WRITING TIPS
Welcome to the writing tips session!
Remember to read the task in your activity book carefully and make sure you answer the questions proposed and cover the topics asked.
Below you will find some useful information that will help you write a story.
Story
What is the objective of a story?
Stories engage and entertain readers. Some stories also have learning points that readers should get out of the characters’ journey.
What language should you use?
Narrative text is mostly written in the past tense, and should use constructions and expressions that will get the attention of the reader and keep them interested.
A successful story should
- engage readers and keep them curious about what is going to happen next;
- be easy to follow (it’s terrible when you don’t know exactly who did what in a story);
- stimulate the imagination;
- get an emotional response from the reader.
HELP YOUR READER’S IMAGINATION
Compare these two statements:
He was a man. X He was a loving, warm hearted man.
Which statement gives you a better mental picture of the man in the story? Adjectives will add color to your story as you use them to describe mostly everything in it: people, places, things, animals, you name it. So don’t be shy and use all your repertoire of adjectives, and feel free to look up a thesaurus to learn more.
SEQUENCE HAS TO BE CLEAR
Use connectors and linking phrases to organize events in time. Here are some useful options.
It all started when…
That was when…
Then…
By that time…
As soon as (something happened)…