An Example:

The Night Adventures of Catfish and Toad

Catfish and Toad live in beautiful lake surrounded by beautiful trees.

One day Catfish convinced Toad to get out of the lake so they could go grocery shopping. Reluctantly Toad agreed. It was very quiet.

Catfish said, "The lake is ours now until daybreak."

Toad made one of his facial expressions and said, "We are out of the water and feel powerless."

Catfish wiggled his whiskers and said, "Don't be afraid."

But Toad replied, "The night is scary. I feel safe in the water."

Just then they heard a squeaking noise that scared them. They looked around, but all they saw was Cricket making music with his hind legs, Mrs. Duck leading her ducklings to the other side of the lake,Owl flying down like a plane to pick up a fish, and the moon gazing at them like a one-eyed giant.

Finally they went back into the water to have a better view of the shore from inside the lake.

And to their dismay, it was only Mr. and Mrs. Beaver coming home with a large tree trunk to fix their den for the winter.

After this, Catfish and Toad changed their minds about going out. They went to bed and fell asleep.

The Parts of a Good Short Story

A good story must have three parts,

A Beginning:

The first thing you should do is think of a good beginning. It should be straightforward and should not be any more than one or two sentences. It should introduce the characters (Catfish and Toad), the setting (the Lake), and the plot (Catfish and Toad decided to go grocery shopping.

A Middle:

This is the part of the story where the characters solve the problem (crisis). This is the most important part of the story for the reader. Sometimes the character may solve the problem more than once. This will make the story very interesting. If the characters take too long to solve the problem or resolve the crisis, the reader will loose interest, and the reader will find the characters boring. Catfish and Toad looked all around to find the source of the noise that made them afraid. Was it the Cricket, the Ducklings or the Owl? No, none of these were the cause of the noise. Finally they went back into the water in order to have a better view of the shore from inside the lake. And to their dismay, it was Mr. and Mrs. Beaver coming home with a large tree trunk to fix their den for winter.

An Ending:

Your ending should be short. Perhaps one or two sentences. Once the problem is solved the reader looses interest. Now Catfish and Toad go into more familiar surroundings in the lake. They feel safe and now change their minds about grocery shopping. The food in the lake tastes much better.

       Please  email me your ideas and questions.

The Night Adventures of Catfish and Toad, and more stories and tales - both fictional and nonfictional - are collected in Remembering the Home Spirits, available from Amazon.com and from the Electric Bookworm.

This page has received a Best Content Award for Outstanding Web Content from Lisa's Book Reviews