The Blog
Danse Macabre Writing Ideas
How honing your listening skills can benefit your writing. Writing is more than just what we see, but we often ignore our other senses because we default to our most dominant sense. Now, that's not true for everyone, but it includes the majority of us. At Storymakers,...
How can I support my child with their English and writing now they’re at home?
Ways you can help your children with their English and writing at home. There are a whole host of resources on line that are currently free to download at home to help with English and writing support. Educators have made this possible because they know parents will...
Creative writing inspired by board games
On a rainy day there is nothing better than to wipe the dust off a few board games and start playing them. However, what if you could incorporate these exciting games into your writing? That’s just what one of our Young Writers did and here she is to explain for...
Story planning – Brainstorm a sandstorm!
I recently worked with some Year Six children on story planning and writing, under timed conditions. We had 45 minutes, 15 of which were for story planning and the remaining 30 minutes for writing the story. This was the brief: You are lost in a desert and get caught...
Make a short story out of your spellings
Want to know a fun thing to do with your weekly spellings list? Turn them into a short story. This is one of my favourite things to do with the children at Storymakers and it’s particularly useful if you have reluctant writers. Not only does it help with spellings, it...
Using music as a prompt for your writing
Music can make a powerful writing prompt. This is a song about a young homeless girl, begging on the streets and a man who walks by, seeming not to have noticed her. This song is a message. It is a warning to us all not to ignore poverty; a reminder how, in...
Choosing the best way to start your story
When you look at the different ways to open a story, you can see which works best. Here are a few types of story openers to consider:An actionWeatherTimeA statement or factA questionDialogue It's interesting to see how your choice of opening sentence can direct your...
Creating characters for your stories
Creating characters is one of the first things we do when planning our stories at the Storymakers Writing Club. This is because when you consider character and setting, it can spark an idea for your story and there are a number of ways to come up with characters, my...