Short Story 1k1t2o

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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, I’ll explain while we’re 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. 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.

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! 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 : • 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 Student’s Book.

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