2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Have a look at the start of these movies…
• They open the door into an adventure and invite you to enter.
6. 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.
7. 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?
8. Step 3: Tighten Tension
Once you have written your sizzling
start and have the reader trapped,
tighten the tension.
9. • 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.
10. 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.
