The ten lessons in this guide outline objectives and activities that will help gifted students to write intelligibly and creatively and to read with understanding and appreciation. Each of the lessons focuses on an aspect of literature, such as story line, building toward a climax, how plot is influenced by theme, characterization, tone, figurative and descriptive language, point of view, and the analysis of mystery stories. Lessons three through ten contain recommended reading lists identifying books strong in the literary lesson taught. Interspersed among the lessons are activities and exercises from the "Writing Kabyn," a systematic developmental writing program designed for ability levels throughout the elementary and middle school. Following the ten lessons, the guide presents a discussion of the culminating project, which contains suggestions for helping students complete a final writing project, either a research report or a short story. An outline of personal interest reading, suggested book review forms, and steps to use when evaluating literature are also included in the guide. An appendix contains an annotated bibliography on the teaching of literature and writing, a list of recommended paperback books, and a bibliography of educational materials for teaching literature and story writing. (RL)