HOW TO WRITE A STORY FOR PET LEVEL (B1)
Compulsory task: no.
Word count: around 100 words.
Register: informal.
Make sure you use a correct narrative verb form:
Past simple: I woke up early that morning because I was pretty nervous.
Past continuous: I was having breakfast when the telephone rang.
Past perfect: I hadn’t been that nervous in my life before.
You can add:
Expressions of place and time: Later on/five minutes later/at the train station…
Adjectives and adverbs.
STRUCTURE
Title
Stories have titles.
Beginning
Introduce the main character/s and explain a bit the background of the plot.
What do the characters do?
Main part
Main actions and parts of the plot.
Ending
End the story. Do not leave an open ending because there is no sequel.
It can be happy/funny/unexpected/shocking… it’s up to you.
EXAMPLE
A new adventure!
As the plane flew lower, Lou saw the golden beaches of the island below. She couldn’t believe she finally took that plane. She could see crystal clear water and white sand that looked like snow through the window. This was the first time she was travelling alone. ‘If only my friends could see this view!’ she thought, but they all had to work that week.
When she arrived at the hotel, she took her towel, bikini and sunscreen and headed to the beach. There was only another young lady sunbathing. ‘Lovely beach, isn’t it?’ the lady said. ‘The most beautiful one’, Lou replied. They started talking, and it turned out that they were staying at the same hotel. They liked each other instantly.
‘In the end, travelling alone is not that bad at all’, she exclaimed to herself, smiling from ear to ear, as she knew she had just made a new friend.