Miss Congeniality: The Novelization

Novelization: a novel made from a film. Novelizations help to increase the revenue from a movie production by using the film's popularity to sell another item.

The Task: Individual writing

You have been asked to bid on the opportunity to write the novelization of Miss Congeniality. You have to send some sample chapters. Each person in your group should write the chapter of his or her favourite scene. Each chapter should be about four pages long and must include descriptions of setting, action, and character. You must decide who will be the narrator: a character from the film or someone outside the action.

Teamwork : I will be marking your teamwork skills during the editing process.

Each person in the group must check every other member's chapter for missing ideas, formatting mistakes, and sentence errors. After the first draft has been initialed by the other members in the group, each member should create a finished copy using the others' suggestions for improvements.

Points to check in your chapter

Have you organized your descriptions into paragraphs?

Have you given enough descriptive details to set the scene?

Have you tried to make it look and sound like a novel?

• Is there a chapter title?
• Are interesting details told in interesting words to keep the reader turning the page?
• Have you used the right format for dialogue?
• Who is the narrator?
• What is the narrator's point of view?
• Does the chapter just end or does it contain an idea or event that makes the reader want to turn to the next chapter?

Evaluation of chapters

Knowledge/Understanding: novel form and conventions

Thinking/Inquiry: selection of important descriptive and action elements from original movie

Communication: paragraph organization and choice of language and style

Application: writing process and language conventions