Narrating a story

Completing a story
 Story Elements

• Characters
• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict
• Theme
 Story Elements
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDmhl-SU5Yk
Events and characters
 The main event

•  The first thing we have to do is think of an idea for the main event of the
story, which is the most important thing that happens in the story, the
event that could be used to summarise the whole story. For example, for
this story, I have come up with the following idea: I won the lottery.
What happened before and after the main event

•  Then we have to think which events led to the main event of the story and
what happened after that, which is the end of the story. However,
sometimes the main event happens right at the end of the story.
 What happened before winning the lottery

•  For the events leading to the main event, I’m going to say that I dreamed
about winning the lottery. In my dream, I also told my boss that he was a
jerk and that I was quitting. After that dream, I bought a lottery ticket.
 What happened after winning the lottery

•  What happens after the main event is clear in my mind. After winning the
lottery, I went my boss’s office to tell him that he was a jerk and that I was
quitting.
 The characters

•  We have to think about who is going to be the main character and other
people in the story. I’ve decided that I’m going to write the story in first
person, so the writer –that’s me– is going to be the main character. In the
story, I’m an office worker and I am fed up with my job. And I will also
include my boss as a character. My boss is horrible and I hate him.
Events and characters – mind map
Organising the ideas
 
 Paragraph 1 (main event)

•  I’m going to put the main event in the first paragraph, because I need to use
the sentence in the instructions as the first sentence: “I never thought
something like this could happen”. And if I use this sentence to begin the story,
I think it’s better to say what it is that happened right after it. So in this
paragraph I’m going to describe the moment when I learned that I had won the
lottery.
• Now I have to brainstorm the events in this paragraph. These are my ideas:  in
bed, tired, hard day at work (hate my boss/job), watching TV, saw the lottery
show, looked at the numbers, I couldn’t believe it.
Paragraph 2 (what happened before the main event)

•  I’m going to describe the events before the main event (when I won the
lottery). As these events happened before the main event in paragraph one,
I’ll have the opportunity to use the past perfect, because we use the past
perfect to talk about events that happened earlier in the past than the main
event we are describing.
• After brainstorming, these are my ideas: dreamed about winning the
lottery and telling my boss that he is a jerk, passed a lottery shop, went
into the shop and bought a ticket.
Paragraph 3 (what happened after the main event)

•  This is going to be the last paragraph, so this is the end of the story. In
this paragraph I’m going to describe what happened after the main event
of the story (paragraph one).
• These are my ideas: went to the bank to deposit the ticket, went to my
office, walked into my boss’s office without knocking at the door, smiled,
told him that he was a jerk and that I was quitting.
 The finished story

• I never thought something like this could happen. A few nights ago, I was in bed watching TV.
I had been working very hard all day and now I was angry and exhausted. I was just trying not to
think how much I hated my boss when the lottery show started. I looked at the numbers and I
just couldn’t believe it. I was rich. I was very rich!
• The only reason I had bought that lottery ticket was because the previous night I had dreamed that
after winning a lot of money, I paid a visit to my boss to tell him that he was a jerk. It felt so good
that the next morning, when I was passing the lottery shop on my way to work, I couldn’t resist.
• The next day, I got up and went to work, as usual, but first I went to the bank to deposit the ticket.
When I arrived at the office, I went straight into my boss’s office without knocking at the door,
obviously. When he looked at me angrily I just smiled and said, “You are the biggest jerk I’ve ever
met. I quit!”
 Narrative tenses

• Use past simple to describe the events of a story in chronological order.

• Use past continuous to set the scene and to describe actions or situations
that were in progress (not finished) at a certain point in the story.
• Use past perfect to describe events that happened earlier in the past.
• Use past perfect continuous to describe longer continuous actions (or
repeated actions) that started earlier in the past.
 Descriptions
• DESCRIBE, by using ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS. Adjectives
describe a noun and adverbs describe a verb, they describe how something
is done. E.g. The huge dog lunged ferociously at poor, terrified Jim, who
quickly jumped out of the way.
 Descriptions
• THE FIVE SENSES. Make it interesting by drawing your reader in.
Describe what your characters SAW, HEARD, SMELLED,
TOUCHED AND FELT. You need not use them all!
• E.g. Little RRH watched the bright sun slowly disappear behind the
thunder clouds and she heard the distant howl of a lone wolf. She felt
frightened, but when the enormous, shaggy wolf suddenly appeared, he
smiled sweetly and …..
 TIME MARKERS.
• Help your readers to know what is happening and in which order. E.g.
First, a few hours later, in the afternoon, later that day, after the meal, at 7
o’clock, finally…..etc
 Do the Exercises
• https://test-english.com/writing/b1-b2/narrative-writing-step-by-step/
 Your turn
• Choose one of the following sentences to begin a story: 
• “I never thought something like this could happen.”… 
• «I couldn’t sleep. I was tossing and turning for hours. It was thundering
and lightning non stop. All of a sudden I heard…»

• Write about 200 words. 3 paragraphs

 Proof read your story!

• Here is a checklist.
• Paragraphs. Vary the length of your paragraphs.
• Punctuation. Capital letters and full stops etc. Start a new line every time
somebody new starts talking. Remember speech marks. ‘Look out!’ Jane
shouted.
• Spelling
• Tenses.