Story Writing - Titles, Settings & Characters
In the SATS test you may choose to write a short story. Today we are going to take a brief look at Titles, Setting and Characters.
Title
Title
You will normally be given a title to start with, this is to give you an idea to work with.
This title will not stop you from writing anything you choose as long as the title fits. Your story can still be set in a number of different places, but should relate to the title.
Setting
Remember when you are describing a setting you are also putting together a place where your characters can meet or start the story.
It is important to get the mood across in the setting.
For example:
The Lonely Boy
The airport was crowded, everybody seemed to be rushing about and looking for somebody they knew in the sea of faces that filled every corner of the large terminal. The chatter of friends meeting and parting farewells of loved ones drowned out the constant final calls for boarding of flights across the loudspeakers
David stood by the door looking in to the large building, although it was crowded he felt very much alone.
Here we have taken a lonely person, but put them in a busy, crowded place.
The lake
It was very early morning and the sun came out over the lake.
Here we have said it was morning but there is no mood or real feeling to what we have written.
Look below:
The lake
The deep dark water sparkled at the first touch of the morning sun. The lake turned from midnight black to pale green in the shallows and the sandy bottom seemed to rise up from the depths to greet the morning's warming rays.
Here we have used the lake to set the scene in the morning.
It is important to set the mood, time, place in any setting.
Characters
Their feelings, thoughts, actions and not just a physical description should describe characters.
Here is a character description. Can you see what is wrong with it?
Jenny was 11 years old and had blond hair and blue eyes. Jenny wore a pair of jeans and a green jumper. Jenny was very happy to be climbing trees.
This reads like a police description and tells us very little about Jenny at all.
Look at this description below:
It was hard to tell how old Jenny was because her thick green jumper and ripped blue jeans made her look older than her 11 years. Jenny was not your normal well-dressed blond haired blue eyed little girl always clean in pretty dresses.
Jenny was happiest dressed in her scruffy jeans climbing trees and hanging around in the woods.
This passage tells us about Jenny's character and we get an understanding of what she is like as a person.
I hope that you can now see how to describe places and people in your stories.
Next we will look at metaphors, similes, problem solving and endings in stories.
Good luck!