A scene is the basic unit of a story. Stories can be described as a series of scenes strung together, each scene containing some change to move the plot forward.

In this lesson, our students were assigned to write a single scene involving two characters encountering a shark attack. Our students would have to establish the setting, situation, show character, and move the story to the next plot point.

Here are stories from Boaz Yim, Brendan Yip, Hallie Cheng, Myra Leung and Matthew Yam.

I invited my friend Josh to go for a fun little fishing trip, so we decided to set off at nearly 4:00 pm. We bought a fast boat and some fishing equipment and some worms for the fish.

Boaz Yim P5C

We set off into the distance for some big fish. Josh told me to move the boat to the north so I went full speed to the north. Once Josh told me to stop I stopped. My friend suddenly screamed and it was like a fire alarm right next to my ears.

I said, “Why in the world would you scream so loud?!”

Josh said, “There's a shark man! Can't you even see it?! Are you blind?!”

I said, “Now that you mention it, I'm scared about the problem that we can't go home!”

I saw Josh holding the map upside down and I smacked him in the face.

“Do you even have a brain? Did you hold the map upside down the whole time?” I shouted angrily.

I quickly turned the map around and I found out that we were in the middle of the a shark-infested water zone. I saw the sharks chomping at the engine, and it started producing smoke.

I said, “Duck!”

Josh and I ducked and the engine was torn apart from the boat and when it was floating away, it exploded into millions of pieces.

“Now that 'was our only way back home, but it is gone.”

It was a sunny, Saturday afternoon. Edgar and I went to the beach
today. After we had a picnic, we rented a raft and went out to sea.
I shouted on the raft, ”We are sailing out!” We went further and further
away. Then, I spotted a net.
Edgar suggested, ”Let’s go over it!” I agreed. I thought it was
relaxing to sail on a day like this. After a while, we dozed off.

Brendan Yip P5D

Then, I woke up because of a strong gust of wind. To my surprise, I was surrounded by a big bunch of sharks! I was horrified and didn’t know what to do. However, there was no sound- it was already in the dead of the night! I tried to raise my voice to call for help, but there was no reply. To make it worse, it just woke the sharks up. The sharks looked at me, and Edgar, who was sleeping, with their sharp eyes, just like they were going to eat us. We can’t leave the sharks as there is no space. We tried to go over a shark but the shark was angry indeed. It used its head to try to knock us down. Luckily, we didn’t lose our balance and fall into the sea.

I started to think, “Are the sharks going to eat us? Or hunt for fish?” My curiosity was getting stronger by the second. So, I decided to wake Edgar up.

He said in a regretful tone, “Oh! We shouldn’t have gone over the net. I think it was a shark net!”

“Let’s pretend to sleep after munching a biscuit in my bag. This can be great as it is like pretending to be dead. The the sharks wont eat us,” I suggested.

...While Tom and Jerry were fishing to prepare for their barbecue, they noticed three sharks closing in on them from around their boat.

Hallie Cheng P4G

They were scared and shocked to the point that they threw their fishing equipment in the water and retired back to the middle of the boat, scared stiff.

Tom and Jerry then tried to sail or row their little boat away from the sharks. Unluckily, the sharks had collided with their boat and their mast broke, which meant they couldn't sail the boat, otherwise, they would drown.

Jerry started crying and said, ''Oh no, we're gonna die!!! We're drowning! Sharks help! Help! I don't wanna die.”

Tom was trying to figure out a way to save their lives and get them back to the shore and he shouted at Jerry, ''Shut up and come help me! We're not gonna die! We need to get out of here.”

Both of them decided to try and fix the boat by keeping the sharks busy!

“Finally, we are in the middle of the sea! Look around! This is so cool!” shouted Benny, Ariana’s friend. “I just really love the sea. I hope I am a merman. I could swim in the sea and have fun with sea animals. I would take photos with them and be a famous celebrity!”

Myra Leung P4G

“Haha, me too. I love sea animals, except sharks. However, I like the song Baby Shark, ” said Ariana.

While they prepared the gear for fishing, they suddenly saw a group of fish coming to their side. They felt lucky to have so many fish coming to them. Benny’s eyes sparkled, ‘‘ We came to the right place for fishing, we will catch a lot of fish.’’ Suddenly, Benny found their boat trapped by the sharks. One shark opened its mouth wide.

“Oh no! What should we do?” shouted Ariana. Her hands were shaking.

“What should we do? How do I know? If you did NOT invite me to go fishing, I WOULDN’T suffer in this DANGEROUS SITUATION! UGH! This is your fault, you are so ennui,” shouted Benny, rolling his eyes.

“Oh wait! Once in a blue moon it happened, seeing those sharks are rare. If you take some pictures with you, I’m sure you will be a famous celebrity as you wished,” Ariana said excitedly .

“This is not the problem! THEY ARE GOING TO EAT US! What’s in your brain?” shouted Benny, “Wait. What if we signal for help?”

Ariana and Benny checked their phones. Ariana’s phone only had 1 percent.

They were happy to see Benny’s phone had 73 percent, but they found the phone wasn’t working..

“Ariana, try your phone, see if it works? The sharks seem hungry,” growled Benny.

Ariana, scared the sharks were hitting the boat, shouted, “I’m so scared! What can we do?”

Ariana suddenly had a thought, “What if we just throw our food into the water? maybe after those sharks are full, they will go away.”

“What?! Are you crazy, man! We will die without this food!” said Benny.

“Then I will only throw my food,” said Ariana. She threw her ham sandwiches into the water.

“Uh-oh. Can you see these ‘triangles’? It seems it’s a shark fin,” I observed more “triangles” appear on the water surface.

Matthew Yam P4A

“Oh yes! You are right. These are shark fins,” my friend nodded his head.

“Then quick! Think of some ways we could escape! QUICK!!!” I was petrified, but I calmed down and tried to think of some ways we could escape. “Let’s swim back to the ship,” I proposed.

We swam as fast as our legs would carry us, yet, the ship sailed away already. What’s more was that wherever we swam, the sharks also chased and got closer to us. The more they got closer, we get more scared and couldn’t calm down. We racked our brains, but we could not think of anything.

We tried to signal “SOS” to the tourists and lifeguards despite the poor visibility, but we were beating a dead horse because we were far from the shore. The sharks got closer and hungrier...

Shark Attack: A Scene Writing Exercise