Get Writing

WRITING A SHORT STORY

Analyse a model

1 Before you read the model, look at the task

and discuss your plot ideas with a partner.
Then read the model and say what you think
about the plot.

TASK BOX
Your teacher has asked you to write a story for an
international magazine. The story must begin with the
following words:

I will never forget the first time I met

I will never forget the first time I met Philip. I was

staying at a summer school in England. It was
pouring with rain and I was walking back to my
room. Suddenly, I heard a voice from nowhere,
You must be Salvatore, it said.

As we walked quickly in the rain, Philip explained

that he was a close friend of my cousin. He had
asked him to keep an eye on me while I was
in England. Philip had identified me from a
photograph that my cousin had given him.

I nearly jumped out of my skin! Then, a few

moments later, a mysterious figure appeared from
behind a wall. He introduced himself and said,
Come on, Ill explain while were walking. My first
instinct was to run away from this mad person
perhaps he was dangerous. But I was also a little
curious and I wanted to find out how he knew my
name.

Philip did indeed look after me during that trip and

soon we became good friends. After a few weeks,
I returned to Italy. I called my cousin to thank him.
But Philip died two years ago in a car accident! he
exclaimed. A cold shiver ran down my back. Who
had I spent my summer with?

2 Who are the main characters?

______________________________________________
______________________________________________

6 How did you feel when you reached the end of the
story?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

3 What background information does the writer give

us?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

4 What happens in the paragraphs 2 and 3? Try to

summarise the events in one sentence.
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

5 Which words/phrases tell us how the writer was

feeling?

7 Identify the following language and answer the

questions:
a) Circle three time expressions. Can you suggest
alternatives?
b) Underline three uses of the past continuous. Why has
this tense been used?
c) Box three uses of the past perfect simple. Why has this
tense been used?

8 Which tense does the writer use for most of the

verbs? Why?

______________________________________________
______________________________________________

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Get Writing
WRITING A SHORT STORY
Think about your task
9 Read the following task and discuss possible plot
lines with a partner. Remember to keep your plot
fairly simple.
TASK BOX
You have decided to enter a short story competition in
a magazine for students. The rules of the competition
say that you must begin your story with the following
words:
That Monday morning began in the worst possible way.
Write your story in 120-180 words.

Remember!

Remember!
You
are usually asked to write stories for an English
language magazine or an anthology. The main
purpose is to interest the reader, so what you write
must be entertaining but not too complicated. The
readers are often students or people your own age.
Other points to remember:
Stories may or may not have a title (you might be
given this in the task).
Stories usually begin by introducing the main
character(s) and setting the scene, often in the past
continuous (e.g. The sun was shining / Paul was just
leaving his house, etc).
The main body can be one paragraph or, if there is a
change in the time or the action, you can begin a new
paragraph.
The events of the story are told mostly in the past
simple, but for variety, you should use other
tenses, e.g. past perfect (Once he had done that), past
continuous (While he was checking the engine), or
the future in the past (He knew he was going to).
Make sure you control your tenses the reader
should never be in doubt about the order of events.
For dialogue, you can add a little direct speech for
variety, but you should mostly use reporting verbs
(e.g. told, whispered, said, warned, etc).
You should use adjectives, adverbs and descriptive
verbs to make your writing more interesting (e.g. a
spectacular view / he hurriedly put / Giorgio burst into
the room, etc).

10 Discuss the following questions about the task in

Exercise 9.

1 How should you begin your story? Who are the main
characters? What information could you include to set
the scene?
2 What are the main events in your story?
3 How could you describe the feelings of your characters?
4 Which time expressions could you use?
5 Which tenses will you use?
6 Where could you use a little direct speech? What
reporting verbs could you use?
7 Which adjectives, adverbs and descriptive verbs could
you use to make your writing more interesting?
8 How is your story going to end? Will the reader be
satisfied with this ending?

Write it for real

11 Write the task at the top of this page. Use the

information you have read in this section and some

of the expressions from the File*.

FILE
Adjectives
sharp / witty
bright / clever
stunning / gorgeous
guilty / sly / cunning / mischievous
brave / daring
foolish / silly
Adverbs
sharply
bravely

brightly
guiltily

lazily
foolishly

Descriptive verbs
rush / dash / bolt / burst / stroll / limp
stare / glare / frown / beam / notice / observe
ask / demand / insist / scream
Time expressions
At first / Then
Later / Soon
While
The next day
A week / A year / etc later

Finally
No sooner had than
As soon as
Over the (next few)
weeks / years

* You can find more information about stories in Unit 3 of

your Students Book.

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