---
title: "Planning Narratives"
description: "Plan narrative writing by considering how authors have developed characters and settings, drawing on techniques observed in texts read, heard, or performed"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/planning-narratives-mt_j6ENpc8--_
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/planning-narratives-mt_j6ENpc8--_.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Planning Narratives

Plan narrative writing by considering how authors have developed characters and settings, drawing on techniques observed in texts read, heard, or performed

Subject: English · Area: Writing Composition · Ages 10 to 11
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/planning-narratives-mt_j6ENpc8--_

## Ready when they can

- Identify specific authorial techniques for character development from a mentor text
- Plan a character using techniques such as showing through action borrowed from a studied author
- Analyse how an author builds setting and apply similar techniques in planning own narrative

## Lesson: Planning your story like an author

Before authors write a story, they plan so the story holds together and the reader wants to keep reading. They think about what their character is like and where the story happens. You can plan the same way, by noticing what authors already do in books, shows, or plays you know. Name the technique exactly, and borrow the technique, not the exact words.

*(drawing: Plan these four parts in order, just like authors do before they start writing.)*

**Example.** Writers show a feeling through what a character does. A student used that move to plan a scared character: shaking hands, a dropped ball, and refusing to look up. Authors also build settings with sounds, smells, and textures you can sense.

**Tip.** Keep the book you are studying nearby while you plan. Name the technique exactly, like 'shows fear through shaking hands,' instead of just saying the author was good at writing.

**Recap.** Look at how authors build character and setting, then plan your own story using the same techniques.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Connecting New & Old Ideas](https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/connecting-new-and-old-ideas-mt_32B7xjUPwF)
- [Writing Craft Vocabulary](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/writing-craft-vocabulary-mt_82KKv0Fca3)
- [Choosing Form and Tone for Your Audience](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/choosing-form-and-tone-for-your-audience-mt_v5DyOEpbbr)

## Opens up

- [Writing Character & Dialogue](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/writing-character-and-dialogue-mt_BLzNxSSdWu)