Map out the details of your plot before you begin writing. You may want to make notes about each of the followings plot elements: setting, characters, conflict and resolution.
Begin your story with the exposition: an introduction to your characters and the setting. You may choose to use a phrase that places your story in a time period. For example, "Once upon a time", "Many years ago" or "Back when I was a child" are all phrases that let the reader know the story is set in the past.
Develop your story by providing events and details that add to the rising action of the story. The rising action includes all events that add to the shaping of the conflict in the story, and details that lead up to your story's conflict. All events and details must be relayed with verbs in the past tense. For example, use verbs such as went, said, fought, loved and wanted. Regular past tense verb forms end in "ed", while irregular verbs do not.
Use expressions of time when appropriate throughout the story. Phrases such as "back then", "at that time", "yesterday" and "in those days" remind the reader the story is set in the past.
Write the events of the climax of the story using verbs in the past tense.
Write the falling action, events that happen after the climax, using past tense verbs. The denouement, or the resolution of the conflict, must also be written use past tense verbs.
Edit your completed story checking for subject and verb agreement, making sure all verbs are written in the past tense.