Top tips from 500 Words finalists

My top tip for writing a 500 word story. It's a plan it first. If you plan it first, you'll know what happens in your story. Like a Story Mountain, it shows you the beginning, middle, and ends.

My top tip is to use your imagination and make your characters come alive.

Breaking up your story into bite-sized chunks. I have a really, really, really good imagination, And I can come up with all these wild, great, amazing stories, but I find them very hard to put down on paper sometimes.

You shouldn't always worry about your first draft. Just write freely about whatever interests you most, whatever excites you, and whatever sparks your imagination.

My top tip is to always trust your imagination and do your research first, if you are writing about a new topic.

Think about things you like makes it easier because you can bring anything to life in the story. Even a toy or a food.

You could draw a cat on a piece of paper and write all your ideas about settings and other stuff in your story around it.

My top tip would be don't write your story all in one go. It's okay to write it a little bit, but remember, don't put it through too late or you'll miss a deadline.

I use simple words so people feel what you feel? And also I show what's happening instead of just telling.

I have dyslexia, so I wrote lots of drafts over a week, and I read it out loud to my family and when I noticed the errors, I corrected them.

Go to the places where you love most? For me, nature. Or if there's any objects around that might inspire you? For me, my grandad's macaroni cheese bowl as mentioned in my story.

My top tip for writing a story is to find a topic that you love and know a lot about, and then write a story based on this.