Successful Settings

A one-hour world-building workshop
for KS2, KS3 or KS4

This workshop delves into the role of world-building in narrative fiction, whether realistic and fantastical, inviting participants to devise an opening scene that foreshadows aspects of the story to come.

A group of students with the author Sarah Holding sitting around a table in a school library, engaged in a discussion or activity, with books, papers, and writing materials on the table.
Illustration of a pencil with a pink eraser, beige body, and a dark blue tip.

what happens in this workshop?

ice-breaker
I show some quick examples and we discuss how settings make stories more vivid and compelling.

topic
We focus specifically on the ‘arrive late, leave early’ approach to scene planning, and how to ‘show’ not ‘tell’.

activity
Students experiment by evoking a specific setting which sets up expectations regarding a story narrative.

support & feedback
I help individual participants, and at the end I invite a handful of pupils to read their work aloud and I offer feedback to support what they’ve learned.

resources
Whiteboards, pencil and plain paper work best, thesauruses are also a handy extra sometimes.

success criteria
Understanding the interrelationship between setting and action and how to use specific incidental details more effectively.

Book a Successful Settings workshop with Sarah for your school
A cartoon diamond illustration with black outlines and light blue and gray sections.
A cartoon rocket ship launching with smoke and a cloud above.
Line drawing of a light bulb with a simple filament.
Cartoon piggy bank with a coin about to be inserted.
Graphic of a five-piece audio mixing or equalizer fader with vertical sliders and bars.