A story is an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment. Stories cast a magic spell on all of us and have mind-altering effects. Stories give us inspiration and sometimes challenge our beliefs.
Story writing is an art It is the oldest form of written composition. It is a work of imagination that is written in an easily understandable grammatical structure. a short story is meant to be read in a single sitting and therefore it should be as direct and brief as possible.
Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.
We also providing Extra Questions for Class 10 English Chapter wise.
Story Writing for Class 10 Format, Examples, Topics, Exercises
A story can be defined as the events in the order in which they happened. In fact, a story is a work of fiction usually written in prose in a narrative format. A good story must contain the following elements.
- Setting – The Time and Location
- Plot – Sequence of events in a story in which the readers learn them.
- Characters – At least two characters that are consistent, motivated, and life-like.
- Theme – The central idea or the thoughts of the author.
Elements Of Short Stories
1. Title: The title arouses interest, evokes curiosity, and focuses attention on the theme of the story.
2. Plot: The plot is a planned, logical series of events in a story having a beginning, middle, and end. A short story usually has one plot so it can be read in one sitting. There are six essential parts of a plot:
- Exposition is the beginning of the story where the characters, setting, and background are revealed.
- Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces. Every plot must have some kind of conflict. Stories can have more than one conflict. The struggle could be between:
- Man vs. Man – struggle between two or more individuals
- Man vs. Himself – internal struggle concerning emotions, decisions etc; this conflict takes place in the mind
- Man vs. Nature – the struggle between a person and an element of nature or the environment, or outside forces or obstacles
- Man vs. Society – struggle between a person and society, customs and practices
- Man vs. Fate – struggle between a person and fate
- Rising action – the events in the story that complicate or intensify the central conflict in the story (events between the introduction and climax)
- Climax – highest point of interest and the turning point of the story
- Falling action – events that lead to resolution as complications begin to resolve themselves
- Resolution – the final outcome of the conflict.
3. Theme: The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the author’s underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The title of the short story often points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of speech to emphasize his theme. The theme is always an abstract idea like love, hate, youth, despair, identity, the futility of violence, the innocence of youth, etc. We can ask – is any of the imagery strongly connected to the central themes or ideas? Are there any recurring images?
4. Character: The character is generally the central or focal element in a story. Characters are convincing if they are consistent, motivated, and life-like. Characterization is the information the author gives the reader about the characters themselves. In order for a story to seem real to the reader, its characters must seem real. The author may reveal a character in several ways:
- physical description
- speech and actions of the character
- direct comment from the narrator
- speech and actions of other characters or what others say about her/him and how
- how others react to her/him
Types of Characters
By and large, there are four types of characters:
Round: These are complex personalities who are presented in detail.
Dynamic: These are many-sided personalities that change, for better or worse, by the end of the story.
Flat: These are personalities characterized by one or two traits only.
Static: These are unchanged through the course of the story.
When analysing characters, we look at:
Motivation: cause of/reason for actions
Behaviour: actions of the character
Consequences: results of actions
Responsibility: moral, legal or mental accountability
Expectations: what the reader expects
5. Mood and Setting
Setting – The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting.
There are several aspects of a story’s setting to consider when examining how the setting contributes to a story:
- Place – Geographical location; Where is the action of the story taking place?
- Time – When is the story taking place? (Historical period, time of day, year, etc)
- Weather conditions – Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
- Social conditions – What is the daily life of the characters like?
- Does the story contain local colour (writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular place)?
- Mood or atmosphere – What mood is created? Is it bright and cheerful or tense, dark, and frightening? Is there a sense of pathos? Is there suspense, etc?
6. Point of View – The Angle from Which the Story is Told
Omniscient – The author tells the story using the third person. The author knows all of what is done, said, felt, and thought by all the characters.
Limited omniscient – The author tells the story in the third person, but limits observations of thoughts and
feelings to one character; the author presents the story through this character’s eyes. ‘
Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the third person. It appears as though a camera is following the characters and recording only what is seen and heard. No interpretations are offered. The reader is placed in the position of the spectator, without the author there to explain. The reader has to interpret events on his own.
First-person – One character tells the story in the first person. The reader sees and knows only as much as the narrator.
Innocent Eye – The story is told through the eyes of a child (his/her judgment being different from that of an adult).
Stream of Consciousness – The story is told so that the readers feel as if they are inside the head of a character and know all his/her thoughts and reactions.
7. Language
Figurative language or words are used by the author to paint a picture or describe scenes or objects e.g. imagery, irony, simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, etc. Figurative language has many effects. One is to make a complex, abstract idea come to life in a more visual manner; another is to create a more concrete image in our heads.
We should also examine the sentence structure, mood, tone etc. within the context of the story and discuss the role words play and how they enhance the story’s impact.
Sample Story
Write a story that begins with the following:-
It was a strange night and there seemed to be a chill in the air…
It was a strange night and there seemed to be a chill in the air. I quickened my steps as I hurried home. I wished now I hadn’t hung around the coaching center talking to friends. The road was deserted this dark December night. Suddenly something knocked me to the ground, unconscious.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in a bed. I tried moving and but felt too disoriented and weak. My head was throbbing. I touched it and there was a huge bump at the back.
No wonder!!
I was probably going to die. No! I wasn’t ready to die yet… I gathered all my strength and let out a piercing scream.
Immediately this huge giant of a man came running into the room. I was filled with terror at his sight. I closed my eyes, awaiting sure death.
But nothing!!
I opened my eyes to see him smiling gently at me.
‘Take it easy,’ the man said. ‘A falling branch knocked you out. I happened to be out of my house and saw the incident. Don’t worry, you’re safe, I’ve called your father.’
Story Writing Practice Examples for Class 10 CBSE
4.1.1 Look at the pictures below. Use all the people/objects shown here to make up a story.
4.1.2 ‘In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes’ – Andy Warhol.
Would you like to be famous? What would you like to be famous for? Write an account of how you became famous.
4.1.3 Make up a story that describes how the elephant got its trunk. Or how about explaining how a giraffe got its long neck. How did the leopard get its spots? Why has a rabbit got long ears? Why is a zebra stripy?
4.1.4 Discuss the environment from the standpoint of a fish. Then, write the autobiography of an earthworm.
4.1.5 Think about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good. Maybe you got injured and while you were waiting for your broken leg to heal, you learned how to use a computer. What makes the event change from bad to good maybe something that you learned, as a result, something that you did differently as a result, or something that happened that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. Tell the story of the event that you experienced and help your readers understand how an event that seemed negative turned out to have valuable consequences.
4.1.6 You have made a very important discovery – one that will make you famous throughout the world. Write a story in which you tell about your discovery and how you made it. Be sure to include details about the setting and any characters in the story, and be sure that your story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
4.1.7 ‘Robert looked out of his bedroom window. He was greeted by the sight of two gentlemen digging a hole in his front lawn. The taller of the two gentlemen had his back to Robert, but the shorter of the two was staring right up at Robert, lips pulled back from blackened teeth in a vicious grin that told Robert everything he needed to know about the purpose of that deep, dark hole …’ Complete the story in about 200 words.
4.1.8 Write stories using the following beginnings:
- They said she was able to utter a few words before she died …
- Sometimes I think my friend has strange powers. Every time he’s around …