Seven Steps to Writing Success

Steps 1 - 3

Step 1: Plan for Success

• Did you know that most authors spend at least a

third of their time planning their writing? Imagine

how much time J.K. Rowling took.

• To be original you need to have lots of ideas, so

brainstorm and then pick the best ones to

develop further.

• Plan how your writing is going to start and how

you want it to end. Then you can fill in the middle

with all the parts you have brainstormed.

Step 1: Plan for Success (cont’d)

• Think FIRST, think SECOND and think THIRD.

What this means is do all your planning first.

Don’t try to make it up as you go.

Step 2: Sizzling Starts

• A sizzling start gets the attention of the reader straight away and leaves them wanting to read on. Many movies or advertisements on television use sizzling starts.

Have a look at the start of these movies…

• They open the door into an adventure and invite you to enter.

Step 2: Sizzling Starts (cont’d)

You have about 7 seconds to grab the reader’s attention.

Make the reader curious, use humour, start with dialogue, create a moment of change, use a short quote

or start with action words like “GOAL!”

“SHH!” “OUCH!”

Paint a picture and make the reader want to read on.

Step 2: Sizzling Starts (cont’d)Here is a boring start:

I woke up that morning really nervous. Today was the day of the big disco competition. Sam and I had been practising for months. This year we would do it. We would beat that

Penelope and her partner once and for all. I leapt out of bed…

(Now how to get through the long boring day until the disco begins…)

This one sizzes:I opened the door to the disco and the music hit me like a blast. Lights flashed, people

moved in a swirl of colour and it was suddenly hard to breathe. Nerves, I guess. It was the big dance competition tonight. Sam and I had been practising for months. This year we

would do it. We would win! We must!

‘Hi there!’ It was Penelope. Yeah, it would be. ‘Bet you think you’re going to win tonight!’

Can you tell the difference?

Step 3: Tighten Tension

Once you have written your sizzling

start and have the reader trapped,

tighten the tension.

• The blue line represents many children’s writing, long and boring with a little bit of excitement at the end. We want the black line: A sizzling start followed by tightening of tension. Make the reader want to read on.

To write convincingly you have to make the reader feel that they are actually there escaping the lava flowing down the mountain or struggling in the raging river or dying of thirst in the desert. Once you have the setting use your senses. Imagine if you were there, what would you see, hear, feel, smell, touch and taste. Use descriptive language and place it in your story. Make it interesting and people will be dying to read it.