Almost 6,000 children entered the writing competition in July 2020 and Oxford University Press’ analysis shines a light on children’s insight, empathy, and imagination when writing about race. Find out more.
Oxford University Press is proud to be partnering with the 500Words: Black Lives Matter story-writing competition. Our language experts collect and analyze every story received to better understand children’s language and inform learning, so get your pens at the ready!
Are you a budding David Walliams or the next J. K. Rowling? Find top tips, videos, activities, and books to help unleash your inner author.
Created to inspire and guide budding writers, this book covers tips and advice for plot, characterisation, world-building, tone, editing, and much more to turn initial ideas into powerful stories.
Oxford Dictionaries for Children has teamed up with BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words – the nationwide competition to find the most talented young writers in the UK!
Pick a type or genre of story, character and setting and put them together to think up a story idea. You can pick and mix from every category or even throw your own ideas into the mix.
Complete this character profile to collect ideas about the lead character in your story. Try to answer every question to find out what makes your character tick.
Complete the story mountain to plan out the plot of your story. Start at the bottom with a dramatic opening and then work out the different twists and turns your plot will take until you reach the end!
Complete the examples below to create your own striking similes. Try to choose unexpected words that will create an original picture in the reader’s mind. Then create your own similes from scratch!
Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can help you to spot how to make your story even more awesome! Team up with a friend to swap your stories. Use the checklist to note down your thoughts about their story and suggest any improvements.
Can you show how you’re feeling without saying a word? Pick an emotion from the list below and then mime an action that shows how you’re feeling. Can the rest of the class guess the right feeling?
A must-have notebook to unlock the imagination and inspire children to start writing, full of great hints and tips, and activity pages for jotting down words, sketching characters, and writing in stories. Created by award-winning author Christopher Edge, this is the perfect companion to his How To Write Your Best Story Ever!
Ideal for children wanting to enter story writing competitions! This is a humorous and authoritative book that will awaken the author in every child, unlocking their story ideas and giving them hints and tips to create their own stories.
Finished a first draft of your short story and not sure what to do next? Read Christopher Edge’s top tips for polishing your story to perfection.
So you’ve got your idea, and you’ve planned the plot. Now comes the hardest (but most rewarding) part – actually writing your story. Here are Christopher Edge’s top tips on how to get started.
When you look down at a blank piece of paper, inspiration can seem a long way away. Here are Christopher Edge’s top tips for coming up with story ideas.
Harriet Muncaster gives her top tips on how to write a story, from developing the characters to designing the plot.
Plastic has been revealed as the Children’s Word of the Year by Oxford University Press for the BBC 500 Words Competition. British children have once again shown themselves to be fabulously inventive, funny and socially astute.
Christopher Edge, author of ‘How to Write your Best Story Ever!’, shares his top 10 tips to help your child write amazing stories.
It’s easy to start a story, and it’s hard to finish one. Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series, shares her top tips for finishing a story.
Every writer wants to find the perfect words to tell their story. These activities will guide your child through four ways to make language sparkle in their creative writing, from creating striking similes to wielding unusual words.
Every story needs a star! These four fun activities will help any aspiring author dream up some page-turning protagonists.
Top tips for helping children develop great plots in their creative writing.
Coming up with a great story idea can be tricky, which is why we’ve gathered together four fun activities to inspire your child’s creative writing.
As writing for pleasure becomes less popular with children, Isabel Thomas emphasises the importance of writing non-fiction for fun.
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