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Writing fiction – WJECPlanning a response

Writing fiction involves coming up with creative and original ideas to develop interesting pieces of writing. Find inspiration in your own experiences and the real world.

Part of English LanguageWriting

Planning a response

The importance of planning

Planning is an important part of the fiction writing process. Many professional writers use a plan as the basis for a first draft, which they will later edit several times before the work is complete.

Planning and proofreading should bookend your writing process. In the planning phase you prepare your ideas and structure. As you proofread you check how well your writing is working. During each phase you might focus on vocabulary and effective forms of expression.

Planning a piece of writing

There are several different ways to plan a piece of writing; it really is whatever you find easiest to understand. You could:

  • create a mind map
  • bullet point your ideas
  • create a flow chart of each stage
  • draw out a table

What to include in a plan

A plan is an outline of your ideas. You could use the five-part story arc or a timeframe to help structure your narrative.

You could also use your plan to remind you of key features you want to include (figurative language, variety of sentence structures, TiPToP paragraphs). A plan can also be a useful for collecting vocabulary and phrases that you want to include in your final piece of writing.

Proofreading

When you have completed a piece of writing, it is a good idea to check over what you have created. Simple spelling errors, missing punctuation or words are common errors to make when you are writing creatively. Once you look back over a piece of work, it is easier for you to spot things and put them right.