Question

From the following passage

1. Describe the setting. How does the author use the setting to establish the story?

2. This passage is the beginning of a short story. How does the writer suggest what might happen next?

3. What do we learn about the Characters? How many significant characters are there? Who are they?

4. What does the dialogue add to the story? What do we learn from it?

5. Any Ideas on how to finish the story?

I'll be extremely grateful to any help anyone can give, small or big, I'll appreciate it :)

Answer 1

The Monday morning rush- hour traffic shuffled along the Newbury Rd like a great centipede, a segment at a time. Called by the 9am curfew, the office folk accelerated from 0-30 mph and back to nought again, all in the space of a few yards, lest a rival should nip into a few square feet of unoccupied tarmac.

Reg felt more than a little smug as he pedalled his way round through the fuming vehicles. Old Hatchet Face wouldn't be able to say he was late today. Reg spotted a familiar face. Gerry the Postie was wheezing as he sorted the Christmas mail and Reg felt glad he'd invested in the latest hi-tech breathing apparatus.

A big Tesco lorry was idling much too close to the kerb but here seemed to be ample room to overtake it on the outside. The traffic going out of town was also more or less stationary and, as Reg freewheeled by, out from behind a tall truck came an extraordinary figure. A girl of indeterminate age (15?20?25?), clad in a baggy Harlequin uniform and perched on stilts, tottering on Reg’s path.

“Mind out!” he cried, as he reached for his defective brakes. The girl saw him at the last moment and tried resourcefully to make an arch for him to pass underneath. But Reg scarcely had time to duck his head. Then there was a crunching of wood and spokes as Reg and the girl came down together in an ungainly heap. The girl’s face was no more than twelve inches from the lorry’s back tyres as the driver lurched up through the gears, oblivious to the drama. For all the mascara and rouge, she seemed oddly expressionless.

“Timber!” cried a taxi driver

“I’m so…I’m so…” started Reg as he fumbled with his mask. There was a searing pain from his ankle.

“Would you like to go on a Magical Mystery Tour?” asked the girl., springing to her feet and helping him up.

- the passage -

Answer 2

You said you had an idea already, would you mind discussing?