Shaping your story from BBC

Shaping your story

A simple activity exploring methods that can help shape the narrative of
a story.


Introduction
Every good story has a shape. Even the most experienced writer spends time building a story. For
students who have never written a story on their own, it can be hard to know where to start, so it can
be helpful to give them practice writing narrative about something they are all familiar with, so they
can hear the differences in each others work and decide what is most successful. If students are
lacking in confidence, you do not need to identify the writers to the group.

Activity
Choose a subject that you think your group are familiar with – for example:

School
· Think of a friend you had at school and tell a story of the best or worst thing you did together.
· Think of a teacher who you will always remember. Describe the teacher as clearly as you can
while someone else draws a picture of him or her.
· Think about the best meal you’ve ever had at a school and explain why it was so good.

Holidays
· Think of a place that you visited on holiday that you still remember clearly. Describe it in detail
and see if someone can draw a plan based on your description.
· Think of the most romantic place you have ever drunk a drink and describe the situation.
· Describe the longest journey you have ever made and the most boring and most exciting thing
that happened on it.
Choose one of the subjects and get the students to work in small groups or pairs, telling their story to
one another. Ask whoever listens to the story to give verbal feedback – what they liked and disliked,
what made them smile and why. Then, ask the students to try and write down their story. For those
lacking in confidence, you could get them to write down each other’s stories, or to write stories together.


Methods to support the activity
1. Write a list
Write down all your ideas at random. Think about the main points you want to cover in the story.
Don’t worry about the order – this is just a helpful reference. Then when you start writing your
draft, you can tick off the main points as you cover them.
2. Create your own story framework
To make your story easier to write, it may help to break it down into three main areas: beginning,
middle and end. Answering a few simple questions within each area will help you think about
your story and how to write it later. Here are a few suggestions:

Beginning:
· Introduce the character/s – who are they? What do they look like?
· What is the setting for your story? Why is you and other characters there?
· What happens first?
Middle:
· What scenario or problem are you facing?
· Is anyone else involved – who are they?
· How do you feel? How do you react?
End:
· How is does the scenario or problem unfold?
· What change does this have on you and/or the other characters?
· How does the story end?
3. Stories don’t have to start at the beginning - shuffle your ideas around
If you’re not sure of the order in which your story should be written, don’t worry! Jot down all the
different parts of your story on pieces of paper. Then shuffle around the order under you find a
sequence you are happy with. This will help you decide when in the story to introduce scenes,
characters and events.

Time
This session can take one hour or be a longer project.
Materials
Pen and paper.
Preparation
None, or visit the My Story website for writing frame templates to support this activity and other tips
and ideas at bbc.co.uk/mystory

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