11 Plus story challenge

This is a beneficial activity for all writing students, whether they are solely revising for the shorter CSSE writing exam or the longer tasks set by other grammars for the second-stage or independent schools.|

• It’s an excellent task to focus the mind.
• It’s an excellent task to get used to time pressure.
• It’s an excellent task to revise how to start and end stories.
• It’s an excellent task to repeat weekly.
• And it’s often a welcome task because it’s only 9 minutes long!

Beginning – 3 minutes
• Write the beginning of your story.
• Use one of the starters from my post on story starters.
(link here to a post on how to do this )
• Create a setting and introduce the main character.

Middle – 3 minutes
• The problem: write the main conflict of your story.
• Is there a vicious creature stealthily approaching someone?
• Could someone be lost on an island?

Ending – 3 minutes
• A conclusion will tie up loose ends.
• It may show how a character has changed.
• The ending may hint at the character’s life after this.
• It may offer hope and redemption.
• It may end on a cliffhanger.
• It may use a statement or a rhetorical question.

What length should this be?
It depends on writing speed, but children will get quicker the more they do this. Try writing no less than seven sentences.

Writing prompt suggestions:
• The Storm
• The Beast
• Wolfgar, the unlikely king
• The Forest
• Explosion!
• Lost and never found

Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Anna