Let’s learn how to write a story

Content Introduction How to start a story How to write the narrative How to end the story Language devices A sample story Guided story telling Literature Contacts

How to start a story one way of writing a story is to divide it into four paragraphs – introduction, narrative (2nd and 3rd paragraph), conclusion Introduction - set the scene and introduce the characters “It was a beautiful day in spring and the sun was shining. The night before my cousin, my boyfriend and I had decided to go canoeing down to the river. We had arranged to meet at eight o’clock. When I arrived, Sam was waiting and was looking at his watch.”1

How to write the narrative 2nd paragraph – begin the narrative and describe events that will lead up to the main event “Suddenly, it started to rain heavily. We kept on canoeing and twenty minutes later, we came to some rapids. For ten minutes I was absolutely terrified and then Sam shouted: “Look over there!” “What is it?” I screamed. “It looks like…”1 3rd paragraph – develop the narrative and describe the main event “We got out of our canoes and started to look for Sam. There was no sign of him anywhere so, we decided to get help. Luckily, I…”1

How to end the story 4th paragraph – end the story referring to the character’s feelings, reactions and consequences “At last, we saw a group of people coming towards us… . We all felt very happy to be back home.”1

Language devices To make your story plain and more interesting, the following grammar and language devices are recommended: - adjectives, verbs and adverbs (damp, chilly night, piercing dark eyes, it was pitch dark, extremely frightened, run off happily, sleepily make way to, nudge awake, gather up books) - time words referring to the sequence of events (at first, then, while, during, suddenly, later, before, when, immediately, in the end, etc) - tenses – Past Simple, Past Continuous and Past Perfect

A sample story “It was a damp, chilly night when Caroline and I eventually left the library. As soon as I stepped outside I shivered, feeling that something strange was about to happen. We had been studying in the library for hours and we just wanted to get home and go to sleep. Normally, I would take the long way home, to avoid driving past the old Bradford estate. Since it was pitch dark and my headlights could barely cut through the thick fog, I was driving fairly slowly. The silence was broken as we heard a tapping wound coming from the darkness ahead.

Suddenly, an elderly man dressed in a black suit appeared at the side of the road, limping along with a wooden cane. He turned and faced us, and began to approach the car. His wrinkled face, piercing dark eyes and toothless grin gave him a horrifying appearance. We quickly locked all the doors and kept driving. The old man tried to block our path by stepping out in front of the car, but I swerved and sped off. Safe at home, we decided we had probably imagined the whole thing. The next morning, however, as we opened the front door to leave for the college, we both froze with shock. There, propped up against the wall, was the long wooden cane.”2

Guided story telling Tell a story about Sharon’s skiing. Use the following expression: sunny, chilly morning – decide to go skiing - downhill skiing – reach the forest – lose balance – fall over – lie in the snow motionless – a wolf – appear – bare its teeth – get into a panic – jump on the skis – bump into a tree – broken leg, etc

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