Descriptive Writing - Introduction

LO: to consider how we approach descriptive writing

Select four adjectives to describe yesterday's weather

how would the perspectives of a taxi driver and a penthouse-dweller be different, when talking about the storm?

The storm was...

Scales and Perspectives

The best descriptive writing considers its subject (the storm, in our case) from multiple perspectives.

Write a short descriptive paragraph from the perspective of each of these people.

Descriptive Writing - Drafting

Expanding our writing

Descriptive Writing Structuring

LO: To consider how we can improve the structure of our descriptive writing.

Write a list of six elements you could describe in this picture, putting them in order of size.

Enhancing with senses

There is a man standing at the entrance of station. He is wearing a blue shirt and looks sad. He is bald.

Rewrite this paragraph using at least four of the five senses.

Write it from his perspective!

Ordering, structure and sequence

Unlike descriptive writing, narrative writing needs to follow a structure, generally...

1. Setting the scene
2. Introducing the characters
3. Establishing a conflict
4. Tackling that conflict in a climax
5. A conclusion, showing things changed by the events

Beginnings and Endings

A good opening needs to set the scene, and catch the reader's attention.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his chest in an effort to escape the vile wind, and slipped quickly through the glass doors.

'Nineteen Eighty-Four', George Orwell

What makes this opening stand out? What does it tell the reader?

Writing our own

Write an opening paragraph (2 to 4 sentences) for the story you drafted earlier in the lesson.

Write a closing paragraph which echoes the opening.

Narrative Vs Description

As part of your assessment, you'll have the choice of either a NARRATIVE or a DESCRIPTIVE question.

Which would you choose? Why?

What are the differences in writing style required for these?

Plan a response in four bulletpoints for each of these tasks.

Planning a Narrative

Using the plan you've made for Cancelled, try to answer these questions:

1. When: Year? Review or chronological?
2. Who: Character(s)
3. Where: locations
4. What: Issue/Problem
5. Whose Perspective: either from the outside, as an observant, omniscient narrator, or from the point of view of one of the characters, also as a first-person narrator

Can you present your narrative from multiple perspectives.

Mapping our Narrative

Plot the main events of your story onto the Narrative Arc

Building believable characters

1. Appearance
2. Actions
3. Speech

Telling, not showing 🥱

The old man was tired and sad. His hair was grey and he was wearing a jacket and green jumper. He was thinking about his dead wife and he said "I really miss her."

⚠️ Don't do this ⤴️

Show, don't tell

Actions are louder than words

Reading between the lines

PLENARY: Putting it all together

Take your writing this lesson and put it together into two or three paragraphs. Check it all flows together and makes sense.

Descriptive Practice

Write down a bulleted list of three of the six senses you would experience, being in this scene.

Capturing what matters

In a moment, I am going to show your a picture

You will have one minute to look at it, then I will ask you to write down what you can remember.

MEMORISE!

🌊 ⛵ 🇫🇷 🌅

Combining into a perspective

Paragraphs 1 & 2

Copy down the question, then write an answer

Q1: Why has the writer included a list of buildings?
Q2: Which word in para 2 means challenge?
Q3: Which language techniques can you spot in this section? Some examples...

• Speech
• Anecdote
• metaphor
• simile
• second person pronouns

Paragraphs 3 - 5

Q4: How would you describe the writer's feelings towards stately homes? Finish this sentence: "I think stately homes are..."
Q5: What is a priest hole? Explain in one sentence

Continuing GL Prep

Re-read yesterday's text. Who would you recommend it to?

Overview

Q6: What is the writer's intention with this text?

• Who could it be for?
• What does the writer want us to feel?
• What do they want us to understand?

Highlight/underline all the SPaG errors

I got up slowly fished the alarm clock out of the bin (the poor thing's getting used
to being hurled there each morning, and headed downstairs for my usual three
bowls of cereal. My brothers eyes never left their phones, as I joined them
at the table but that was normal. It was the look on Mum's face that gave me
a clue. She was knee-deep in frowns it wasn't the most welcoming sight.
Of course then my brain started to rewind, slowly but surely, to the
previous evening's adventures. "Just two or three friends, she'd warned before
heading out to her evening class "okay?" Two or three? Make that twelve!
But, after all, a birthday is a birthday especially a sixteenth!

Starting our writing

Which do you think is more difficult to do in a timed exam? Why?

Planning

Example question:
Describe a time you were in a new place.

Bullet-point some sensory descriptions of the place

Starting to write

Some ideas to consider:

• Starting zoomed in on a single detail
• Focussing on a single sense
• Writing from a perspective different from your own
• Not revealing the location until the second paragraph

Using extended metaphors

The cold came to us like a thief in the night. You didn't notice it at first: it would creep in through the windows, under the doors, sneaking through gaps in the masonry. It would steal away what little warmth you still had. It would slide its icy fingers into pockets and up sleeves, taking and taking, until you realised all the heat you'd been saving had been snatched from you. No matter what defences we put up, it would always find a way to sneak in.

The central simile here compares the cold to a thief. Write down all the words used that link to the idea of a thief.

Why is this a better simile to use than - say - a dog?

Creating our own new extended metaphors

Write two alternative extended metaphors, one presenting the place positively and one negatively.

• Content is complex, engaging and effective. (W1)
• Structure is secure, well balanced and carefully managed for deliberate effect. (W2)
• Many well-defined and developed ideas and images create a convincing overall picture with varieties of focus.
• Precise, well-chosen vocabulary and varied sentence structures, chosen for effect. (W3)
• Consistent well-chosen register suitable for the context. (W4)
• Spelling, punctuation and grammar almost always accurate. (W5)

How to plan a good response

LO: To consider how we can improve the way we plan our answers before writing

Write a title for a story based on this picture

Write a basic plan for the story in three bullets

Against the clock ⏲️

Time is of the essence in the exam, and planning is essential.

The exam board recommends you write no more than about 350 words.

That translates to about three paragraphs.

Why do we need to plan? What elements should you decide on before you start writing? Write down three bullets.

Planning Narrative 🏃

• WHO will your protagonist be? Will they also be the narrator?
• WHERE is your narrative taking place?
• WHY is this story worth telling? What makes the events exceptional?
• WHEN does your narrative begin?
  • At the start, proceeding chronologically?
  • At the end then flashing back?
  • In the middle of the action? (In Media Res)
• HOW could you shift focus or perspective? (Examiners love this sort of thing)
• WHAT will be the conclusion of your narrative? (It must have a conclusion.)

Planning Descriptive 🔍

• HOW will you scale your description? 🔬 vs 🔭
  • Start zoomed out, describing the whole scene, then zoom in on detail?
  • Or focus on one small element then gradually zoom out?
• WHAT atmosphere or mood are you trying to achieve? 🎭
  • Is it happy, sad, frightening, gloomy, exhausting etc
• WHICH senses can you incorporate? 👁️ 👃 👅 👂 🤌

Choose your prompt

Narrative: Write a story in which something impossible happens.

Descriptive: Write a description entitled "The Joy of Loneliness"

Now, plan your response to one of these.

And plan the other!