What makes for a successful story?

"Make 'em laugh. Make 'em cry. Make 'em wait. Exactly in that order."

• 1. Your story needs to hook the reader from its first

sentence. Whatever you write, cause your reader to feel from the
outset that they are going to enjoy the time given over to reading
your story. You can do this by writing
about characters and incidents that the reader can relate to.

• Such stories begin and remain lively, interesting and meaningful. The
reader can relate to what is happening. The imagined narrator has an
inviting, interesting tone of voice.

• The story is unified and coherent. i.e. there are no loose ends,

diversions or waffle; the reader constantly feels that the story is
leading somewhere interesting.
• The story begins with a plot hook that captures the reader's interest by
being intriguing.
• An opening using a short, catchy sentence or intriguing question works well:
"Crowds! I hate them!" or "Flick! Flick! Flick! The ambulance's flashing blue light
told its own story." or "If that wasn't that the most stupid thing Jenny had done
in her life, I don't know what was...".

• They writing is economical and sharp in style: no padding, pointless

description or boring dialogue: each word and phrase has been
weighed up and seems to be leading somewhere useful.

• Paragraphs are a satisfying length; sentences are varied

and punctuated properly using full stops or semicolons at their ends,
never commas.
For exam purposes, always arrive pre-prepared
with a few outline stories in your head.
• This will truly help your grade - and steady your nerves! Many ready-made stories can be
molded to fit the exam question with just a little adjustment.
• Well before exam day, plan and sketch out a few plots for possible stories.
• Work out who these stories revolve around, that is their main character or protagonist.
• Think up a few interesting plots: what's going to happen to the main character? What
difficulty - conflict - will she or he have to face and overcome?
• Work out a suitable beginning, middle and ending for each story. Many writers work out
endings first then work backwards to their beginning. this can work well because endings
are often the hardest part of a story to work out.
• Think about suitable settings. This is the time, place and situation the action occurs and is
important as it needs to be realistic and believable.
• Setting is also important as it is often an important way to create an
appropriate atmosphere or mood for the events of the story to unfold. Successful writers
take great care over this aspect.
• Think about basing this pre-planned bank of stories on dramatised 
anecdotes - that is, on incidents from your own past life or that you
have heard from others. These anecdotes need not be entirely (or
even at all...) truthful of course - no one is testing your ability to tell
the truth, just your ability to write an effective story!

• Think of a series of personal incidents that would

make lively and interesting stories when you were, for example,
especially pleased / happy / proud of something in your life as well as
when you felt especially guilty / embarrassed / let down.
• Especially under exam conditions, it's best to avoid romance, sci-fi,
ghost and horror stories. Why? They rarely work well and tend to
attract lower marks.
• You'll be surprised how frequently you will be able to fit one of these
existing stories into the question you are asked in the exam. Just
think of the relief you'll feel when you find you can do this on the day
of the exam!
• 3. Successful students know what the examiner looks for and give
just this in their story. They know that marks are given according to
how well their writing meets certain criteria. Here are typical ones:
• An effective story needs to have a realistic, believable and interesting
sense of character.
 
• It needs a realistic and atmospheric setting.
• Setting is important because it is used not only to create a realistic seeming
and believable sense of place but very often also to suggest a
suitable mood or atmosphere.
• Creating an appropriate mood within which the events of your story can
unfold is crucial to gaining the higher grades. This allows your reader to enter
the world of the story and thus feel a sense of involvement with the action.
• The story's plot needs to hook the reader early on and engage the
reader's attention by creating a sense of pace and tension.
• Tension is created by revealing details in a measured way - piece by piece.
• A sense of pace can easily be created by using shorter sentences.
 
• The use of description is effective and useful to the mood, character,
setting or plot: it must be kept relevant and with
a genuinely useful purpose to the story.
• There's no point describing anything at all unless it adds usefully to the story.
• Excessive use of adjectives is uninteresting and a distraction - see the
Englishbiz guide to descriptive writing for more on this important aspect of
story writing.
• When characters speak through the use of dialogue, it must be
kept tight and dramatic, that is, it must be truly useful and
interesting, contributing something worthwhile to the story.

Avoid too many "He said..." then "She said..." - try to vary the verb
used, e.g. "She screamed...", "He implored...". And make quite sure
that there is no 'waffle-like' empty and flabby dialogue such as:
• 'How are you?' I said.
• 'I'm well. How are you?' He replied.
• 'Good.' I said.
• And so on. Yawn... B-o-r-i-n-g! (because it isn't of interest to your
reader or to the story - so... it's pointless. And yet each year so very
many students do write dialogue just like this. Oh dear!).
• A good story has an effective structure.

• This means choosing a coherent and unified 'beginning > middle > end' structure for your story.
• Remember, this isn't as easy as it sounds. The "beginning > middle > end" must all be linked and flow naturally.

• The opening lines need to a) set the scene b) create a suitable mood and

c) introduce the main character(s).

• An effective structure also means leading on quickly towards a problem or conflict that the

protagonist - the main character - will be forced to face and eventually overcome.

• The 'middle' of your story should see events building up with a sense of rising action towards
a climax near the end of the story.

• The end or resolution of your story should see all loose ends being tied up; of course, the end
doesn't need to be happy ever after - but it does need to be satisfying.
• Of course, you could also choose to end on a cliff-hanger - an ending with a twist to make your reader think
and reflect!
FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS