This paper examines the role of cohesive devices in storytelling. It argues that the use of cohesion is an indicator of the proficiency of a foreign language writer. One of the challenges of writing, when the writer doesn’t use the natural temporal order, is what structure to give to the story and how to make the characters and happenings in the story coherent. Adopting Halliday and Hasan’s definition for types of cohesive devices, this paper first discusses how some published writers take advantage of cohesion to make their writing work toward theme and characterization. Then analyses will focus on various extracts by EFL students in creative writing courses. The extracts either demonstrate good use or misuse of cohesive devices. They reveal that potentially, creative writing is an effective platform to showcase the writer’s language proficiency, as well as an effective approach to EFL teaching.