Writing a Short Story

Click on the "A Jury of Her Peers" link below and read the short story.

When you are finished reading the story, click on the "Literature: What Makes A Good Short Story" link below. Read through the Web pages to gain knowledge of what a short story is made up of. Take notes as you read.

Print the "Outline Worksheet," select a topic for your own short story and fill out the outline.

Once your outline is finished, begin writing your story. Your story should be typed in a word processor and should be 3 pages long.

When you are finished writing your story, hand it in with your outline. You will be graded on grammar and spelling, originality of your story, and how accurately you outlined your story compared to your final story.

  1. A Jury of Her Peers
  2. Literature: What Makes a Good Short Story
  3. Outline Worksheet
Lesson Name:   Writing a Short Story
Objective:   Students will use the "Literature: What Makes a Good Short Story" Web site to read a short story example and to learn about the parts of a short story. Students will then use the "Outline Worksheet" to write an outline for their own short story. Students will then write a 3-page short story using the appropriate elements of style and writing to capture the reader's interest.
Grade:   (9-12) Lesson Login:   short_story-a
Additional disciplines:
Computer Skills
Reference
Materials:
Computer with Internet access
Paper and pen
Word Processing software
Printer, if using software
For AIS instruction, this lesson has been modified as follows:
In the directions, the student has been asked to write a 3-page story instead of a 5-page one.
Click here for the original version of this lesson.