Writing your first story

The theme is ‘A day in your life’.

1. Write it exactly as you would in your native language. Only say what happened. Say what happens in chronological order. Don’t use feeling words. Don’t make an analysis or a summary.
2. Edit the story for simplicity and clarity. Convert idiomatic statements. ‘I am as tired as a dog’ becomes ‘I am very tired’.
3. Convert the story to the present tense (it may not be possible to write a story entirely in the present tense when you want to place events in chronological order, however write mainly in the present tense)
4. Send your story to me. I’ll simplify it further (if necessary) so you will have an easier time translating it.
5. I send you the story back
6. You translate it. Do this paragraph for paragraph.
7. When you’ve done your best then send it to me. I’ll correct it and make notes regarding the errors you are making.
8. When you get it back you compare each corrected paragraph with your original paragraph and make notes as to the errors you are making.
9. Make a copy of your original text and correct it yourself from the corrected story you have received back. (This may seem redundant, but it gives you a chance to understand better the corrections when you do them yourself)
10. You can now convert the story into the past tense (Perfekt and Präteritum). You can now contrast the two past forms
11. For reference: https://medium.com/fictionaufdeutsch/alltag-daily-routine-c35907f93e60