short stories?

Question

I have to write a short story for my english coursework. Has anyone got any tips or ideas for how I should plan it and what I should write about? :)

Answer 1

A good short story will have the following elements:

1- An opening sentence that grabs the reader.
2- At least one well-developed character we will know enough about to care what s/he is going through.
3- A conflict of some kind.
4- A theme: what is it about? what do you want us to take from it?
5- By the end of the story, there should be some kind of growth or change in your main character. That's an important element that many new writers don't realize. Something has to evolve/change/grow. There has to be a point to the story.

Ideas can be found by watching people and trying to consider why they are doing something they are doing, or reading an actual news story and asking yourself "what if?" -- What if it had turned out differently? What would have changed? Make sure not to use the original people, though. Or is there something you would like to do that you can't? Turn it into a story.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Decide on a beginning and an ending. Sometimes it's so hard to begin, and many times it's harder to end. Writing stories oftentimes draw the author into the setting, that before you know it you have already filled 500 sheets. Draft first, from beginning to end. Find your highest point, resolve issues, have a unique or attention-getting scenario that will make your story memorable. Take some rest, then go back and read your story. Could you perhaps take out some scenes / dialogues to make it shorter? Is there too much detail? Can you, or can you not see the ending? Are you for a resolved or open ending? Edit, edit, and edit! Have someone else read your story and get his reaction. Then you can edit again to incorporate his suggestions. Good luck!

Answer 3

Buzzy,

Have you read any good short stories? If not, I can suggest two that are fun and easy to read so you get the idea of what a good short story is: The Gift of the Magi and The Necklace.

The first is about two young married people--the boy sells his best possession, a pocket watch to buy his young wife a comb for her long, beautiful hair (for Christmas). In the meantime, the young wife cuts off all her hair to sell to buy a watch fob (chain) for the pocket watch that her husband loves so much. It is about how they love each other so much they are willing to give up their most-prized possessions.

The second one takes place in France. It is about a servant who borrows a pearl necklace from the very wealthy lady she works for. She loses the necklace, and instead of telling the rich woman, she replaces it with a very, very, very expensive REAL pearl necklace. The working woman spends the rest of her life working to pay off the necklace only to find out as an old woman that the necklace was made out of paste, not pearls.

Do you get the ideas of short stories now? You have a great beginning, an excellent middle, and a superior ending. You can observe anything and write up a story about it. You can write up a short story about a day, an event, an item (something you love), a photo, a vacation place, a romance, a friends, a road trip, or even time spent in your back yard looking at the stars or your flowers or your trees.

Get five to ten ideas.
Narrow them down
Write or draw an outline to work from
Begin writing anywhere--beginning, middle, or end--just write.
Now go back and revise it.
Revise it again.
Edit it for errors and typos.
Give it to a friend to critique it.
Rewrite it and hand it in.

This is what real-life writers do. Good luck.

Answer 4

If you are in school, write about two friends.

If in college, adopt ideas like Telling an interesting incident in someone's life.

To write a short story,
1.make it within 2 or 3 long size pages.
2. DO NOT give any detailed description of characters.
3.Keep the story revolving around at the most 5 or 6 characters.
4.Avoid flash-backs or old memories.
5.Try writing more of humour or funny.

Answer 5

Choose a simple topic and plot. For a short story, especially for school, something simple, perhaps with a twist and with skillful use of techniques and imagery will get you your best mark. Try something you know about, or building on something you might have experienced. "Write what you know" and all that - although spice it up a little, exaggerate a little, it is fiction after all. Personally, I like using paintings as a base for a story - thinking about what is happening, what might have happened prior to and after that moment, and why. For planning, try and make your turning point about two thirds of the way through - that gives you enough time to build up to a climax and also to reach a conclusion afterwards. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

I done my creative english coursework first draft and got quite a good mark. My english teacher said to do something out of the ordianary, so try and steer clear of the blood and guts.

Write about story about something you're interested in, that makes writing easier and more enjoyable for you. In planning, work out the order of events that occur in your story to make it easier- use that basic beginning, middle and end stucture. Work out the setting and characters, and use your own imagination a lot. Wish you all the luck!

Answer 7

Sometimes you can take a real event from your life and dramatise it. An idea could be to imagine you ar waiting at a bus stop or train station. Observe your fellow passengers, think about their lives, ask yourself questions about their behaviour. You can make it interesting by moving between thoughts about the past, planning for the future and being interrupted by people arguing or asking you for the time etc as follows.
I think about last night. I really wish I hadn't argued with my dad like that, now he's going to be all moody all week..."Have you got the time?" An old lady has interupted my thoughts... I get out my mobile to check for her.

It'd be a kind of snapshot of life. And would probably go down quite well with the examiners because it is descriptive, about real life, shows the ability to switch between times etc.

Answer 8

Some suggestions for what to write about:
- choose 3 random words to include in your story e.g. pencil, robot, wisdom and let your imagination run wild.
- try some interesting opening lines e.g. 'when I looked in the mirror my eyebrows had gone.' and let your imagination run wild
- write fairytale with the roles reversed e.g. the princess rescues the dragon from the prince

Planning and structure:
- character
- setting
- exposition (character has a goal)
- complication (something unexpected happens to stop the character reaching the goal)
- climax (character battles to overcome the complication)
- resolution (character achieves or doesn't achieve goal)

Writing tips:
- show rather than tell e.g. don't tell the reader he was angry, show it by saying he slammed the door.
- no more than 25% dialogue
- dialogue should only be used if it moves the story forward

That should get you started.

Answer 9

You should think about the main idea first for the story, like what your going to write about. Try thinking of things you are intrested in or things that you think would make a good story because it's all up to you. Good luck with your paper!

Answer 10

Too little space here to give good advice. Get a book on how to do it from the library. Alternatively, try basing it on a famous story (i.e Red Ridinghood, Romeo and Juliette, The Three Little Pigs) and change the characters into modern people - includiing the wolf, the pigs, etc.