How to write a good story

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.

2. 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!

Here is part of the mark scheme from a major GCSE examining board - see some of what their examiners want to see in your story-writing to gain a grade A:

plot and characterisation are effectively constructed and sustained

the story is organise, sequenced and well paced

sentences and paragraphs are effectively varied in length and structure

a wide range of appropriate, ambitious vocabulary is used

And here is what a professional American writer considers makes a good story...

A good story uses:

Character - in which a personality is revealed or changed.

Setting - a place described where an action occurs.

Mood - a feeling shared by the reader suitable for the action.

Time - defines the limits of the story and around which action is organized.

Technique - the use of descriptive writing and dialogue.

Purpose - a theme which is of interest or importance to the reader.

Skilfully done, the story unfolds allowing the reader to meet the characters as they encounter problems with which they deal in a place and time the reader experiences with them.