Do you like reading or listening to stories?
What stories do you like?
INTRODUCTION
When you want to tell a story, you must start with a good opening. A good beginning introduces the characters and tells where and when the story happens. You can also include what the story is about when telling the beginning of the story. The opening will make your readers want to hear more.
The beginning of story 1:
It was a warm summer day, and Mom and I were walking in the fields. I was enjoying the wonderful smell of the flowers and the happy song of the birds. As we passed a peanut field, I saw some delicate yellow flowers dotting the field of green leaves. I stepped forward to pick the flowers.
In this introduction, you can ask several questions to increase your interest in the story like the following;
- How many characters are there in the story?
- When they passed a peanut field, what did they see?
The beginning of story 2:
Long ago, during the Sung Dynasty, it rained and rained. The Yellow River flooded at the outskirts of Hezhong Prefecture, and the floodwaters broke a floating bridge into little pieces. The bridge was repaired, and eight iron bulls were put in place to hold it up. But the flood continued, and washed away the iron bulls. They sank to the bottom of the muddy river.
Same with the first example, you can also increase your interest in the story by asking questions like What happened to the floating bridge? and How many iron bulls were put into the river?
The beginning of story 3:
On October 1, we celebrate our National Day. It was on that day in 1949 the the People's Republic of China founded its central government. "The inaugural ceremony* was held in the capital, Beijing. Three hundred thousand people came to watch the ceremony. There were all kinds of people there, from all walks of life: government officials factory workers, farmers, students, and teachers.
In this last example, if your interest is about history you can continue the story by learning its tradition and culture.