WRITING A STORY

FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS

1. PLAN FIRST!
Decide on the key aspects of your story before you write - most especially on who is in it, where it happens and what overall message or theme you wish to leave for your reader to think about after the story is read.

Also plan the structure or sequence to give your story a clear 'beginning-middle-end' with each idea leading on to and connected to what came before. In almost all stories, a main character begins life in a kind of 'normality' but soon faces a problem (called the 'conflict' ) this conflict is eventually overcome, usually after a climax of action finally a new kind of 'normality' resumes in what is called the 'resolution'. This kind of story - the most common kind - is called narrative.

Remember that even if the story is autobiography (i.e. about your own life), the events you describe do not have to be 'true' - at least inasmuch as it must be made to appear made to be more dramatic than life by leaving out the boring bits! English coursework and exams are not at all about what really happens in life they are about technique and style.

So... decide before putting pen to paper just what sequence the events of your story should be told, as well as... who will be in the story and where it all will lead. This final part is important - it is the theme of your story.

To help you plan well, always remember that your reader will enjoy feeling that their time spent reading has been worthwhile. It would help to 'switch places' and for a moment reflect on becoming your own reader. When you read you like to be made to feel:

interested excited involved

moved tense and fearful a sense of wonder

Work out how you could narrate your story and make your reader feel like this. We are always especially interested in what happens to people too, because we live alongside them all the time and are naturally rather nosy! It's also good to learn from other folk's lives and see how they overcame problems that we ourselves might one day have to face.

Work out an interesting theme like this before you write - it is a secret of gaining a high grade. If you can work out a subtle way to reveal this theme to your reader, then you have discovered another secret of high grade essays.

2. ADD IN DETAIL - BUT ONLY THAT WHICH ADDS INTEREST TO THE STORY
Recognising what to include and what to leave out of a story is vital to you grade.

By including only with what is relevant, effective writing becomes unified and coherent. This is important because it means the reader feels instinctively that each word and sentence is leading somewhere useful(i.e. it is coherent) and leading in one important direction - towards a single purpose (i.e. it is unified) . Thinking of writing as akin to a woven piece of cloth can be a useful metaphor: when you read back to yourself what you have written (both as you write each sentence and afterwards during redrafting), you should ensure it iscoherent and unified by pulling out any 'loose' or 'wrong' threads and making sure that the pattern you have created will be attractive to your reader.

DIALOGUE Characters will always have to speak in a story and when they do, you show this by giving each speaker a new line and placing all they say inside speech marks, like this: 'It won't be long now,' thought Harry 'All hell will be let loose soon!' . But almost before he had finished speaking a voice boomed over the intercom, 'All units to Precinct 5 all units to precinct 5!' It had begun. The key to gaining marks from the dialogue you introduce in your story is to stick with the rule: if it isn't adding anything useful and interesting to the story, take it out. Never include dialogue for the sake of including dialogue. Instead, use dialogue for a purpose. This could be: to help define a particular type of character to move the plot forwards to create tension... but never, for the sake of passing the time of day.

3. INVOLVE YOUR READER
Never move forward into your plot without setting the right mood for your reader. This 'mood', which must be consistent with the main idea of your writing, will help engage and absorb your reader.

4. USE DESCRIPTION - BUT USE IT ONLY FOR EFFECT
Like dialogue, describing things can be your saviour - or your downfall... . When you do describe something in your story - and description can add powerfully to any story - make sure the description is not being used for its own sake: always make it do something useful! When describing, even though your story is probably imaginary place, always help your reader to feel as if they were there, seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling... all that matters that is around them. Use 'sensory description' to achieve this:

Where it matters most, show don't tell! Show your reader by allowing your characters to do things that allow your reader to see, hear, taste, smell or feel what the character feels. If a character is evil, show an evil act, rather than merely tell your reader, 'John is evil' ! You probably do need adjectives to do this, but try hard to find words that do not need an adjective if you can. Choose precise words (you could use a thesaurus to help...). Precise words are far more effective than everyday nouns qualified with extra adjectives. Use vivid - and preferably original - similes and metaphors, too as it is these that help to almost etch an image onto your reader's imagination.

USE PRECISE AND SENSORY DESCRIPTION Here is writing that uses precise vocabulary and vivid similes or metaphors. You might think of such vocabulary as 'muscular' for it creates powerful images without relying on lots of extra adjectives. Can you detect the sensory images here, too? The swollen mass of people teemed forwards like a seething colony of crawling ants. The mingling spices tingle our senses to create a glorious surge of appetite. The summer rain spilled down and soused our sweltering faces with its refreshing coolness. The flashes of lightning flooded the land with a fearful display of Nature's power. The children were like bundles of concentrated energy exploding with delight. The very buildings themselves seemed to bow low as the town's new hero approached.

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One last thing... check what you write as you write it!

Each year, literally thousands of students fail to achieve the marks they could. Don't be one of them ALWAYS CHECK YOUR WRITING BEFORE HANDING IN!

Read each sentence immediately after you write it
Use a variety of sentence types and styles and remember that shorter sentences are often clearer and crisper sounding. An occasional ultra-short sentence can add real impact to writing. Read each sentence before you proceed to the next to check it is fluent, accurate and complete. Does it follow on logically from the previous sentence?

Check every paragraph
A paragraph is a series of sentences (often at least five) that develop from a single topic sentence used to introduce the point of the paragraph.

Avoid creating overly short paragraphs as this suggests either a) you do not know what a paragraph is or b) that you have no explained the point of the paragraph in sufficient detail. Try to make sure that each paragraph flows naturally on from its predecessor by using the final sentence of each paragraph to subtly 'hook' into the topic of the next paragraph.

To correct a missed paragraph simply put this mark where you want in to be: // then, in your margin write: // = new paragraph. The examiner will not mark you down for this so long as you have not forgotten all of your paragraphs.

Examine each comma
A very common error and poor style is to use a comma instead of a full stop to end a sentence. This makes two or more stylish, short and crisp sentences into one long, drawn out and boring sentence! Always end each sentence with a full stop - or a semi-colon if you know how to use this punctuation mark.

Look at every apostrophe
Apostrophes are only ever used for two reasons, but many students fail to use them effectively and reduce the readability and quality of their written work.

If two words are 'squeezed together' into one and a letter is missed out in the process, you should show where this missing letter used to be by inserting an apostrophe in its place so the phrase should not becomes the single word shouldn't.

When one of two nouns belongs to the other, show which one owns which by adding apostrophe + s to its end so the school's entrance is correct because the entrance is 'possessed' by the school similarly Alan's book shows a similar 'possession' of a book by Alan. If the thing that does the possessing is a plural noun such as, for example, dogs, the a phrase such as the dogs' kennels, shows that the kennels belong to many dogs by placing the apostrophe after the final plural s.

But watch out for it's: with an apostrophe this is always a shortened form of it is or occasionally, it has, as in it's cold. But if you meant 'belonging to it', as in its fur is shiny and smooth, no apostrophe is needed.

Posted in: Narrative,Story Writing,Tips for Writing