A study of the growth of seventh grade students' writing ability after targeted discussions of children's literature was based on the assumption that active comprehension of a distinctive model of literature would provide an awareness of the structure of narrative prose that would transfer to the student's own writing. Eight students participated in the study. A "listen-discuss-write" teaching procedure was used, in which the students read a literary selection, asked and answered questions, and wrote stories of their own. Development of writing ability was measured with a holistic scoring method. Preliminary analyses of the students' writing samples appeared to confirm the listen-discuss-write technique as a means of fostering the growth of writing skills for the participants. Greater improvement was shown for less able writers, but good writers also appeared to profit from targeted discussion of narrative elements. (Scoring profiles for three writing samples are appended.) (FL)