Writing Short Stories

In the test youll write a story in about 100 words.

1. Start
thinking
about
important
moments.
Think about
something
important that has
happened in your
life, or in the life of
someone you know.

2. Choosing the right past tense...

When you write a story, youll need to use past tenses to describe
what happened.

Past Simple
Past continuous
Past perfect

e.g. At first I thought it was

e.g. It was raining when I left
e.g. Id never seen such a wonderful

2.1. The day I broke my

leg
It (1) ____________ happened two
years ago when I (2) ______________
(ski) in Austria. It was a horrible day
because it (3) ____________ (snow)
and I (4) _____________ (can`t see)
anything. I (5) ____________ (not/
want) to ski but my friends said,
Come on. This is our last day, We
must go. So I went. I (6) ___________
(not/ski) in conditions like that
before so when my friends (7)

After about half an hour by

myself, I (9) __________ (stop)
because was cold and wet. I (10)
___________ (get) into the cable
car to go down to the village and
my wonderful warm hotel. When I
(11) _________ (slip) on some ice. I
(12) ________ (fall), and my skis
(13) __________ (fall) on top of
me. I (14) ___________ (hear) a
terrible noise and knew
something bad (15) (happen). My
leg was broken. What a way to

3. Getting started on the story

When you write a story you want to make sure that the reader is interested
from he start. Here are some beginnings of different stories.

3.1. In pairs, decide how you could continue the sentences.

Use your own ideas, but use the verb tense given.
a. The house was quiet and I realised that ____________________

(past

perfect)
b. It was a hot sunny day and Martin ________________________

(past

continuous)
c. Immediately I walked into the room _________________

(past

simple)
d. I first met my best friend when he/she _____________________

(past

3.2. Below are some first sentences from different stories.

Write the second line of each story. You can get ideas by
thinking about answers to the questions.
a. David opened the letter nervously. (Why?) He knew that his life might
change because of it.

b. The woman stood outside of the bank, looking at her watch. (why?)
___________________________________________________________________
c. I had a wonderful day last week. (Who with? Which day?)
___________________________________________________________________
d. There was no moon that night so it was very dark. (Where were
you?)
___________________________________________________________________
e. It was a holiday that none of us will ever forget. (What happened
first? Was it . good or bad?)
___________________________________________________________________

4. What happened next getting ideas

In pairs, read the beginning and the ending of these
stories. Together decide what happened in the middle.
Then share with the class.
Story 1
Alex, John and Nick went to the beach for the day. What did they do
there?
_________________________________________ Why was money
important?

Finally,
they found a bank that was open.
Story 2

Two years ago, I decided to take karate lessons. Why?

_______________________________________ What happened?
The woman told the police that I was a hero.
Why?
Now write one of the stories in about 100 words. Think
about which verb tenses you can use.