Mgr. Simona Sikorová Znojmo

Writing

Story

Think of a given topic

• Formal or informal?• Literary or colloquial vocabulary?

Make a plan of your composition

1. IntroductionIntroduces characters, sets time, weather etc•Where? When? Who?

„ It was an enormous room, so high that you could hardly see the ceiling.“

2. Introducing actionA point of a story that starts the described actionDescribe details of the scenery(both visual and sensual – smells, sounds), people, objects.

„Zoe covered her face with her hands“; „ They stared open-mouth at the control panel.“; I´ve got a bad feeling about this,´said Peter.“

3. The most important event in detailEvent that leads to the turning point

„ The heat from the rapidly spreading fire made it difficult to speak.“

4. Turning pointThe most intensive point of the story

5. ConclusionA satysfiyng end of the storyReactions and consequences

Narrative tenses

1. Past simple

For description of a chronological order

2. Past continuous

To set up the scene at the beggining

3. Past perfect

For retrospections

4. Would+infinitive

To show characters are thinking or talking about the future

Example of a storyLUCKY TO BE ALLIVE title

1. Introduction: time, place, charactersIt was a dark and stormy night in November. It was raining so hard that the windscreen wipers were no longer coping. My

brother Charie and I were driving down a small country road in Lancashire, trying to get home in time for supper.

2. Events that lead up to the main event

Suddenly a dark shape came into view, just metres ahead of us.Someone had left a trailer with no lights on the side of the road. Charlie slammed on the brakes and swerved. The car skidded on the wet tarmac and soared into the air.

3. Detailed presentation of the main eventIt couldn´t have lasted for more than a few seconds, but I remember it as an eternity. As the car turned over in the air, I

thought about our mother waiting for us. In the morning a policeman would come and tell her we wre dead. Then the car hit the soft ground and rolled over. There was a terrible noise of shattering glass and breaking steel, but still no pain. Finally everything was still. I was sespended upside down in my seatbelt, uncomfortable but unhurt. I heard Charlie´s voice.

´Jerry?´

´Charlie? Are you OK?´

´I´ve lost my glasses.´

4. Conclusion: reactions and consequencesI laughed with relief. We got out of the car, which was a complete wreck, and walked the remaining three miles home in the

rain. In the morning we would have to go to the police station and report the accident. But for now, the pure joy of being alive carried us through that November night.

Homework

• Write a story of 120 – 150 words about a journey which ends in an unexpected way because the main hero loses something important

References

• http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Short-Story [online] 20. února 2013

• Hastings,B., Umińska,M., Chandler,D. Exam Accelerator;Pearson Central Europe Sp. z o.o 2011.25, ISBN 978-83-7600-043-5.s.111