify with the person they are writing about and will enter the story as a witness who takes no direct part and merely reports what he sees. Having the students write the story from the viewpoint of the different people involved overcomes this tendency. The use of multiple viewpoints not only gives the students writing practice, but more importantly helps them understand the element of conflict that underlies all stories.