Antony West (Author)

Creative writing isn’t just about letting your imagination run wild; it’s about corralling it into a sensible narrative. And for this, we need structure. Tom Sherrington talks about the importance of ‘modelling’ and ‘scaffolding.’ We need to show students what a plot looks like. Introduce them to the classic three-act structure: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or the ‘Freytag’s Pyramid.’ Don’t just mention these terms; get them to draw it out. Plotting isn’t about killing creativity; it’s about providing a framework so that the story doesn’t wander off into the narrative wilderness and get lost. It’s a GPS for their imagination.