Transcript Story Writing

Story Writing

1. Plot = what happens
a. Don’t be too childish and unrealistic.
b. Poor ending: “Chris, Chris, wake up. It’s
time to go to school,” called my mother. It
had all been a dream.” is boring and
shows a lack of imagination.
c. (this happened, then this, that and this,
and…) will kill the most exciting story.
2. Narrator
a. who is telling the story :
b. the first person = I/We (a character in the
story/a witness)
c. the third person, (i.e. impersonally;)
It was Christmas Day. John was feeling
happy.
3. Opening
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Choose an interesting opening sentence
to attract your readers.
a. Speech,
“Shut up!” / ”No, I won’t.”
b. Description,
The boat moved slowly along the
broad river. The heat of the
afternoon made everyone sleepy.
c. Drama/middle of the action
She fell dead.
A green sphere was just outside the window.
d. Question/direct address
Do you like strawberries? I do, and
that’ s why….
e. Introduction as story teller
I’m 15, quite tall, and interested in computers.
4. Time sequence
a. Don’t tell the story simply from past to
present.
b. Often stories begin at the end, and then
go earlier in time to explain how and
when the end happened.
5. Description
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Add adjectives and adverbs to make a
story more personal and interesting.
E.g. A girl came in.
A long-haired girl in red came in.
E.g. I ran.
I ran in terror.
6. Mood
a. Give the story a mood: funny, sad, serious,
romantic, frightening or whatever appropriate,
and keep to that mood.
b. Use a special style if you can. Try to use good
vocabulary, comparisons (e.g. as black as the
devil’s heart), questions (e.g. Would she ever
love me?), a mixture of long and short sentences
(he ran as fast as he could down the long,
narrow street. Suddenly he fell.), and so on.
7. Dialogue
a. Include dialogue to break up long chunks
of story-telling.
b. Note how to punctuate dialogue:
e.g. Simon shouted, “Go now!”
“Go now!” shouted Simon.
‘I can’t see anything,’ whispered Simon.
Simon whispered, ‘I can’t see anything.’
8. Ending
a. Make a comment.
And I think that is what he deserved.
 I don’t think he’ll ever do that again.
 I won’t make that mistake again!

b. Ask the reader a question
 Will we never learn?
 That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?
c. Use a proverb
 As they say, “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
 “Prevention is better than cure.”
d. Leave the reader in suspense suggesting
there may be more.
- And that was just the beginning……
- He fired the gun……
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You can use anything else as long as it makes
a reader feel satisfied and not looking for a
missing ending.
END
Assignment
One day after school, you went to the
staffroom to see your teacher, but there
was nobody there. Just as you were about
to leave, you noticed a piece of paper on
the staffroom floor. You picked it up, and
saw the words ‘END OF TERM
EXAMINATION’ at the top of the page.
 Describe what happened next.
