The Hunger GamesMain MenuWelcome fellow tributes!How to Tell a Good StoryA TED Talk on what is important to keep in mind when telling a short story.The Five Elements of a Short StoryA quick video to explain the elements of a short story.Let's Start With A Little EmpathyAn activity to help you understand and develop empathyCharacter DevelopmentWhat's a Story Without The Plot?Here's a guide on how to write plot!Dialogue and StructureThe structure of a short story is much different than a formal essay, specifically because of the use of dialogue.A Short Story ExampleHere is an example of a short story to help you constuct yours!Prompt and RubricWorks CitedJulianna McDuffief51aed602bdf2c1638c7d1ca8e00959478f4c1ac
12015-11-18T23:11:25-08:00Let's Start With A Little Empathy23An activity to help you understand and develop empathyplain2087482015-12-13T15:57:55-08:00"When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you." -Sarah Sarandon
Em-pa-thy The ability to identify with or understand another's situations or feelings
The first and most important part about being able to create an alternate chapter of a book is to be able to place yourself in the mindset of the characters. You must be able to picture yourself in their situation and think about: how you would react, what you would be thinking, how you would be feeling. All of these are elements of empathy. Empathy allows us, as readers, to fully immerse ourselves in the text and step outside our own lives to view the world in the eyes of someone else. The connection we can make with the characters that we read, once we have developed empathy, is what helps us into becoming more compassionate and tolerant human beings.
Below is an exercise to help you be able to develop the skill of empathy. In doing so, you will be able to think about how the character you are going to create would feel and behave when fighting to survive during the games.
Before you begin watching the videos, please take out a piece of paper and a pen/pencil. As you watch the clips, write down what emotions you are feeling. You can write it in bullet point form, short sentences, random words scattered across your page. However you want to jot down your emotions, do so. Try and think about how you would feel if you were the people in these videos.
Now that you have watched these videos and written down how you felt, I'm going to ask you to do a 5 minute quick write. Take on the perspective of any of the people in the videos above, and write a short paragraph as if you are them. If a video does not have specific people, imagine yourself in the situation and write from that perspective. You can write about how you think they're feeling in the moments of the video, or perhaps you want to create a backstory for the person you choose and write about that. You could even write about how you would be feeling in those situations. However you want to put yourself in the mindset of the person or event, you are free to do so. Take these 5 minutes to let your creativity free and really immerse yourself into the life of someone else.