Stories for Fun – One Bite at a Time

• How do you eat an elephant?

Did you ever hear the riddle about how do you eat an elephant? Simple. You eat it one bite at a time! Pretty much like you’d eat a slice of pepperoni pizza, right? Writing a biography or a story is the same way – you just start with one question and one answer at a time. Don’t worry about how everything is going to get pulled together at the end. Take one piece at a time and build it up bite by bite.

Think about the story you want to tell. You need to organize it to make sense. Here is a common way to do it. The beginning paragraph is the introduction to the story. Use it to grab your reader’s attention. Make readers want to read more. Use at least 2 to 3 sentences or more if needed.

The middle paragraphs hold the details of the story. They can describe the person and what they did in their life. Write 4 to 5 sentences for each paragraph and add at least one other middle paragraph to show what happened. Remember to keep things in sequence. Biographies work well starting with when the person was born. You can add lots of information in each paragraph. Use it to help your reader know more about your subject.

The ending paragraph wraps up the story. Use it to sum up why the person in story is important to you. Tell what you learned from this person. What did you enjoy most about interviewing this person? Use at least 2 to 3 sentences to wrap up the story.