【明報專訊】To write creatively is to express ideas and thoughts in an imaginative way. Bill is writing a story about an adventure. He has invented a few characters with different personalities. What happens in their journey?

●Quest for dragons

◆setting 背景

˙place 地點˙

a fictional place虛構的地方

outer space外太空

Europe歐洲

˙time 時間˙

future未來

present day現代

ancient times遠古

◆character 人物

˙appearance 外貌

˙relationship with each other 人物關係˙

amicable 友好的

antagonistic 敵對的

comradely 戰友般的

˙personalities 性格

◆plot structure 情節結構

˙incidents 事件

˙order of incidents 事件次序

■Writing tips:

˙Decide when and where the story takes place. The place may be real or fictional. The story may happen in the past, present or future.

˙You may plan the story in advance or develop it organically as you write it.

˙Design the story's characters. Decide how they are related to one another, how they look, what qualities they have and how they behave.

˙Use a good story opener to draw your readers' attention. You may, for example, create tension at the beginning or start straight with dialogue.

◆Example:

On a typical sunny day, I asked Olivia in a cafe, "Do dragons really live on that mountain?"

"I don't know, but why don't we try to find that out?" Olivia said delightedly. We soon arrived at the foot of the mysterious mountain, where a ray of light suddenly dazzled us.

A fairy appeared in front of us, "What are you looking for?"

I was both excited and scared, "We are looking for dragons if there're any," I said.

■English highway﹕-words and collocations

fictional

Something fictional is not real or true and exists only in stories.

e.g. Mickey Mouse is a fictional character in Disney cartoons.