Creative writing 1 : The start of a story

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo k
• Leerjaar 3

Creative writing 1 : The start of a story

Project overview 

Every lesson we will look at a new aspect of writing a story. 

The lesson consists of 2 things: 

1) Theory and practice 

2) Writing your own short story (and hand in via SOM)

How often do you read for fun?

😒🙁😐🙂😃

What makes you interested in reading?

An interesting start

The start of a story determines if you want to keep reading or put down the book again. 

You will learn what a good start to a story is and write your own captivating story introduction.

Assignment 1 

The next slides have different examples of the start of a story. Read the story and type your feedback: 

- Is it a good start? Why (not)? 

- Would this motivate you to continue? Why?

"Grandma was laying out the cups for the funeral tea when I remembered I had left the safe open"

"It was a dark night."

"Emma had yellow hair and blue eyes and was madly in love with her boyfriend Greg?"

"I'm watching the cars crash again. I got here just in time."

What kinds of elements did you notice that make you want to continue reading?

Your turn! 

The next slides have a prompt. 

Write an interesting story introduction in 4 sentences about the prompt. 

Write a story intro in 4 sentences:
A boy finds something hidden in the grass.

Write a story intro in 4 sentences:
Your mom finds your bad report card

Create your own character

The characters in a story may not be real, but should definitely feel real to create depth and emotion in the story. They are our viewpoint into the story. 

But, designing a character is not easy. Like yourself, characters are complex and have many layers. 

Write your own story

Every lesson we will continue working on a story in which we will get to know your character better via diary entrees. 

You will write your story in a word doc and hand in at the end of each lesson. 

What happens, how it happens and what effect this has on your character is completely up to you. 

Time to create your character

We'll start small, with their appearance. 

• What does your character look like? Make a list and include the following: hair, eyes, skin, height, weight, build, etc. 
• Choose one aspect of their appearance (a detail) and elaborate: bitten nails, frizzy hair, a scar, etc. 
• Write a short story in which your character is looking in the mirror or write a short scene in which another person first sees your character. 

Hand in via SOM after you're finished.