how to write a short story

how to write a short story

Word count: 140-190 Main characteristics: engaging, interesting, well-structured Register: depending on the story Structure: beginning, main part, ending Language: adjectives/adverbs, past verb forms, direct speech, time expressions

When we try to put a story in a well-organised structure, we can simply look at every story ever written in the history of humankind and we will find that 99% of them look like this:

• Beginning
• Main part
• Ending

This pattern can be further broken down by splitting the main part into two or even three paragraphs.

At the beginning of a story, we are usually introduced to the main character(s) and learn a little bit about the background of the plot. We might also find out about how the main character(s) feels right before the action starts.

Now, let’s go back and see how we can apply all of the above to a specific task.

You have seen this announcement in an international magazine for teenagers...

Stories WantedWrite a story for our magazine. Your story must begin with this sentence: "Jerry read the email and decided to go to the shopping centre immediately..." Your story must include... a request a present

Luckily, the first sentence is already there for you, but we obviously need to be a little bit more creative. Think about how Jerry might have felt in this situation and what might have happened in the lead up to him reading the email. In order to fill your story with life, try to come up with ideas of what could have happened on Jerry’s way to the shopping centre and when he was there. Finally, we need to bring everything together in a good ending. You can try to end the story in an unexpected or funny way, but it is definitely more important to come to a meaningful and logical ending at all.

Always make a plan for your story Always make a plan before starting to write. It only takes a few minutes, but it can save you a lot more towards the end on the test when you are in time trouble and don’t know what to do. A plan helps you stay on task and all you have to do is follow it and fill the page with life. A plan for our example looks like this: Beginning: nervous; hadn’t slept well; request in the email – buy milk for grandma Main paragraph 1: flat tyre; had to change it; wasted time Main paragraph 2: at the shopping centre; accident with family; little girl gave him piece of paper Ending: piece of paper was scratchcard; won €50,000 Just from this plan, you can already guess what the story will look like even though a lot of information is still missing. Making the plan takes three minutes, but now you only need to connect the dots and get started.

Beginning The beginning of a story fulfills two tasks. It introduces the reader to the main character(s) and sets the scene. We can include previous events and background information so we can start. One of the main criteria in a story is the correct use of narrative verb forms. These are different past verb forms, each of which has a distinct function in a story. We want to use past simple for the main events, past continuous for background actions and past perfect simple and continuous for things that happened before the main events. In addition to this particular grammar point, it's important to make the beginning interesting from the get-go using some engaging adjectives/adverbs and other helpful expressions.

A day to forget – a day to remember

Jerry read the email and decided to go to the shopping centre immediately. He hadn’t slept well at all and was feeling quite nervous that morning and he didn’t want to let his grandma’s wish to buy some milk ruin his day.

Main part The main part of a story is what the name says: the most important part which includes the majority of information. Here we find most of the main events and the plot progresses between the beginning and ending. Your focus in this part should lie on a logical order of events while keeping the reader engaged and interested. We achieve this, once again, by using the correct verb forms (mostly past simple as we are in the middle of the main events) as well as other stylistic features.

He dragged himself into his old and dirty car and set off in the direction of Central Mall. Not even ten minutes later, he had a flat tire so he spent the next hour putting on the spare before he was able to continue his dreadful journey. At the shopping centre, he walked absent-mindedly into a family and their son fell on his knee. “I’m sorry,” was the only thing he could say, but the boy’s little sister replied, “This is a gift for you,” with a smile and gave him a crumpled piece of paper. Jerry simply stuffed it in his jacket pocket and stormed off as quickly as he could.

Ending The very last part of every amazing story is a great ending. Here, we tie everything together and bring the events to a conclusion. It is your decision if you want to give your story a happy ending or not, but make sure that it ends in some way. Don’t just stop after the main part and leave your reader with questions. Send them off with a smile on their face or tears in their eyes.

Back at home, he just wanted to go to bed, when he dropped the girl’s paper on the floor. Jerry couldn’t believe his eyes. It was a scratch card with a win of €50,000! “Not such a bad day after all,” Jerry thought with a smile and he poured himself a steaming cup of coffee.

Don't forget to check your writing!

Did you...

• use a range of narrative tenses?
• include some direct speech (to make the narrative some to life)?
• use a rich range of vocabulary, including descriptive verbs (to give the story interest)?
• enrich descriptions with well-chosen adjective and adverbs?
• use relative pronouns to combine clauses?
• use a variety of ways of putting actions in a sequence?
• begin and end the story with the words given?