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How
to write a story in under one hour.
Characters
- Adding more description
Use only two main characters
- one male and one female. Try developing characters you enjoy
writing about in advance. Think about how they would react in
lots of different situations. Try writing them into an adventure
story, a ghost story, a science-fiction story, etc.
Plan
Plan your beginning (setting the scene, introducing the characters,
what the problem is) and the end or resolution (how it all works
out). Keep it simple.
Keep the beginning short. The middle is the most important part
of your story. Your story needs to get moving as quickly as possible.
When you know your ending, think of a way of hinting at it in
your beginning. This will make you resolution stronger.
Setting - questions to think about
Let your reader know about how the setting changes during the
story. It might be a dark, gloomy night in your mind, but your
reader might still think it's the sunny morning you started with!
Direct Speech
eg."
Would you like to come too?" asked Jenny
Keep you reader up to date about how your characters are feeling
as the story progresses.
Include some direct speech. If your characters can talk to each
other about what is happening from time to time, it makes a change
from you describing everything! Always make it clear who is speaking,
but don't rely on 'said' - it gets very boring.
Sentences
Use a variety of sentence lengths. Longer sentences can carry
description and short snappy sentences can help with action.
Try not to repeat the same words - especially at the start of
a sentence. Find another way of writing what you want to say.
Find a really punchy sentence to end your story with. The reader
remembers the last sentence more that the rest of the story!
Check it!
Aim to leave yourself
with five minutes at the end to improve your story. Read it through
as if you have never seen it before. Are there any boring bits
that need more detail to bring them to life? Are there any weak
words that you can change ('went' could become 'crept' or 'ran';
'good' could become 'sensible' or 'excellent')?
Once you have finished (or when you can't think what to write
next or when your hand aches!) read your story through aloud
in your head so that you can hear where you need full stops or
commas.
Look carefully at any speech you have written for your characters.
Have you included all the punctuation?
Finally check for spelling mistakes
by looking at the words without reading them! If any word doesn't
look quite right try it out in different ways on your planning
sheet. If another way looks right, change it!
Remember,
above all you want the reader to enjoy your story. Good
Luck!
Writing using more descriptions
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