Teach Primary Issue 18.5

• What problems could you add for the characters to make your story longer? • What things do you enjoy that you could include in your story? • What could happen if you added more characters? • How could you make your story funnier, scarier or more adventurous? character could be super-confident and another one shy. One could love disco music and another flinch at loud noises. One could be kind and caring, and another boisterous and rude. Ask pupils to write down, in the style of Top Trump cards, the names and ages of three or four other characters who have also found themselves on a magical island. Next, ask the children to write down some of the characters’ likes and dislikes. This sounds simple, but in steering pupils away from only describing physical appearance you’ll help them craft characters who feel more lifelike. Remind the children that you want the group of characters they create to be total opposites. the weather, the ground, or what they can hear/smell.) • How might you feel if you suddenly found yourself on a magical island? • What is the first thing you’d do? This will get pupils thinking about their five senses, and planning the opening of their stories without them even realising. 2 | CREATING CHARACTERS The biggest aspect of telling a successful story undoubtedly lies with the characters you create. Without authentic and varied characters to relate to, readers won’t be able to connect to the story. So, with that in mind, we want pupils to create three or four characters who are totally different from each other. For example, one • To add more drama and excitement, pupils might want to create rules for their magical island. Can they only see the magic at midnight? Are they only allowed on the island for 24 hours? Do they have to work with the other characters to complete a series of challenges like in Race to Imagination Island ? • After they’ve created their characters, you might want to ask pupils to try their hand at writing some dialogue. They could start with a line like, ‘What is this place?’ or ‘Who are you?’. They could even act it out with a group of friends. • Encourage pupils to write a story in five paragraphs: 1. Describe the [first] world-crossing moment 2. Introduce main characters 3. Introduce problem/s 4. Explore the island and attempt to solve the problem 5. Resolution or cliffhanger. EXTENDING THE LESSON 3 | WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? Every story needs a problem for the character to overcome in order to make it exciting. Challenge pupils to write down as many problems as they can in two minutes. These could be small things like ‘I broke a fingernail’ or big issues like ‘an alien invasion’. Put a timer on to make it feel like a game and shout out some of your own ideas so less confident pupils can add them to their list. At the end of the two minutes, share ideas as a class. Pupils now have a whole bank of problems to call upon when planning stories, and once they know what the character’s problem is, they’ll have the crux of their story to build upon. 4 | BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER After completing the last four activities, pupils should be brimming with ideas for their stories. They know what their magical island will look like and what they’ll find there. They know what will happen at the beginning of the story, who their characters are and what their problems might be. Now all they need to do is bring it together with a resolution (or a cliffhanger) at the end. Pupils should have had fun working through the different activities, and hopefully you won’t, even once, have heard the words, “I don’t know what to write”. Bestselling author of The Christmas Carrolls series, Mel Taylor-Bessent started her career running award-winning creative writing workshops and launching authorfy.com , one of the most-used literacy platforms in the UK. Mel hopes her new series, Race to Imagination Island , will inspire even more children to read and write for pleasure. “Confidence grows from comfort” USEFUL QUESTIONS www.teachwire.net | 73