Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Olly Murs and more share their top tips for writing stories

Leigh-Anne Pinnock: My number one tip for helping somebody to write their first 500 Words story, would probably be to story map it, so maybe do beginning, middle, end. Write some notes down, don’t feel like you have to write the whole thing at once.

Mr Maker: Well, I’m Mister Maker, and when I’m looking for inspiration to make something, I look at the world around me. It could be a beautiful sky, a terrific tree, all the wonderful people around me.

Olly Murs: My number one tip for writing a story, and this is what I do when I’m writing songs, is that I always know know what the start is and what the end is, so when you’re doing something which has got 500 words, you need to fill in the gaps in the middle, so you know what the end and what the start is.

Sara Cox: Think about the stories that you love to read, you know, what would happen if your cat went on an adventure, what happened if your pet could talk?

Fee Mak: Think about your hobbies, think about adventures, or moments in real life that spark a story. Remember, it’s 500 words or less.

Laura Doddington: I think you find inspiration from listening to people. People tell stories all the time and you can pick up little ideas from them.

Romesh Ranganathan: Before you start writing, think about what your storyline is going to be. What story are you trying to take the reader through? Get that in your mind’s eye and then you can start fleshing it out by actually writing your story.

Mama G: Write about the things that make you happiest, the things that your enjoy the most, because your enjoyment will come across in the story, and your enjoyment is absolutely infectious. So, write about what you love!