Lesson 15: The Last Cuentista, Narrative Writing, Part 2

Turn and Talk

Have students take out their novels and journals. Invite them to glance back at notes from Lesson 14, when they compared “Blancaflor” to Petra’s retelling and discussed adaptation, pacing, and dialogue.

Say these Directions: In the last lesson, we saw how Petra reshapes an old story for a new situation. Today, we’ll build on that by looking at how Higuera creates tense, vivid scenes using the narrative techniques of dialogue and pacing, and then try those same moves in our own writing. Strong writers don’t just tell what happens. They shape events so readers can feel what’s happening, understand what’s at stake, and how characters are impacted.

• Ask: Think about what we just read in Chapter 16. Find a line of dialogue that stood out to you. What did it make you feel about the character’s experience or what is happening in the scene?

  • One line that stood out to me was “She wasn’t real . . . Was she?” (p. 119) because it shows that Zeta-4 is confused and unsure about her memory of her mother. She is speaking slowly and in very few words at a time. It made me feel how disoriented she is and that something is not right.

After pairs finish discussing, invite two or three students to briefly share their ideas with the class.

Connection to Today's Learning

• Say: Today, we’ll look at how writers develop scenes using techniques like dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection so readers can understand what’s happening, feel the moment, and see it from the character’s point of view.

Teach: Narrative Techniques: Dialogue and Pacing

Use this same moment from Chapter 16 to guide students in a closer look at how Higuera uses dialogue and pacing to develop the scene and reveal what the character is experiencing. Guide students to notice how each technique helps develop character, reveal conflict, and shape the reader’s experience of a scene. Keep this brief and focused, setting students up to apply these techniques in their own writing later in the lesson.

• Say: Writers use specific techniques to develop characters, events, and conflict in their fictional writing. Today, we’ll look closely at how Higuera uses two narrative techniques to achieve this: dialogue and pacing. These are the moves authors use to help readers understand what’s happening and feel what the character is experiencing.

Display and briefly explain the narrative techniques as needed.

• Dialogue is what characters say out loud to each other; it can show their thoughts, feelings, and relationships.

• Pacing is how fast or slow a moment, or event, unfolds and can build tension or highlight important character development, events, or ideas

• Say: In this scene from Chapter 16, Zeta-4 begins to remember something she is not supposed to remember. As we read, pay attention to how dialogue and pacing work together to show her confusion and build tension in the moment.

Display the excerpt from Chapter 16, page 119:

• “I sit up in my cell and hit my head. All of Zeta-4’s memories of Earth should be gone. Even in her dream, how can she remember her mom and going to the doctor? I climb out and rub her arm to wake her up. She yelps and yanks her arm back.

I can’t let her stay in well-check hell. I push on her arm, jostling her awake.

She bolts upright and turns toward me. ‘Zeta-1, what . . . ?’ She takes deep breaths. Her brow furrows, and she knocks her fist on her forehead like she’s trying to jar something loose. ‘Odd . . .’ Her chin trembles. ‘She wasn’t real.’ She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. ‘Was she?’”

• Say: Notice how Zeta-4’s dialogue is short and broken and how Higuera slows the moment down with ellipses to signify small actions like breathing, pausing, and trembling. These choices help us experience the moment the way the character does.

• Ask: In what specific ways does Higuera use dialogue and pacing in this scene to help you feel Zeta-4’s confusion or fear?

  • Higuera shows Zeta-4’s confusion through how she talks, like “Odd …” and “She wasn’t real . . . Was she?” because it sounds like she’s unsure and figuring it out. The broken dialogue makes her thinking feel unclear. The pacing also slows down with details like “She takes deep breaths” and “Her chin trembles,” which shows how overwhelmed she is. It doesn’t say she’s confused directly, but you can tell from how she talks and reacts.

• Say: Instead of telling us that Zeta-4 is confused, Higuera shows it through dialogue and pacing. As you write today, you’ll use these same techniques to show what your character is experiencing rather than simply explaining it.

Connection to Today's Learning

Say: Now we will practice with this set of writing techniques (dialogue and pacing) as you continue to read and think about how Higuera develops key scenes in Chapters 10–16.

Part A: Reading Like a Writer (W.8.3.b) (10 minutes)

Students will work with a partner to revisit two key moments in the novel in which Higuera uses pacing and dialogue to show what life is like under the Collective.

