Crafting your story
You've created the basis of your story, now you need to find your unique writing voice.
‘I will not pretend I wasn't petrified. I was. But mixed in with the awful fear was a glorious feeling of excitement. Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn't be exciting if they didn't.’ – Danny the Champion of the World
Writing voice
The writing voice is what makes a story distinct and personal, it makes it real. It's the way ideas are expressed, the tone that is used, and the rhythm of the sentences. Roald Dahl's voice was certainly unique, often whimsical, and always entertaining.
To see what the difference a unique writing voice can make, listen to these two readings of the same scene from the BFG. The first is read from the book as it was written. The second reading is a heavily adjusted version of the same scene.
Listen to the two readings as many times as you need, then write down the differences and how that affects the story.
The fun of story writing is that you can really experiment with various styles, tones, and perspectives to see what feels like the most natural way of storytelling to you. By finding your voice, you'll make your stories come alive and give personality to the characters, making them truly your own.
Write down notes about the voice you would like to use.
Write your story
You have decided who you are going to write about, what you are going to write about them, who they are up against, and how you are going to write about all these ideas.
Before you start writing your story, make sure to send your work sheet to your teacher and fellow aspiring writers for feedback.Now it is time to write. But even before you receive any feedback, you can already start writing your story!
Write your story!
Once you have written your story and incorporated the feedback you have received, find an image to accompany your story, and send the final version to your teacher. It will be uploaded to the story blog.