Planning

• 1). Decide on your topic. Your story must lend itself to descriptive details about a personal experience or observation. It must also meet your instructor's requirements on page length and whether there should be a "moral of the story."
  
  
• 2). Identify the characters of your narrative. The adage "less is more" applies here: Limit your characters to the individuals who play major parts in your story.
  
  
• 3). Establish your narrative's setting or settings. If your story shifts from one location to another, set up the time and place for each location.
  
  
• 4). Outline your sequence of events. Describe your setting in the introductory paragraph and then proceed to tell your story chronologically. If you include flashbacks and flash-forwards in your narration, maintain a chronological sequence within each episode. Always make your readers aware of the time and place in which an action is taking place.
  
  

Writing

• 1). Fill in your outline with detail. Make any necessary changes as you go along; for example, drop a character or change the order of events. Unless required by your instructor, you may also forgo a description of your setting in the first paragraph and choose to introduce it later in a character's dialogue or in a flashback. Use paragraphs to primarily signal a change in action and setting, but avoid placing too many details and too much action in any single paragraph. Write your story in the first person to relate intimately with your reader.
  
  
• 2). Shift smoothly from sentence to sentence and between paragraphs. Use transitional words and phrases to establish their relationship of chronology, order, cause and effect, contrast or spatial adjacency. For example, begin sentences and paragraphs with "moreover," "as a result," "instead," "afterward" and "next to." These transitional expressions will eliminate choppiness and maintain your readers' interest and connection to your story.
  
  
• 3). Review your essay at least twice after you've completed it. Besides checking for spelling and grammar errors, evaluate your story's flow. Ask a parent, teacher or other adult to help you critique and proofread your essay.