About Dormant Stories
All the ideas on the Dormant Stories site are written by me, Anthony Lees. I have been an elementary school teacher for nearly twenty five years now, and although for the second half of that time my job has mostly focused on the professional development of other teachers and the development of a few lovely subjects such as music, maths or computing, fiction writing has remained one of my true passions.
For Educators...
As in all things, over time, policy about what is considered good practice changes – I’m sure you’ve seen examples of this- and the teaching of writing is no different. Additionally, the task of teaching writing is not an easy one. How much to model? How much to scaffold? When to share great writers’ work as examples and to inspire? How to find the perfect example of a technique or literary tool? I have found over the years it has often been a faster process to write my own example of what I want to teach. This is not to play down the value of using great writers’ work, but I have found a few benefits of this:
1. I can always demonstrate exactly what I want to show
2. I really know the text well so I can definitely discuss it in detail with the class
3. Students or pupils engage with the text because of their connection with me – their teacher – and want to ask questions (or pull it to bits!)
4. I enjoy teaching writing more!
Whilst this may strike you more as an argument for writing your own examples rather than using a site such as this, I am aware it’s not everyone’s bag to want to do that! So this site is an ongoing collection of the fiction examples I have made and continue to write – I hope you find them useful in your teaching of writing as well.
I strongly believe that at the heart of all good writing - even poetry and non-fiction - is a solid grasp of story writing.
So What's here...
This site contains mostly openings to stories, as this gives the most opportunity to introduce new characters, settings, plot hooks and prompts to structure, as well as demonstrate the techniques needed to write successfully. They are organised by the genre I believe they most naturally lead into, but that of course is my interpretation only.
DS is a place to get down all the ideas I wish I had time to continue and finish. By writing them here I hope others will pick them up and enjoy using them to continue their own writing. Good luck!
What am I allowed to do with them?
A Creative Commons licence applies to all of the content on the dormantstories.com website, as well as the various social media channels of the same name. It will soon be published here.
Can I support you?
To keep this project’s lights on, if you have found value, it would be great if you would consider buying me a coffee from the button below.
Looking for somewhere to start?
The Collection Room
While visiting an old curiosity shop, you find a secret door through to a library of ancient and mysterious artefacts. What would you find? What
The Centre
Whilst on a school trip to an outdoor activity centre, you find out that the owners are secretly running experiments on missing pupils. What do
Foggy Behaviour
What if one morning when you look out the window a thick greenish fog has covered your town. People are behaving very strangely and everyone
Ghost Hunters
When you and your friends start hearing about ghost sightings in your street, you decide to start a ghost hunting club. Where will you look?
Sleep Walking?
You discover you can see the world in your sleep and travel around it as it happens. What will you do with this new skill?
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