Let’s learn how to write a story
Content
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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
Thank you for your attention