Say these Directions: We are going back into Chapter 15 to study Higuera’s writing techniques to help us develop our own skills as narrative writers. As you reread the text excerpts, look for two of the techniques: what the characters say out loud and how quickly or slowly the moment moves. Mark D for dialogue and P for pacing in the margins so you can talk about Higuera’s choices, not just the plot.

• Say: When we read like writers, we’re not just focusing on what is happening in the scene; we focus on how the scene is developed through the writing. First, listen to the dialogue: Are the characters speaking freely or carefully? Repeated or controlled lines can show how the Collective is shaping what people are allowed to say. Then look at pacing: When Higuera slows down on a small action or thought, tension builds. When she moves quickly through events, time speeds up, and the sameness starts to feel normal. Noticing these techniques will help us use them in our own writing.

Direct students to review Chapter 15 to annotate for dialogue and pacing. Give students time to annotate independently or with a partner. Circulate to check that students are identifying both dialogue and pacing and not just summarizing the scene.

Next, invite students to share where they identified dialogue and pacing in Chapter 15 and explain how those choices shape what the reader understands about life under the Collective.

• Ask: Where did you notice dialogue in Chapter 15 that shows how the Collective controls people? How does that dialogue develop experiences, events, and/or characters?

  • In Chapter 15, Nyla says, “What happened to the former world was not a tragedy. It was an opportunity to leave our past behind.” This sounds formal and controlled, not like normal speech. Then everyone repeats, “A new origin!” which shows they are all saying the same approved idea. The dialogue feels scripted, which makes it clear that people are not speaking freely and are being controlled by the Collective (p. 110).

• Ask: Where does Higuera slow time down or speed time up? What is the effect of that pacing?

  • Higuera slows time down during intense moments, like when Petra watches Earth being destroyed: “In an instant, a bowl of debris shoots upward. Arcs of light blast out in all different directions . . .” The moment is stretched out with a detailed description so we really feel the impact. Then she speeds time up with lines like “In fast motion, a ring of fire spreads . . . ,” which makes everything feel overwhelming and out of control. This contrast builds tension and shows how sudden and devastating the moment is when the comet hits Earth (p. 109).

• Ask: What is one dialogue or pacing technique you could borrow for your own writing?

  • I could borrow Higuera’s use of repeated dialogue like “A new origin!” to show how a group is controlled or all thinking the same way. I could also slow down an important moment by adding small details and actions so the reader really feels it instead of rushing past it.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Drafting a Scene That Uses Dialogue and Pacing (W.8.3.a, W.8.3.b, W.8.4) (20 minutes)

Modeled Writing

Transition students into practicing their own narrative writing. Display the following options students have for their Performance Task narrative writing.

Say these Directions: For your Performance Task, you will have several pathways you can choose from for your narrative writing. As we practice and apply narrative writing techniques and structure throughout the unit, you can choose one of these pathways to explore. You don’t have to stick with this pathway for your performance task, but it might be helpful to practice your narrative writing within one of these pathways.

Performance Task Narrative Writing Pathways

Create a narrative that looks forward, showing how memory and identity help people find their way.

1. Speculative Story (Fictional Future)

Imagine a future world where something essential to humanity—stories, emotions, art, or nature—has been lost. Write about a character or community that tries to restore it.

2. Narrative of Becoming (True or Blended Memoir)

Write a true story—or a mix of truth and creative retelling—about a moment when you realized who you were becoming. Show what you learned, how you changed, and what you want to carry forward into the future and the wider world.

3. Reimagined Cuento or Myth (Cultural Continuity)

Retell a cultural, family, or community story in a way that speaks to today’s or tomorrow’s world. You can keep its structure but change the setting, values, or message to show how stories evolve to fit new times.

4. Continuation or Companion Story (Literary Response)

Write a new story set in The Last Cuentista’s world. You might narrate from another point of view (Voxy, Feathers, Suma), imagine the next generation, or show how new stories are born on Sagan.

Students will choose one pathway to draft a scene using dialogue and pacing. Frame this as an opportunity to try out the narrative craft they just studied, not to produce a perfect piece. Remind students to use the narrative techniques they developed in Lesson 7 to orient the reader to the context and point of view before fleshing out more of the scene.

