The 500 words' judges are highly experienced storytellers who have amazing tips to share with your students.
We've put together the best bits from previous 500 Words Live Lessons. Use these videos in the classroom or at home to provide some inspiration for children to kick start their stories.
Starting a story
The best thing that your students can do is just start. Sometimes it can be hard to know how to begin a story but once they put pen to paper the ideas are sure to come flowing.
Charlie Higson is a firm believer in the importance of beginnings and he has shared his thoughts on what you need to get started. Share these clips with children who are itching to put pen to paper but don't know where to start.
It’s really important that you have a good strong opening line you want to grab your reader and make them want to carry on reading. Oh you could start with something big happening, like an explosion, or you could start with a bit of dialogue or you could make it feel like the stories already started on their joining at halfway. Anything that makes the reader think ‘yeah I really want to know what's going to happen next.’
Characters
Starting a story is hard, but thinking of an interesting character that keeps the reader interested can be even harder, which is why our judge's next tip is all about characters.
Malorie Blackman shares her top tips on characters - she is even joined by fellow judges Charlie Higson and Francesca Simon.
For extra points for your class, how many times can they spot Hacker T Dog?
Creating Characters
Let's talk about characters, it sounds like a really obvious question but why are characters important?
Malorie: Well your main character is who your story is about and that character gives your story a voice and is the eyes through which we’re going to see the world you create. So you need to bring your characters to life so that the audience connects with them. A character is more than just their appearance. It is important to understand how the character feels and how the story affects them.
Now what do you think the key is for helping your reader connect with the story?
Francesca: Well, I think you need to think about who is actually telling the story. Is it a narrator who knows everything, who can go anywhere, who sees everything? Or, are you telling the story from one point of view from one specific character? So, it’s I saw this and I’m doing that. How does this character see the world? And the character can take us through the story, we’re seeing it through their eyes. Different people and different characters have different points of view.
Charlie: Just to say, oh she's a bad ogre and she's bad is a bit uninteresting. It would be interesting to find out why she’s bad, why she does the thing she does because I don’t think a baddie ever thinks of themselves as a baddie so there might be a reason, it might be ‘ooo, I’m not evil – I’m on a special diet. The only thing I’m allowed to eat is human beans!
- Ahh yes and sometimes baddies in stories have weaknesses, don’t they?
Yes, it’s always good if you want your hero to be able to defeat them, so a vampire like Dracula, they can’t go out in the sunlight or they turn to dust.
- Ah yes, and they don’t like garlic. So, find that little thing that will defeat your baddie as well.
Like Captain Hook in Peter Pan is terrified of crocodiles. And any kids if obviously you’ve played a lot of computer games you’ve gone up against the boss villain at the end of a level, there’s always a way to defeat them once you work out what their weakness is.
Ending a Story
Knowing how to end a story is just as important as knowing how to start it. We can't wait to let children's imaginations run wild, but remember, all stories must be 500 words or less, which means it needs time for a great ending.
In our last Live Lesson clip, you can show children how to craft an ending that best suits their story. We ask the important question: what would Frank do? Watch and find out!
Ending a story
Frank: Well when I’m struggling with an ending. I always ask myself these three very straightforward questions:
What is the most amazing thing that could happen? So for instance, imagine if Henry VIII came back to life and decided he still wanted to run the country.
What is the very best thing or the very best thing that could happen? So imagine you wake up and yayy you’ve been picked to play in the champion league final, oh no the team’s lined up but no one can find a football.
What is if nothing is as it seems? What if we realised that we are all puppets and that Hacker t dog is the puppet master
Hacker: Don’t get personal
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