Place - adapted from Writing Magazine

This week's homework is on place. Choose one of the following:

Cave

Use a cavern as the location for aomething to happen.

Where is your cave? What is there about its geology and geography that makes it significant?

What is the atmosphere like in the cave? What colours, textures and flavours does it hold? Is it spacious? Dangerous? Treacherous?

Is it home to anyone or anything?

In what way could your cave be an element in a story, poem or piece of creative non-fiction?

Watching the sea

Explore memories of watching the sea.

Write about a particular sea. Think about where you or a particular character were, and what qualities the sea had that made it particularly memorable. 

What colours was it? What did it sound like? What did watching it make you feel?

Why does your chosen memory of the sea stand out? Was it because of the sea itself, or because the sea is associated with a particular person or circumstance?

Opulence

Consider how to create an atmosphere.

Think of an opulent setting, either real or imaginary.

What effect does it have, and on who?

What do you want the opulence to convey to a reader? Choose your words carefully. If the ambience you want to create is one of power and oppression, the way you write about it will be very different than if you're wanting to craft a sense of luxury and ease.

Write a passage of prose or poetry where the opulence is intended to have a particular dramatic effect, either positive or negative.

People

•  First, find a picture of a person who interests you (preferably someone you don't know, and probably not a celebrity).

• First, look at the person. Then describe them carefully. (Physical appearance.)

• What do you think this person's like? Describe their character.

• They have a secret. Something that may have happened way back in the past, something they've never talked about, something they've tried to forget. What is it?

• In the present, something happens to remind them of this secret. Maybe a letter or a message, maybe a scent or a glimpse of a familiar figure, maybe a piece of music. Whatever it is, it disturbs them. And things start to happen.

WRITE THE STORY!

First lines

 Choose one of the opening lines below, and write either a short story or the beginning of a longer piece following on from it.

In so many ways, it was a bitter winter that year.

As the mug slipped from her fingers, her heart sank, for Elizabeth knew that she could never replace it.

The river ran deep. Who knew what secrets it held?

I thought I recognised the figure walking up my drive, but I was wrong.

I will love you till we die, but I hope you die first.

That day, she did something that would change her life and the lives of those around her forever.

Choose your title

This week, I asked everyone to contribute a title for a story or a non-fiction piece. Not quite sure which of these are supposed to be non-fiction - take your pick!

You can choose whichever title you like - now all you have to do is write the piece that goes with it!

The Colour of Clouds

Under a Midnight Sky

"What now?" I asked.

High Jinks at the Town Hall

The Life and Times of a Total Moron

The Rat who Lived in a Mine

Four Children, One Mum

Once Upon a Time...

The Christmas Party

Tell us a story...

This task is from this month's Writing Magazine - it's the subject for a competition. (If you'd like to enter the competition, the story has to be 1500-1700 words, and the closing date is 15th December.) If you don't want to enter the competition, it can be any length that suits.

Tell us a true story using all your best narrative techniques - whether it happened to you, somebody you know, a distant historical figure, or even an inanimate object. 

Creating a character

Characters from the Duolingo language app.

* Choose a first name and write it down. (Don't think about your answers for two long; just go with whatever pops into your head.)

* Choose a surname, and write it underneath.

* Write down a physical characteristic about their face - eg piercing blue eyes, lots of wrinkles, soft red mouth.

* They have some sort of habit that they don't notice but other people do - like drumming their fingers, straightening cuffs, twiddling with a ring. What is it?

* What do they do for a living?

* What's their happiest memory from when they were a child?

* What are they afraid of?

* What do they want most of all?

* Brainstorm a few of their characteristics - eg cheerful, impatient, painstaking, anxious, confident.

So now you have a character. Put them into a story - which involves a journey of some kind.

Fairy Tale Twist

 

A new take on an old fairy tale - continue the story!

The Pied Piper of Hamelin hadn't reckoned on Mrs Muskett, Year 3's formidable music teacher...

Or:

Choose another fairy tale, and invent a similar twist.