Work with friends to think about ideas for your story. Write your topic ideas down.

What will you write about?

Who will read your writing?

This is your first copy. The important thing here is getting your ideas down on paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. Some people call this the "Sloppy Copy" because spelling, punctuation, and things like that are not perfect yet.

This is where you read carefully and check to be sure your writing makes sense. Did you stick to the topic? Are events in the right order? Is there information in your story that is not really necessary? If so, take it out of the story. Do you need to add information so the audience will understand your story? Then add it. Even though your mind holds information about the story, your audience won't know what you mean unless all the necessary information is included in the written story. Revising is very important and should be done at least once more before the final copy is written.

Here you correct spelling, grammar, and format. Things like end punctuation, commas, and quotation marks should be fixed now. Did you indent each paragraph? Do you have capital letters where they belong?

Ask a friend to read your story and tell you what he or she thinks. Your friend is part of your audience and can help by letting you know if your story makes sense or whether you need to put in more information so that the story makes better sense. Your friend may also be able to point out some information that is not needed and may be taken out. Think about the suggestions that your friend has made and then decide if you want to use them and make more revisions to your story.

Ask your teacher to read your story and tell you what he or she thinks. This works in the same way as the peer conference. Decide if you want to make any changes. You have the final decision about the story. You are the author.

This should be your best copy. It must be as close to perfect as possible. If you are writing on paper, make sure your handwriting is neat. If you are using a word processing program, make sure the format looks good.

Now it's time to share your writing with your audience. If possible, read your story to them. Otherwise, try to display it so your audience may read and enjoy it.