Narrative Writing
Section: Writing | Syllabus: Cambridge Primary English First Language (0058)
Planning Creative Writing
- Develop creative writing across a range of fiction genres and types of poems - not just the genre you're most comfortable with
- Before writing an extended piece, use effective planning to organise its content and structure
- Decide on your main character(s), setting, and the problem the story will explore
- For a longer piece, plan how it will be divided into chapters or sections, and roughly what happens in each
- Good planning stops a story wandering off-track, or the writer getting stuck partway through
Planning the shape of a story before writing stops it wandering off-track or the writer getting stuck
Engaging the Reader Through Settings, Characters and Action
- Settings - use sensory and precise detail rather than generic description
- Characters - reveal personality through what they do and say, not only through adjectives that state it directly
- Action - use strong, specific verbs to make events feel immediate
Bland version: "The house was old. A man walked in. He was scared."
Question: Rewrite this to better engage and entertain the reader, developing the setting, character and action.
Setting: replace "old" with precise, sensory detail: "The house sagged under decades of ivy, its windows dark as closed eyes." Character: show fear through behaviour instead of stating it: "He paused on the threshold, breath held, straining to hear anything move inside." Action: replace the plain verb "walked" with something more specific, like "crept" or "edged forward". Answer"The house sagged under decades of ivy, its windows dark as closed eyes. A man edged forward through the doorway, breath held, straining to hear anything move inside."
Including Different Viewpoints, Including Flashbacks
- A story can include different viewpoints - the same event can look different depending on whose perspective is used
- A flashback lets you include an earlier event or an earlier viewpoint within a present-day story
- Signal a flashback clearly - a new chapter, a change in verb tense, or a phrase like "Three years earlier..."
- Including more than one viewpoint, or a flashback, can add depth and help explain a character's motivations
Writing a Playscript
- A playscript is written to be performed, not read like a novel
- A character's name is written before their line, without speech marks
- Stage directions (in brackets or italics) tell actors how to move, speak or behave
- Production notes at the start of a scene describe the setting, and may include notes on lighting, sound or props, to help develop the setting and characters
Narrative: "Zara slammed the door and threw her bag on the sofa. 'I am never going back there again!' she shouted, her hands shaking."
Question: Convert this into playscript format, including a production note and a stage direction.
Production note describes the setting at the start of the scene: "[A cramped living room. ZARA enters, slamming the door behind her.]" The character's name goes before the line, with no speech marks: "ZARA:" A stage direction in brackets shows how the line should be delivered: "(throwing her bag onto the sofa, hands shaking)" Answer[A cramped living room. ZARA enters, slamming the door behind her.]
ZARA: (throwing her bag onto the sofa, hands shaking) I am never going back there again!
Common Mistakes
MistakeUsing speech marks around a character's dialogue in a playscript
Fixplayscripts don't use speech marks - write the character's name followed by a colon instead
MistakeOnly using an adjective to state a character's feelings, e.g. "he was scared"
Fixshow feelings through what a character does, says or notices, rather than only naming the emotion
Interactive revision notes, videos and practice questions load below.