Introduction
Story writing is like building a fun puzzle! Imagine you’re telling a super exciting story to your friends. You start with a great idea, but for it to make sense and be exciting, it needs a beginning, a middle, and an end—just like your favorite movies or books! These three parts help keep your readers interested and excited to find out what happens next.
Reasons to Use
When you write a story, it’s helpful to think of it like a journey. The beginning is where you introduce your characters and set the stage. The middle is where all the fun and challenges happen, and the end is when everything wraps up. By dividing your story into these parts, your readers can follow along and enjoy every step of the adventure!
Out in the Wild!
Let’s imagine you’re writing a story about a superhero hamster! You would need to:
- Beginning: Introduce Hammy the hamster and how he discovers his superpowers.
- Middle: Show the problems Hammy faces, like the evil cat trying to steal his food.
- End: Hammy uses his powers to defeat the cat and save the day, living happily ever after.
Examples
Beginner:
- Beginning: Once upon a time, there was a brave little puppy named Max who loved adventures.
- Middle: One day, Max got lost in the forest, and he had to find his way home by meeting new animal friends who helped him.
- End: Max made it home, and he felt so proud of his big adventure.
Intermediate:
- Beginning: Lucy found an old, magical key in her backyard.
- Middle: The key opened a secret door to a land full of dragons and treasure! But a sneaky dragon wanted the treasure all for himself.
- End: Lucy outsmarted the dragon, sharing the treasure with all the creatures in the magical land.
Expert:
- Beginning: In a distant galaxy, Captain Ella was in charge of her spaceship, exploring new planets.
- Middle: One day, her ship broke down, and she was captured by alien pirates! She had to use her wits to escape and fix her ship.
- End: Captain Ella escaped just in time, defeated the pirates, and completed her mission, saving her crew.
Troubleshooting Tips
- Too many details in the beginning: If you spend too much time explaining the characters and setting, you might not have enough room for the exciting parts! Keep the beginning simple and save the action for the middle.
- The middle feels boring: The middle should be where all the challenges happen. Add excitement, like a problem the characters need to solve or an unexpected twist!
- The ending feels rushed: Make sure the ending feels satisfying. Wrap up all the important parts of the story so the reader isn’t left with too many questions.
Also known as...
- Beginning: Introduction, start, opening
- Middle: Plot, conflict, action
- End: Conclusion, resolution, wrap-up
Next Steps
As kids become more advanced, they can start adding multiple problems in the middle or even subplots (smaller stories that happen alongside the main one). They can also play with different endings, like leaving a mystery for the reader to think about or writing sequels.
Memory Tips
- Think of a sandwich! The beginning and end are the slices of bread holding everything together, and the middle is the delicious filling where all the fun happens!
- Use a triangle shape: The base of the triangle (beginning) is where everything starts. The peak (middle) is where the problem or excitement happens, and the triangle slopes down (end) as everything gets solved.
Game Time!
Can’t think of the perfect start, or an exciting middle? Visit Creative Carnival and the Story Builder to help put your story together! Print it out to carry on writing your story.