The Creative Writing Jigsaw

By Gemma Louise Bull

If your child requires Creative Writing as part of their exam, they will need to write at a high level to impress the examiner.

I teach my students about the Creative Writing Jigsaw. Just like a jigsaw puzzle, Creative Writing requires key ‘pieces’ to create the perfect picture (a piece of writing). The 4 key ‘pieces’ are Content, Structure, SPAG and Vocabulary.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will share more information and sample tasks to ensure you have all the advice you need. To start with, I have included a summary of the key skills your child will need to master:

Piece 1: Content To write imaginative, thoughtful and interesting texts Focus Areas: Create an original piece of writing Develop ideas with some imaginative detail Write for the appropriate purpose, including the key features	Piece 2: Structure To organise and present whole texts effectively Focus Areas: Use the appropriate structure for a specific text type Use accurate paragraphs Use a range of sentence openers and cohesive devices
Piece 3: SPAG To write with technical accuracy Focus Areas: Accurately use a variety of punctuation Include some ambitious sentence structures Write in the accurate tense and follow grammatical rules	Piece 4: Vocabulary To select effective vocabulary Focus Areas: Include an impressive range of vocabulary to create vivid imagery Integrate a variety of devices including similes, metaphors, personification, etc.