Okay, you’ve got an exciting opening line. The next thing to do is ‘set the scene’ for the reader – by describing the place where your story is taking place. Writing about a forest fire? Describe the forest. Writing an adventure set in Ancient Rome? The reader needs to know this, so you’d better describe a Roman forum, with citizens dressed in togas bustling through the streets, and open-mouthed Britons staring at this strange new land. 

Kelda decided to write a gangster story. Do you see how she ‘sets the scene’ using Bald Worm’s descriptive techniques after opening the story with an exciting first line?

It is tempting to focus on what you can see when ‘setting the scene’. The best stories will cram in as many of Bald Worm’s descriptive techniques as possible into six or seven lines. Which of our descriptive techniques have been used here?

Note Caroline’s use of imaginative adjectives when ‘setting the scene’ in the following story opening:

(c) Nick Hitchen 2007

Last updated on August 13, 2007