Say these Directions: Today, you’ll draft a scene using your chosen pathway. Focus on one moment and use dialogue and pacing to develop that moment. Be sure to orient your reader to the point of view and context of the scene.

As you write, think about:

• What your characters say out loud (dialogue)

• How quickly or slowly the moment moves (pacing)

• Say: Before you start drafting, I’m going to model what this can look like using a new scene that I created based on The Last Cuentista, so you can see how dialogue and pacing work together in a scene. This is a scene I’m reimagining from Ben’s perspective.

Display the writing model and read aloud as needed for students. Briefly think aloud about how each part utilizes pacing and dialogue to develop the scene:

Writing Model:

I kept my eyes on the floor as we filed out of the lesson hall. The lights above us hummed, bright and cold, and nobody spoke until we reached the corridor with the broken vent.

“Did you hear how everyone answered at the same time?” Petra whispered.

I nodded once. “Keep your voice down.”

For a second, all I could hear was the vent clicking behind the wall. Click. Pause. Click. Petra looked over her shoulder, and I did the same. No one was there. Still, my heart kept thudding like someone was running inside my chest.

“They don’t even sound like themselves anymore,” she said.

I wanted to tell her she was right. I wanted to say I remembered that too. Instead, I took one step back.

“Maybe that’s safer,” I said.

The words hung there between us.

By the time we started walking again, the corridor had filled with other inhabitants, all moving at the same steady pace. No one looked at us. No one needed to. On this ship, silence could watch you just as well as a person could.

I chose to rewrite this moment from Ben’s point of view so I could show what it feels like for someone who is trying to follow the Collective but is starting to notice that something isn’t right.

Think-Aloud Modeling

• Say: At the start, I made sure to show where we are on the ship and who is there so the reader is grounded in the scene. I used short, quiet lines of dialogue, like “Keep your voice down,” to show that speaking feels risky and that people are used to being watched.

• To control pacing, I slowed the moment down by focusing on small actions and sounds, like the vent clicking and the characters pausing. These details stretch the moment so the reader feels the tension.

• I also included pauses and silence between lines of dialogue so the tension builds. The silence is just as important as what the characters say.

• All of these choices help show Ben’s perspective. The short dialogue and slower pacing make the moment feel tense and controlled, like something is off even if no one says it directly.

• Ask: What is one dialogue or pacing move from the model that you want to try in your own writing?

  • I want to try slowing down an important moment by adding small actions and pauses, like describing sounds or what the character notices, so the scene feels more tense.

Say these Directions: You will now draft an imagined scene for the performance task pathway you want to focus on to practice your narrative writing. Make sure your scene includes all three of these narrative elements:

• orienting the reader to the point of view and context

• Utilizing purposeful dialogue

• Integrating pacing to slow down or speed up time on purpose.

Try to borrow at least one mentor technique you noticed in Learning in Action A or B.

Say these Directions: As you draft, check your work for:

• Did I make it clear who is telling the scene and where the scene begins?

• Did I include dialogue that reveals something about the characters or conflict?

• Did I slow down or speed up time on purpose instead of describing everything the same way?

Lesson 15 Writing Rubric: Narrative Scene — Dialogue and Pacing

Writing prompt: Draft a narrative scene from The Last Cuentista that uses dialogue and pacing to develop conflict, character, and event sequence. Orient the reader and show how the characters’ speech and actions reveal who they are and what is at stake.

Quick Write

Instruct students to reflect on their narrative writing by responding to a Quick Write prompt.

Say these Directions: Look back at the scene you drafted today. In three to four sentences, reflect on one strength in your narrative writing, one area for growth, and the narrative technique you focused on.

Ask: What is one strength of your narrative writing? What is one area for growth? What narrative technique did you use and why?

• One strength in my scene is that the dialogue sounds careful and tense, so the reader can hear how afraid the characters are. My area for growth is pacing because the middle of my scene moves too fast and needs more small actions and thoughts. I used dialogue on purpose because I wanted to show control without directly explaining it.

Instruct students to finish drafting their narrative scene. in their Journal.

• Finish drafting your narrative scene in your journal. Make sure your draft includes:

  • purposeful dialogue

  • at least one pacing move that slows down or speeds up time

  • a clear point of view and context at the start of the scene