Fiction Writing Basics: Everything for Paper 2 Writing

British & IGCSE › Checkpoint 6 English (Cambridge Primary 0058)

1. What is Paper 2 writing?

Paper 2 of Cambridge Primary Checkpoint English (0058/02) is the Fiction paper. It lasts 1 hour and is worth 50 marks. Section A is Reading (25 marks) and Section B is Writing (25 marks). The suggested time is 30 minutes for each section. In Section B you write a piece of fiction: a story, or part of a story.

The writing task is usually linked to the theme of the reading text you have just read. You are not copying that text. You are writing something new with your own ideas. The question often gives you a few bullet points or ideas to think about. Use them: they tell you what the examiner hopes to see.

2. How your story is marked (25 marks)

The examiner gives you five separate marks and adds them together. The marks are the same on Paper 1 and Paper 2, but in Paper 2 they are about storytelling.

Look at the numbers. Structure and Grammar and punctuation are worth 14 of the 25 marks together. A simple story told in well-organised paragraphs with accurate, varied sentences will beat a clever idea written in one long, messy paragraph.

3. All the elements of a story

These are the tools a story writer uses. You will not use every one in a 30-minute story, but you should know them all, because the reading questions in Section A also ask about them.

4. Plot: the story mountain

Most good stories climb a ‘mountain’. The tension rises to the top (the climax) and then comes down to the ending.

5. The G.C.S.P.P. technique — plan before you write

Before you write a single sentence, spend three or four minutes breaking down the task with G.C.S.P.P. Each letter is a decision. If you make the decisions first, you will not change your mind in the middle of the story.

6. Opening, continuation or full story: how each one works

The biggest mistake in Paper 2 is writing the wrong ‘amount’ of story. Read the task word by word and decide which of these three you are writing.

1. Opening — plan in four steps: (1) a hook first sentence · (2) a paragraph of setting using three senses · (3) the main character shown through STEAL · (4) the first hint of the problem, ending on a hook.
2. Continuation — plan in four steps: (1) note the characters, setting, POV, tense and mood of the extract · (2) start at the exact moment it stopped · (3) build to a climax with suspense · (4) end in a way that fits the story so far.
3. Complete story — plan in five steps: one line for each stage of the story mountain, and one word for the theme you want the ending to show.

7. Sentence patterns and sentence starters

If every sentence starts with ‘I’ or ‘He’ or ‘The’, the story sounds flat. These eight starters make your writing lively and earn Grammar and punctuation marks. Notice that most of them are followed by a comma before the main clause.

Sentence types. Use all three kinds, and choose them for effect:

8. Dialogue: how to punctuate speech

A few lines of speech bring a character to life and move the plot forward. But speech that is punctuated wrongly costs Grammar and punctuation marks. Learn these rules.

1. Put speech marks around the exact words spoken only: “I’m lost,” said Nour.
2. Start the spoken words with a capital letter: Grandad said, “Feed them first.”
3. Put the punctuation that ends the speech INSIDE the speech marks: “Run!” “Are you sure?” “I know,”
4. If the speech comes first and the sentence continues, end the speech with a comma (not a full stop), then a small letter: “It’s late,” she said.
5. If the reporting clause comes first, put a comma before the speech marks open: Youssef said, “Let’s go.”
6. If one sentence of speech is split, the second part starts with a small letter: “If we hurry,” said Nour, “we can catch him.”
7. Start a NEW LINE every time a new person speaks.
8. Keep dialogue short. Two or three exchanges are enough. Speech should show character or move the story — not fill space with ‘Hi.’ ‘Hi.’ ‘How are you?’

9. Punctuation for effect

Good writers use punctuation to control how the reader reads. These are the uses you should know and use:

• Ellipsis ( … ) — to show a pause or suspense, information left incomplete, or a speaker being interrupted: ‘The door opened slowly…’ / “I thought I saw…”
• Single dash ( – ) — for emphasis at the end of a sentence, or to show an interruption in speech: ‘He thought of the old man’s face – the panic in it.’ / “Look, he’s – ”
• Pair of dashes — to add extra information in the middle of a sentence: ‘The tower – built before I was born – leaned a little to the left.’
• Brackets — for extra information: ‘My cousin (who never stops talking) was silent for once.’
• Colon ( : ) — to introduce a list, an explanation, emphasis or extra information: ‘Then Youssef saw it: a battered violin case.’
• Exclamation mark — for shock, strong feeling or a shout. Use it in speech, and use it rarely in narration.
• Question mark in narration — to share the character’s worry with the reader: ‘Who had left it there?’

10. Openings and endings

11. Useful phrases and vocabulary

12. Timing your 30 minutes

13. Strong sample 1 — a complete story

14. Strong sample 2 — a story opening

Compare this with sample 1. An opening does NOT solve the problem. It sets up the characters, the setting and the problem, then stops on a hook.

15. Common mistakes and checklist

16. Practice

1. Read the task: ‘Write the opening of a story about a child who discovers a hidden room in an old building.’ Is this an opening, a continuation or a complete story? What must you NOT do?

   Show answer

   It is an opening. You must not tell the whole story or solve the mystery of the room. Introduce the child, describe the building, show the discovery of the room, and end on a hook (for example, a sound from inside the room).

2. Make a G.C.S.P.P. plan for: ‘Write a story about a character who has to be brave to help someone else.’

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   G — adventure or realistic fiction. C — Salma (10, shy, afraid of water) and her little brother Ali. S — a beach in Ras El Bar in summer. P — third person (she). P — whole story: (1) Salma refuses to swim · (2) Ali’s ball floats away and he follows it · (3) he is pulled out by a wave · (4) climax — Salma grabs a body board and paddles to him, heart pounding · (5) ending — wrapped in towels, Ali says, “You swam!” and Salma realises fear does not have to win.

3. Punctuate this speech correctly: where is my bag asked Hana i left it here a minute ago

   Show answer

   “Where is my bag?” asked Hana. “I left it here a minute ago.” (Question mark inside the speech marks · capital letters for ‘Where’ and ‘I’ · the second sentence of speech gets its own speech marks.)

4. Rewrite with a different sentence starter each time: ‘The boy walked into the room. The boy saw a box. The boy opened it.’

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   Possible answer: Pushing the door open, the boy stepped into the dusty room. In the far corner, a wooden box waited on the floor. Slowly, he lifted the lid. (-ing starter, prepositional phrase starter, adverb starter.)

5. The extract you read is in the third person and the past tense: ‘Adam crept along the corridor. The torch flickered.’ A student continues: ‘I am really scared now and I run back.’ What two mistakes have they made?

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   They changed the point of view from third person (Adam) to first person (I), and they changed the tense from past (crept, flickered) to present (am, run). Correct: ‘Adam was really frightened now, and he ran back.’

6. Change this ‘telling’ sentence into ‘showing’: ‘Laila was nervous before the race.’

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   Possible answer: Laila retied her shoelaces for the third time, and her stomach twisted like a wet towel.

7. Which is the better ending, and why? (a) ‘Then I woke up and it was a dream.’ (b) ‘I placed the old key back in Grandad’s drawer. Some secrets, I decided, were worth keeping.’

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   (b). It gives a real resolution, shows that the character has changed, and links back to the story. Ending (a) cancels everything that happened and loses Creation and Structure marks.