A short story

Resultado de imagen de a short story

REMEMBER

  • A narrative story needs paragraphing:
BEFORE THE EVENT: try to answer in this first paragraph the WHO, WHERE, WHEN and WHY of your story
THE EVENT: write 2 or 3 paragraphs to describe the WHAT HAPPENED
AFTER THE EVENT: try to solve the conflict in this paragraph and describe feelings of characters after the solution of the conflict.
  • Try to keep the chronological order of events. It will help you avoid overlapping of sequencing.
  • Short sentences create suspense, which makes your story more interesting. Do not make the plot of your story too complicated.
  • You can incorporate short dialogues into your story.
  • Use the variety of narrative tenses:
  • Past Simple:
    • to describe simple facts and states
      She opened her eyes, yawned, and slowly got up.

    • to describe events that follow each other
      She left the building, went to the shop where she realised she did not have enough money and returned home.

  • Past Continuous:
    • to set the scene
      The wind was blowing, dark clouds were gathering over his head and he was getting cold.

    • (used with Past Simple) to show that the continuity of one action is interrupted by another action
      Tom was watching the news when a strange noise came from the basement.

  • Past Perfect/ Continuous:
    • 'past in the past'- to indicate that something happened earlier than the action described
      She stared at him trying to remember where she had seen that face before.

    • to indicate that what happened earlier was a longer activity
      She was dirty and sweaty as she had been playing volleyball all day.

Useful expressions:
  • the first thing that happened; at first; it began with; it started with;
  • after that; just then; afterwards; when; once (meaning after); just as; then; after some time;
  • suddenly; out of the sudden; gradually; step by step; slowly;
  • in the end; eventually; finally; it ended with;

GO TO YOUR PERSONAL BLOG and answer the following question:
Write a short story that would begin with the following words: Jane woke up in the middle of the night. Her room was filled with the moonlight.

 Record it using SnagIt.

 Post the story and the recording on your blog.
Sample answer:

Q: Write a short story that would begin with the following words: Jane woke up in the middle of the night. Her room was filled with the moonlight.

Jane woke up in the middle of the night. Her room was filled with the moonlight. She lay in her bed for a while watching weird figures appearing on the wall. 'Hmm. It is strange. The moonlight does not cast shadows' - Jane observed but she was too drowsy to give it a deeper thought. 
The girl began falling asleep again when she heard a strange whisper. The sound was unusual enough to draw her attention. Jane got up and tiptoed to the window. Hidden behind the curtain and unnoticed by anyone, she witnessed an extraordinary meeting. 
It was sort of an animal counsel. There were a lot of different species participating in this specific get-together. They sat together in two circles - bigger animals found place on the ground and birds shared the branches above them. The group discussed something - Jane was sure of that, but she did not understand a single word of their language. 
Next morning Jane woke up on the floor next to her bed. She still thought of her funny dream while making breakfast. Her cat was sitting on the sill, watching her with narrowed eyes...

[189 words]

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