The Sunday News
Charles Dube
WE pick it up from last week’s discussion on making our stories better. Try to improve your own story by using powerful verbs like, roared not said, thundered not just made a noise. Dashed into the room not ran into the room. The drunkard staggered into the office not just walked into the office. This brings to mind that we can improve our compositions by improving sentence structures.
A sentence can be improved by changing the subject. For example, in its simplest form a sentence can read like this: He ran out of the classroom. The pronoun “he” which is a subject in this sentence is replaced by a proper noun “Tom” thereby becoming definite on who is talked about. Tom ran out of the classroom. The verb ran can be replaced by more powerful verbs like bolted. Then it would read: “He bolted out of the classroom.”
The story can be made better by including descriptions like: “The classroom walls were filthy or messy” instead of just saying they were dirty. She sat outside in the scorching sun instead of just saying, “She sat outside in the hot sun.” Another technic used to make the story better is to use questions to talk to the reader like, “Who had taken it? And why?” Students might venture into adventure stories.
What are adventure stories? Everyone loves to read an exciting adventure story. In adventures all sorts of things could just happen. Examples of such things are rescuing your best friend, your ox or your dog. It could be surviving when lost in a forest or even caught in a storm. You could outwit a gang of robbers. Like in stories read elsewhere one could write about finding something hidden, like a strange looking message? It could also be a chase by a wild dog or by a gang in the neighbourhood.
What is the layout of adventure stories? A suggested writer’s checklist says; start with an exciting idea or problem to solve. Create one or two characters that solve problems or beat a gang of robbers by working together, by using special skills. Keep the reader thinking disaster is round the corner. End by having the main character(s) solve the problem. Adventure stories often include exciting openings and endings. For example: “Stop thief!” the vendor shouted.
Dramatic connectives like, suddenly, all at once also come into play when writing adventure stories. For example, “Oh no!” As already been said before powerful action verbs like, leaped, struggled, screamed, ambled, crawled, sauntered, hobbled, trudged, strolled, babbled, croaked, murmured, shrieked, wailed, whined, snarled, sobbed, scurried to mention but just a few.
It is equally important to decide who your main characters are in adventure stories. What are they called? What do they look like? What are they wearing? What is their voice like? For example, low, soft, sharp, gruff. What sort of person is your character? For example, kind,, clever, brave, cruel, mean shy? What are your characters doing? Are they giving chase to a criminal? What is about to happen? What will your characters do, see or find? Finally, how will they solve the problem?
Here is some recap on story settings. You should decide where your story is set. It could be in the city centre, at a busy shopping mall, at a bus terminus. What is the weather like? Is it stormy, sunny, windy, or is it raining? You can choose safe settings like home, school. Where there is a need you can have scary settings like a haunted house, a cave. Advice from reputable story-writers is that in adventure stories, try to start and end in a comfortable, safe place and have somewhere scary for the adventure.
The necessity of planning always comes up each time the issue of composition writing is brought up. But, students are not keen to plan their essays resulting in their compositions lacking cohesion. In story writing students are encouraged to make a story mountain. On a story mountain the shape of the mountain shows the shape of the story. The most exciting part is the middle of the story. At the foot of the mountain a story has an opening followed by a build up as one moves up the mountain.
The most exciting part is the middle of the story referred to as the climax. This is where the peak of the story is. From the peak of the story at the summit of the mountain, action gradually drops when the writer offers the resolution to the story settling at the foot of the mountain, again offering the ending. It is essential for students to use their planning grid or story mountain to help them remember what happened when.
Students should not have too much going on in their stories at the same time but should stick to the main ploy. They should keep their readers interested by not solving the problem too quickly. Together with using powerful verbs and careful nouns show how characters feel. For example, she screamed. Make sure there is a reason for all of the events in the story.
Students should appreciate that story writing involves various forms and what has been discussed this far relates to narrative composition. A writing that is narrative gives an account of events or experiences. The general characteristics of narrative writing include: theme, plot, conflict suspense, action, characterisation, climax and solution. Here are reminders of definitions of these terms. The theme is the subject of talk in a story or central idea. The plot is a set of connected events on which the story is based.
There should be clashes between the characters in the story. Problems come about as a result of differences between characters. Clashes need not imply violence. They may be clashes between good and evil or conflicts that a person experiences within herself or himself when faced with problems. The climax flows from the conflicts and problems and activities that take place. The solution means the composition should have a conclusion and the ending must not be abrupt or all of a sudden.
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