Creative Writing: how to start

Two resources, ten pages in all, aimed at encouraging pupils to improve their creative writing skills by focusing on openings.
One of the exercises involves rewriting a dull opening describing a man’s arrival at a castle. To introduce this, teachers might like to show that part of Todd Browning’s classic movie Dracula where Renfield first arrives at the count’s castle. It can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjDfOAhtWwo

By working through the exercises, pupils will learn:
• How to identify what makes for good writing
• How to hook their readers at the opening of a story
• How to use a range of language techniques to improve their creative writing