My top 5 tips for story writing
How to secure a top grade in your 11 Plus or GCSE English exams
Today I’m sharing my top tips for writing a short story in an exam. This isn’t some fluffy AI-generated content; these are the top tips I repeat week in, week out with my students. They’ve helped my 11+ students secure offers to the top schools in the UK and my GCSE students gain 9s in their English Language exams.
Note, the following advice applies to writing almost any story in any exam, be it for the 11 Plus or GCSE English.
Funny or die
I think a great irony is that many students who fail English and label it boring will fail because they themselves were too boring. Playing it safe is how you fail English. The students who get the most marks are the ones who write playfully with wit. Why? Because, one, it's generally easier to make a reader laugh than pull on their heartstrings. Two, when you try to write a really dramatic story, you become too focused on the story itself. You forget about showing off and demonstrating a range of writing techniques. And three, the examiner will have read many apocalyptic and sci-fi stories that are void of any human feeling whatsoever. A story that’s even a little funny will be a beam of light shining through the cosmic darkness.
All action and no character makes a dull story
“The best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say, character-driven.”
— Stephen King
This is a quote I share with all of my students. The reader is really interested in your characters, not the events in and of themselves. All good writers know that no matter how epic or complex the plot, you need to bring everything down to an individual level. To illustrate this, listen to the hit song As the World Caves In. The chorus repeats:
Oh, girl, it's you that I lie with
As the atom bomb locks in
Oh, it's you I watch TV with
As the world, as the world caves in
Think of these lines and how those little everyday images provide a counterpoint to the image of an exploding atom bomb. It makes it feel real. Now, I wouldn’t encourage you to write about a nuclear apocalypse, but if you must, then ask these questions: one, who or what do my characters stand to lose? And two, how can I make my reader feel that sense of loss? It’s those little details that will elevate your writing. Most students will focus entirely on making their stories more dramatic; what you want to do is focus on giving the reader an impression of your characters through the smaller details.
Keep it simple
Write a short scene and keep it simple. There are just three things I want you to remember:
One, keep the action of your story between 5 minutes and 2 hours in length.
Two, follow my 3-2-1 rule: 3 main characters or fewer, one or two settings and only one main event or bit of drama.
Three, end on a cliffhanger and don’t worry about resolving any conflict.
This simple framework will prevent you from getting carried away with the action and focus on what’s really important–things such as character development and scene setting.
Connect the dots
Fill in the gaps. This is the thing I’ve been focusing on most with my students lately. It’s something nobody ever taught me at school, yet it’s essential to writing a story that flows. It’s the glue that binds everything together. You need to think through the cause and effect on a moment-to-moment basis:
This person says this, and it leads their listener to think/ feel what?
How do they then react?
How does the first speaker react to their reaction?
How are other people nearby reacting?
Where are they having the conversation? How would you describe the atmosphere?
To write a great story you have to keep asking these kinds of questions. Of course, you don’t want to include every answer and be overly descriptive, but you need to play out the story in your head before you put pen to paper. Evaluate how much the reader needs in order to keep up with what’s happening. Yes, you can and should leave some things to the reader’s imagination, but it’s also your job to join (most of) the dots!
Copy everything
Use what you know. Invest your energy in putting everything together—combining characters, stories, settings you know—to write an entertaining story that successfully responds to the prompt you’re given. Consider the most famous English writer ever. William Shakespeare—that guy was a serial plagiarist.
It’s actually really easy to ‘get away’ with copying as well. For example, you can imagine a story featuring Harry Potter but change his name to Dom, his hair to brown and airbrush the scar from his forehead. It’s that simple. Don’t spend 15 minutes inventing characters for your 50 minute exam story. Steal a short scene from a book, film or TV show, cast your characters and focus your attention on adapting the scene to fit the task.
In my next post I’ll share a short story a subscriber sent me which takes on board almost all of this advice—except the advice to be funny. To be honest, being funny is not a must be, but I find I end up ticking far more boxes when I write a funny story. I think many students will find this to be the case with their writing as well, which is why I put it first on my list. So yes, of course you can write a grade 9 story without being funny, but it’s easier and more fun to write a light hearted or humorous grade 9 story.
I hope these tips help you to write better stories.
If you would like more help writing stories, I can assist through one-to-one tuition. Simply reply to this email letting me know your goals.
Best,
Morgan