Composition - The juicy inside

After writing an introduction, you need to, in your next few paragraphs, tell a good story. You need to make sure that the story makes sense.  Many times, students will also mix up the presence of 'I' in the story and do not bother to reread the story through after writing it.  If only they had read their own writing like reading someone else's story, they would have noticed some of their own errors!

How then, can we write a story that has a 'good' plot?  Well, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.  I can only use my own version of how I see work as a gauge.

'Safe' stories that are not well developed, but may just pass the mark.  For the use of discussion, I have 'lifted' this picture from another website that discusses composition writing.

How would you plan for a story based on this picture?  A 'safe' one that just makes it would write about two friends going to play at a park / near a lake or pond with their kite.  The kite was blow and got tangled up with a tree's branches, and one of the boys climbed the tree to get it down.

A story that is a little better would write about a lesson learn at the end.  One even better would write about how they got there, why they were there.

I suggest a few other point of views:

- Think out of the ordinary.  Instead of the boys playing with the kite, they may happen to be there and notice a young child crying for a kite that got tangled on a tree.  The boys then played 'hero' and tried to get it down for the child.  Climax / Complication arise when the boy fell (normal) or tore the kite (did you expect that!).

- A prank.  The child asked them to help get the kite down, but upon climbing the tree and getting to the kite, found sticky 'stuff' on the kite, plus many insects getting onto their bodies from the tree.  It was a prank by their class 'joker', teaming up with his younger sibling.  Or it may be a plot to get back at them for having ruined the 'joker''s plan in school.

- Have an unexpected 'twist'.  Boys' teacher / parent appears on the scene, berating them for forgetting to attend a 'make-up' tuition class, and playing in the park instead.

- It was a staged effect for part of a show.  The boys were going home after school / tuition together.  Walking through the neighbourhood park, they noticed a 'fighter kite', one that they had always wanted, perched high up in a tree.  Overcome by greed, they decided to get it and make it their own.  It was during this that they realised that this was a set-up by 'Gotcha!' to see how Singaporeans may react to seeing an expensive kite on a tree.

  See how I have come out with four possible plots out of the ordinary, just like that.  You can too!  Just think of the possible, and veer from it!  Introduce one of two characters to help you twist the story!  Be wary though.  Introducing too many characters may also give you a problem that you are unable to concentrate on the story and fail to comprehend what you are writing.  For that, you need a clear mind and a distinct personality for each of your characters!