Creative Writing Advice

Creative Writing Task

This article provides advice for students who will undertake the creative writing task in the 11 plus entrance examinations for independent schools.

Creative writing for the 11+ will require you to write an extended piece of writing in the form of prose, either from a picture stimulus or providing you with a title for the story. Both types of task will examine your ability to plan, create and then write in a structured manner.

You may be given just one title or picture to write from or you could be given a set of options from which you choose your preferred one. Some schools may present the creative writing task at the end of a comprehension exercise where you are asked to continue the part of the story in a similar style.

What is the examiner looking for?

Creative writing skills include the following components:

• Effective planning
• Creativity/imagination
• A fluent and interesting writing style
• Correct use of punctuation including the use of advanced punctuation
• Correct use of English grammar
• Correct spellings
• An extensive and interesting vocabulary
• A well-structured piece of writing

Timings

There will be a specified time given for the writing task. The length of this will vary between schools. Ensure that you know what this is and keep an eye on your progress in order to be able to finish in time and include a check of your work.

1. Planning

Never just start writing. Planning will help you to organise your thoughts and this will give your writing structure.

It really does not need to take long but is always five minutes well spent. This planning time may form part of the whole time given to write or it may be an extra 5 minutes provided at the start before the writing is timed.

Use a planning technique that works well for you e.g. flow-chart, mind map, spider diagram or story mountain. If you do run out of writing time you can ask the examiner to refer to your plan to see how you would have ended your work.

2. Using your creativity/imagination

Some people are naturally creative with words and plot lines and find this skill easy. However, your imagination can be greatly improved by reading a variety of books. Ask us for a recommended reading list which we will happily provide.

3. Fluent writing style

Your writing style is unique to you. It should demonstrate coherence and an ability to write in an entertaining manner that creates such an interest for the reader that they want to continue reading.

4. Punctuation

You will be expected to use all the correct punctuation marks in a piece of creative writing.

Apart from the standard simple forms of punctuation, you will already be familiar with, it is best to also demonstrate your knowledge and correct use of some of the less commonly used punctuation marks e.g. ellipses(…), brackets( ), colons(:), semi-colons(;), hyphens(–) and apostrophes(‘).

5. Grammar

English Grammar follows rules and you will be expected to use them correctly in your writing. It is important that you do not write as you may speak or as you communicate in a text message.

All sentences should be complete and make entire sense on their own, using the correct tense consistently. Use a variety of sentence structures, in addition to simple sentences, including compound and complex sentences to showcase your abilities.

6. Spellings

The use of correct spelling is essential in any form of writing. Reading a lot will improve your spelling ability as well as playing some word games e.g. Scrabble.

Although a dictionary will not be allowed to be used in a test, make looking up spellings in a dictionary part of your 11+ preparation.

7. Vocabulary

An extensive and interesting vocabulary takes years to develop.

It is very useful to keep a vocabulary list to extend a child’s vocabulary and the best method is to read numerous books and look out for new words that you can use in your writing.

Keeping a word list of new words is useful and this can be added to when reading books or during lessons either here or at school. When you are practising your writing skills, use a thesaurus to improve and extend your vocabulary and make an effort to include lots of interesting adjectives and adverbs.

8. Structure

It is important to demonstrate that your writing has a structure in the form of clearly demarcated paragraphs that are organised by characters, topic and time.

Ensure that you have a good opening paragraph to draw the reader in and then a suitable closing paragraph to conclude your writing.

Checking your work

Always leave enough time at the end of your writing to check your use of spelling, punctuation, grammar, use of tenses and sentence construction.

Read through carefully with a critical eye and carefully, neatly correct any errors or omissions.

Although your handwriting is not usually included in the creative writing grade it will certainly influence decisions made about your work.

Following this creative writing advice and you’ll soon see your writing improve.