Last updated on November 8th, 2023 at 01:17 am
Quite commonly, a question in your English paper asks you to develop a story from given outlines. In some question papers, an accompanying picture is also provided. In such cases, you can pick clues from the snap as well as the outlines.
The underlying secret to score good marks in such questions is to write with a method and in a format. Follow the guidelines below to write a story from outlines.
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Method and Format of Story Writing
Mind-Mapping
#1 First, read the outline carefully and try to understand it completely. What is the story trying to say? Connect the outlines in a meaningful way in your mind.
#2 Next, plan your story. Create a mind-map to help you write. At this point, club together the portions of outline that tell a part of the story. That means, a group of clues will be taken from the outline to form the first paragraph of the story. The second group for the second paragraph and so on.
The Start
#3 The next point is to start writing. Start from the setup of the story. That means, you need to mention when and where the story is taking place. Also, introduce the characters at this point.
The Middle
#4 For the middle part of the story, go on adding imagination to the already grouped outlines and your story will shape up slowly. Mention the events in the story one by one by expanding the relevant group of outlines.
The End
#5 Keep the most interesting part of the story for the end. Let the main event, called the climax, unfold now.
Title and Moral
The best time to write the title and the moral of the story is after completing the story. This is because, you know the story very well at this stage.
#6 Add a moral to the story. You can construe a moral by thinking about how and why the main character succeeded or failed and what can be learnt from it.
#7 When the story writing is over, think of an interesting, catchy title for it. You can craft the title by pondering over the act of the characters or the moral implicit in the story or the most important happening in the story.
Proofreading and Correction
#8 Post this, revise the story carefully to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. When you are writing on a laptop or tablet, there is absolutely no problem. You can revise several times. However, if you are writing on paper, first create a sentence, remove the errors in your mind and then write it on paper. Otherwise, a revision might render your paper full of strikethrough marks.
Example of Story Development From Outlines
The question of story writing for class 6, may typically depict the following outlines/ hints:
Outline: A crow sitting on a tree –crow has a piece of bread in its beak – a rabbit under the tree – rabbit thinks of an idea – praises crow’s voice – crow sings – bread falls – rabbit takes away.
Let us develop a story from these outlines.
The Clever Rabbit
One day a crow was sitting on the branch of a tree. The crow was very happy because it had found a piece of bread from a dustbin. The crow was thinking it would eat the piece of bread soon and get rid of the hunger. The piece of bread was held in its beak.
Just then, a rabbit was passing by. When the rabbit saw the crow holding a piece of bread, its mouth started watering. The rabbit was very clever and immediately thought of a plan to trap the crow. It knew that flattering the crow’s voice would work for sure.
Thinking so, the rabbit said, “Cro bro, when you caw, I feel so delighted. Your sweet and melodious voice makes me happy. Will you please sing a sweet song for me?”
The crow was immensely excited to hear its praise and started cawing. But alas! The loaf of bread fell down. Before the crow could understand the mean trick of the rabbit, the rabbit picked the piece of bread in its mouth and ran away quickly.
The crow knew it was fooled badly but there was nothing it could do.
Moral: Be aware of flattery.
Story Writing Hints for Practice
Develop a story from each of the following hints/ outlines. Also, give suitable headings for your stories. Do not forget to add a moral at the end of each story:
- A fox falls in a well – The fox is afraid – It finds a buck-goat looking down in the well – It asks the fox what it’s doing there – The fox says it was there to drink the sweet water – The buck-goat jumps in – the fox climbs the back of the buck-goat – comes out of the well.
- Ramu shows a bread – calls a dog – the dog comes running to get the bread – Ramu kicks the dog – his father watches – he calls Ramu saying he would give money to him– Happily Ramu runs to his father – father slaps Ramu – asks how the dog would have felt.
- Sneha and Radha are friends – visit a stadium to see a cricket match – they have not told their parents about it – match ends in the evening – it starts raining – they don’t get any cab to return home – evening sets in – Compelled, Radha rings her father – Radha’s father comes – drops them home.
Story Writing for Class 6: The 6 Mantras to Score 10/10
This is a summary of what has been said above. You can save it as a checklist for story writing.
- Follow a method of writing – Read the outlines. Mind-map to write. Write. Add moral and title. Revise. Correct.
- Follow a format of writing – Title. Start. Middle. End. Moral.
- Keep your sentences simple and easy-to-understand. Avoid wordiness ( Using too many words for a simple statement).
- Write the story precisely in accordance with the given outlines or the picture. Imagination is welcome but do not deviate much from the theme.
- Keep your headline catchy and the moral, short and understandable.
- As you write, keep an eye on the number of words. If you have been asked to write a 200-word story and you want to complete your story in 5 paragraphs, each paragraph gets about 40 words.
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