±«Óătv

What does an author do?

Part of EnglishFictionYear 3Year 4

Watch: What is an author?

An illustration of a young boy smiling.

When you write a story, you are the author. You can choose everything that happens in the story. That's called authorial intent.

Authors write lots of different thing such as letters, explanations, fact books, biographies or adverts.

An illustration of a young boy smiling.

What is authorial intent?

Back to top

What is authorial intent?

An illustration of a young boy and girl sat on a red sofa.

An author chooses everything about a book:

  • where it is set
  • what happens
  • who the characters are
  • what those characters are like

This is called authorial intent.

Authors also think hard about what they want their readers to feel when they are reading their books.

When someone reads a book and really likes it, they often read other books by the same author. This is because they enjoy how that author writes and how that author makes them feel.

For example: Lots of people enjoy reading Roald Dahl’s books because they know they’re usually funny, have interesting characters and will be written in a way that makes them feel happy.

An illustration of a young boy and girl sat on a red sofa.
Back to top

Activity 1

Test what you've learned with the quiz below.

Back to top

Activity 2

Watch this video of actor Aimee Kelly reading from My Naughty Little Sister by the author Dorothy Edwards.

Listen carefully. Aimee reads some extracts and explains what she loved so much about Dorothy Edward’s writing when she was younger.

Watch actor Aimee Kelly reading from 'My Naughty Little Sister' by the author Dorothy Edwards.

An illustration of a young boy thinking whilst sat writing at a desk.

You can write your answers down on paper, or discuss them instead.

1. Why does Aimee like the stories in My Naughty Little Sister so much?

2. Do you think Aimee is similar to any of the characters in My Naughty Little Sister?

3. Do you think you would like reading My Naughty Little Sister too? Why?

An illustration of a young boy thinking whilst sat writing at a desk.
Back to top

Activity 3

An illustration of a young girl thinking with question marks around her.

Now think about a book you’ve enjoyed reading or listening to. You're going to review that book and the author - just like Aimee did in the video.

Write your review on lined paper and split it into five sections, like below.

Aim for each section to be at least three sentences long.

Title

  • Give the title of the book and the author's name.

The plot

  • Write a summary of what happened in the story (but don't give too much away!).

The characters

  • Give an outline of the characters in the book - what are they like?

My opinion

  • Explain why you liked the book, with reasons.

Star rating

  • How many stars would you give the story and why?
    (1 = I would not recommend, 5 = It was amazing!)
An illustration of a young girl thinking with question marks around her.
Back to top

Use grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to explore jungles, caves and tombs on your mission!

Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers
Back to top

More on Fiction

Find out more by working through a topic