Name: ____________________________Period:________________________
Short Story Plan
Embedded Assessment Unit 2 EA-1:
Your assignment is to write an original narrative from real or imagined experiences or
events. Your story must include a variety of narrative techniques—such as
foreshadowing, point of view, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and/or irony—as
well as effective details and a well-structured sequence of events.
Step 1: Planning a Story
In preparation for writing your own short story, brainstorm what you might include in a
short story. Your ideas could become the basis of your short story for Embedded
Assessment 1.
Brainstorm a list of ideas for a story below:
1. Think about a character for your short story. Create a name and two important
characteristics of your character’s personality.
2. An essential element of a short story’s plot is conflict. Think about possible conflicts
that you could use to develop a plot, and use the following prompts to think about both
an internal and an external conflict for your character.
Character Name:
Characteristic 1:
Characteristic 2:
External conflict: __________________ versus ___________________
Internal conflict: ___________________________________________
Which POV will you be writing from?_____________________________________
Which literary elements do you wish to include into your narrative?
_____Foreshadowing
_____Figurative Language
_____Imagery
_____Irony
Step 2: Write the opening of your story
Return to the conflicts and characters that you created earlier. Write an opening to a
story that presents the character, the conflict (s), and/or the setting using the point of
view that you think would be best to narrate the story. Be sure to include the following:
• A central conflict that will drive the events of the story and develop the
Character
• An internal or external conflict for the main character
• A consistent point of view
• An introduction to the main character through description of appearance, actions, and
voice.
Step 3: Plot the Story
Once you have written the opening, go to the plot diagram and use it to outline a plan of
rising action for your story. What sequence of events could occur to move your
character to the climax of the story?