SHOW DON’T TELL Remember that the purpose of CREATIVE WRITING is not to tell the responder what to see, feel or hear. But use words to allow responders.

Year 8 Creative Writing

RULE #1

SHOW DON’T TELL

IMAGERY

Remember that the purpose of CREATIVE WRITING is not to tell the responder what to see, feel or hear. But use words to allow responders

to create their own imagery.

There are five different types of imagery:

Imagine the oldest person you know…

• Create a mind map of images you associate with that person or stereotype

Oldest person your

know

Sights

Sounds

Tastes

Smells

Tactile

HOMEWORK

• Using your brainstorming ideas, prestend you have just walked into a room that the person you brainstormed about lives in or is in. describe what you see, hear, smell, feel, taste.

• “When I opened the door the first thing that hit me was…”

Sound Imagery

SOUND

Alliteration

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

Visual Imagery

Beware the Cliché

Metaphors

Similes

Personification

Symbolism

HOW?

• SimileComparison using like, as or

than.• MetaphorComparison that asks us to

picture one as if it is another

• PersonificationA type of metaphor in which

non-living (inanimate) things are given human qualities

• SymbolismThe use of a concrete object

to represent an abstract idea. Your words or phrases can have a double meaning.

• AlliterationThe repetition of the same

consonant sound.• AssonanceThe repetition of the same

vowel sound.• OnomatopoeiaWords that echo the sound

of the action.• RhymeWhen the endings of words

or lines sound the same.

RULE #2

KNOW YOUR

ENDING

RULE #2: Know your ending

• Know the end before you begin.

• like buying a train ticket, if you know where you’re going, you will take the right steps to get there.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS OF A NARRATIVE?

1.

2.

3.

4.

THE STORY GRAPH

Action begins

Build-up

Tension scene

CLIMAX

RESOLUTION

E

X

C

I

T

E

M

E

N

T

T I M E

ORIENTATION

Plot unfolds - Quest revealed

FIND A STORYLINE Christopher Booker ‘The

Seven Basic Plots’: • Overcoming the Monster • Rags to Riches• The Quest• Voyage and Return• Comedy• Tragedy• Rebirth.(Find examples for each

from your own experience) 

Another interpretation: • [wo]man vs. nature • [wo]man vs. man • [wo]man vs. the

environment • [wo]man vs.

machines/technology • [wo]man vs. the

supernatural • [wo]man vs. self • [wo]man vs.

god/religion We tend to tell variations of the same stories over and over because they have their basis in human psychology. These are the stories we identify with.  The main character (the one the audience identifies with most and cares about most) is called the protagonist

CREATING CHARACTER

To SHOW rather than TELL a reader about their characters, writers:

• SHOW the objects around them• SHOW the way the character does

things (body language)• SHOWs what the character looks like• lets the reader speak or what they

are thinking

ACTIVITY

• Read the following text in the next slide and consider how elements of Eugenie’s character are being introduced.

• Annotate the passage highlighting which parts reveal: OBJECTS; ACTIONS; APPEARANCE; SPEECH

He liked Eugenie’s room. It was untidy. There was the piano open and her tea with the cup half full as usual, and the branches of withering red and yellow leaves stuck about the place in vases. She liked flowers. He was glad he had remembered to bring her his usual gift, and he held the flower wrapped in tissue paper in front of him. But why was the room so full of smoke?

A gust blew in. Both windows were open and the smoke was being blown in from the garden. He walked to the window and looked out. There was Eugenie tossing whole armfuls of dead leaves onto a bonfire. She jerked them as high as she could and the fire blazed up. A great fan of red flame flung out.

“That’s dangerous!” he called

Eugenie saw him and raised a hand in welcome, waving with excitement.

“Stay where you are!” she cried. “I’m coming”

Through a cloud of smoke she hurried towards him with both arms outstretched. She was extremely handsome; she has great dark eyes like a foreigner, and a nose with a ripple in it.

“I’m having a bonfire,” she said, her eyes glowing, her hair looping down, “that’s why I’m all blown about.”

She was untidy, like her room, and just like the fire, cracklingly alive. From “The Years” by Virginia Woolf

Writing TASK: Creating CharacterWill take less than 10 minutes!!!!

Step 1 (2 minutes)• Write about your character’s space: it can be their room;

home; backyard; balcony• Focus on three or four key objects and consider what they

reveal about the character• Eg. “Eugenie’s room. It was very untidy. There was a piano

open and her tea with the cup half full as usual, and branches of withering red and yellow leaves stuck about the place in vases. She liked flowers” notice that these are simple everyday, even random objects, but together create the impression that Eugenie is untidy.

• In your opening lines, do not let the reader see your character yet!

• If you have someone that can read it and give you feedback, do that! Explain to them what the objects signify

Step 2 (2 minutes)• Now show your reader your character

is doing from a distance. Your character doesn’t know that we can see them… being unaware of being watched, your character will be more natural.

• Make them do a particular action in a special way

Writing TASK: Creating CharacterWill take less than 10 minutes!!!!

Step 3 (2 minutes)• Now tell your reader what your character looks like.• Don’t focus only on appearance! You should either

(or do both):• Make them move as you write about them: Eugenie

“hurried towards him with her arms outstretched” (shows us she is friendly towards the man)

• Make something about them move: “…her hair looped down.” (what this convey?)

• Let the reader hear something your character says. Consider vocabulary and HOW they say it

Writing TASK: Creating CharacterWill take less than 10 minutes!!!!

Step 4• Finish your introduction to your

character with a statement about how you feel about her (evaluative): “She was as untidy, like her room, and just like the fire, crackling alive”

Writing TASK: Creating CharacterWill take less than 10 minutes!!!!

Now show this to a friend/parent/sibling and get feedback

Writing TASK: Creating CharacterWill take less than 10 minutes!!!!