[fun_friend]

I used to teach personal narrative and the kids would write about, say, a trip to an amusement park. They would write a lot about the car trip and the motel and then end with, "We had a lot of fun at the park--THE END!"

I began teaching strong beginnings. If the story is about a trip to a park, the strategy I teach is to put yourself at the park doing something, thinking and feeling something, hearing a sound, or saying something. This eliminated the long lead-in.