WRITING A STORY

							          The Highland Writing Toolkit




STORY WRITING – FICTION
    Imaginative Writing



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                          The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Characters



            WHO? Names?
          Describe the characters.
          What do they look like?
                How old?

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Planning: Characters (Language)

        To describe people vividly
               try to use a
                       simile.
       The old man’s face was



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as wrinkled as an
 elephant’s hide.




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                         The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Characters (Language)



         To describe vividly you can use a

                 metaphor.


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A smile cracked
     his face.




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Planning: Characters (Language)
                    Use well chosen

                  adjectives
                   to describe people:
      Thetiny, golden-
       haired girl had a
      grimy, round face
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  covered in
large               freckles.




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Planning: Structure and Plot


               The Main Events
       What happened first?
       Then what happened?
        What happened in the end?
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                         The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Structure and Plot



                The Main Events

  Should you change the
     order of events?
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                        The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Structure and Plot


      The starting point
        What happened to cause
              problems?
  How were the problems solved?
     What happened in the end?
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                          The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Structure and Plot

   Equilibrium
   you establish your characters and setting

   Disruption
   your characters encounter ‘problems’

   Resolution
   Your characters solve the ‘problems’

   Restoration
   Your characters’ lives go back to ‘normal’ but they have been
   changed by what happened to them

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                        The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Feelings

FEELINGS
How did the characters feel about
       the main events?
  Happy? Sad? Scared? Angry?
    How did they feel at the end?
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Planning: Feelings (Language)

     To describe feelings vividly try to use a
                           simile
               I was so shocked it felt
like a brick had hit me.
                  or a    metaphor

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My heart was a  lump of cold
              stone.




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Planning: Thoughts


What did the characters think
when things happened?
e.g. James thought
it was just his

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friend mucking
about.




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Planning: Dialogue


SPEECH
What did the characters say to each other?

James gasped, “Do you
hear that?”

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“Hear what?” asked John.




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Planning: Dialogue


  Using speech/dialogue will make a
story come alive if what the characters
      say is important to the plot.

Are your characters’ words
       important?
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Planning: Dialogue

Use dialogue which tells more about:
                    situations
                    characters
                    feelings
                    reactions
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                          The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Setting

      Where the story takes place
                    On the High Street?
                      In the country?
                     Inside? Outside?
               Describe sights, sounds,
                   smells & tastes

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Planning: Setting 2

SETTING : When does the story
          take place?
   Summer / Winter? Autumn / Spring?
     This year / last year? Years ago?
      Morning? Afternoon? Evening?
                  Describe.
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Planning: Setting 2



Describe the time setting as fully as
you can, using similes, metaphors
and onomatopoeia.



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                         The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Setting (Language)


SOUNDS
 Use onomatopoeic words to describe
sounds vividly. These are words which
   suggest what they are describing.

thud, moan, crunch, rustle.
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                         The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Setting (Language)


ATMOSPHERE is the creation of
feeling or mood. By describing
setting fully using similes,
metaphors and onomatopoeia you
can create a particular atmosphere.
Spooky, Happy, Sad, Violent …
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                       The Highland Writing Toolkit


Planning: Setting


How do you feel reading this?
It was a dark and stormy night
and the moon was hiding behind a
mass of black clouds. There was
a faint rustling in the bushes
like a small animal scuffling


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             The Highland Writing Toolkit


the leaves. Then he heard it –
a low moaning noise.




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Planning : Setting


As James walked he
breathed in the mild
spring morning. He
listened to the builders
squawking in the big
apple tree, as they set
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about constructing their
pudding bowl nests.




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Planning: Method of Narration


Whose point of view?
       The main character?
       A minor character/onlooker?
       Omniscient author?
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Planning: Method of Narration

Main character’s viewpoint – possibilities

   •   You can use the first person: I and/or We
       (as if you are the main character)

   • You should usually write in the past tense.

   “ I got there early that spring morning as I wanted to be
certain to arrive first. I knew John would still be in bed.”



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                        The Highland Writing Toolkit




Planning: Method of Narration


Omniscient author’s viewpoint
   •   Third person narration, using „he‟, „she‟, „it‟, „they‟
   •   Past tense
   •   Author knows all the characters‟ thoughts and feelings
   “George decided that he did not like Mrs.
   Emerson and left the room deciding he had
   had enough of school.”

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                        The Highland Writing Toolkit




Planning: Method of Narration


Minor character/onlooker’s
viewpoint.
   • the first person: „I‟ and/or „We‟ as if you are the minor
     character/onlooker (adopting a persona)

   • Usually in the past tense

   • Knows only his thoughts and feelings

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GOOD BEGINNINGS

     DIALOGUE


     DESCRIPTION                     OF SETTING

     DECRIPTION                  OF ACTION


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