Gossiper > Learn

HOW TO WRITE A STORY

Do you want to write? First of all, read these 20 GOLDEN RULES outlined by the young people of the “Manana” Youth Educational-Cultural Center. They will certainly help you!

Here are some points you just cannot do without if you want to write.

Do you know what a ‘text’ is? Yes, it is a group of sentences. So does just any group of sentences make a text? Let’s see…

E.g. I can write poems. My father is reading a newspaper. I am an excellent student. The dog was eating the bone silently.

Do you think this is a text? No, of course not.

Then what is this group of sentences lacking to form a text? The sentences are all grammatically accurate, aren't they? Then what?

The sentences have no common theme; there is nothing binding the sentences together. So, a text should first have a subject, including about whom and about what. (About me)

You know that that isn’t enough. A text should have a beginning, a developed subject, and an end. The beginning usually indicates where and when the action takes place and the main characters. The development of the story is the most important part. It is here that the main events take place. We should not ignore the importance of the end. Isn’t it true that none of us like to read something without an ending?

Now, do you think that this is enough to create a text? You probably understood that the answer is no. What did I forget to mention? Oh yes, the title. This helps a great deal to introduce the general meaning of the piece. The title should attract the reader. Who reads a book before looking at the title? Would you read a book with a title that you didn’t like?

In any given piece of writing, one can understand it not only from its title, but from a few other words. There is a secret in choosing these words. They can't be just any words from the story, but the most important words or expressions that remind you of the theme, the characters, and the different events of the story. Those are the key words and expressions. Try to change those expressions and you'll see that the underlying theme of the text is changed.

Let me mention a few key words taken from a well-known fairy tale. Try to guess which tale!

sisters, step mother, prince, ball dance, fairy, pumpkin, mice, shoe.

Did you guess right? Exactly, these are words taken from “Cinderella” by the Grimm Brothers.

Now let's try to take out some of the key words from the writings of “Manana” kids. For instance, the key words in Lusine Hakobyan's story called “The Self-portrait” are: street, stream, inhabitants, Granny Anik, Mrs. Maneh, Dog Vanda, Grandpa, the kindest man in the world.

Now try it on your own – find the key words in “Summer Evenings in the Park” (by Naneh Sahakyan) and “Live Concert” (by Gor Baghdasaryan) and send them to us at khabarbzik@mibanasem.com.

Did you figure it all out? If so, you're ready to write your own great stories and fairy tales!