What makes a story entertaining? That's the question Arthur asks himself when Mr. Ratburn gives a creative writing assignment to the class. When D.W. yawns through Arthur's first story, he worries that his tale isn't exciting enough. Is the setting too humdrum? Maybe he needs to research his subject more thoroughly. Or perhaps humor is the key to creating a lively tale With every new angle, Arthur's story takes one more hilarious step further away from his original idea -- but is the end result really the tale he wants to tell?