Creative Writing
The AO criteria
At the end of the unit you will be assessed on:
AO4 Writing
 Write to communicate clearly, effectively and
imaginatively, using and adapting forms and selecting
vocabulary appropriate to task and purpose in ways that
engage the reader.
 Organise information and ideas into structured and
sequenced sentences, paragraphs and whole texts, using
a variety of linguistic (simile, alliteration etc) and
structural features to support cohesion and overall
coherence. (The way it is put together)
The AO criteria
At the end of the unit you will be assessed on:
AO4 Writing
 Use a range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose
and effect, with accurate punctuation and spelling.
Synonyms
What is a
synonym?
Synonyms
A synonym is a word with roughly the same meaning as
another word.
Bright
dazzle, shiny, clear, light
Synonyms are required within creative writing to ensure
that there is variety in the vocabulary.
Synonyms
Create synonyms for the word annoying. Use the
thesaurus if you’re stuck.
Annoying
Synonyms
Aggravating
Irritating
Annoying
Frustrating
Infuriating
Discourse Markers
Discourse markers are words and phrases used in speaking
and writing to ‘signpost’ discourse (written or spoken
communication of a subject).
Discourse markers ‘signpost’ by showing turns, joining
ideas together, showing attitude and controlling
communication.
Examples include: Actually, OK, Anyway, Yet and Because.
Discourse Marker Task
You should all be including discourse markers in
your diary entry.
Take the cards out of the envelope. Try to match terms
(cards in bold) to the words that fit that marker.
Adding
something
Adding
In addition
something
Also
something
n addition
Further
Knowing your TAP
Whenever you write something you need to consider:
 Text
 Audience
 Purpose
 Things are written for a purpose. To achieve its aim, the
piece must appeal to the target audience.
Pre-Starter
On your sheet:
“Describe the room you are in.”
To develop creative writing skills
through appealing to the 5 senses.
Starter
You will work through the short tasks with a partner,
however everyone must complete a worksheet. Each pair
should have four things in front of them.
You will be given instructions as to what you need to do
with each item. When you have completed the short task
you must update your worksheet with your findings.
The 5 senses
Each item appealed to one or more of the 5 senses.
Writers try to appeal to a readers senses to make their
work have a bigger impact/lasting impression.
Remember the AO criteria requires you to write imaginatively
selecting vocabulary appropriate to task and purpose in
order to engage the reader.
My sweet shop
“Ding-ding” went the bell to announce my arrival.
My mouth was watering as I excitedly bounced into
the shop. Wall to wall vibrant colours of yellow,
green, pink and blue sparkled through the glass
jars like jewels. Exquisite flavours and wrappers decorated
the store.
My hands were clammy as I held my money tightly in my hand
trying to decide. Done! I excitedly popped my choice into my
mouth. An intense rush of fizz tickled my tongue, as it faded I
had a surge of cherry before a soft sweet whizzed around my
mouth filling it with a cola flavour. “Delicious,” I sighed.
Developing a complex description
Read the two sentences below.
1) He was sad.
2) Carefully, he wiped away a glistening
tear as he watched her turn away and
move purposely towards the door.
Which do you prefer and why?
Techniques/effects used
Adverbs – ‘carefully’
Sight – ‘glistening’
Emotion – ‘tear’
Adding – ly, -ing and -ed
Descriptive writing can often be improved by making a few
changes.
1. I walked through the dark alley and suddenly a hand
reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
2. I was breathing deeply as I crept through the deep, dark
wood.
Descriptive Writing Task
 You will be given a title. Your task is to write a short
descriptive scenario to match the title.
 You have 10 minutes to produce a paragraph.
Success criteria – You must use
Ambitious vocabulary
Language techniques
High impact start
Appeal to the senses
Techniques
Senses
Sight
Touch
Hearing
Touch
Smell
Choice of words
Devices
Adjectives
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration
Sibilance
Metaphor
Repetition
Personification
Simile
Peer Assessment
Each of you will now read the work of another student. In reviewing
the paragraph you must assess the work against the success criteria.
Remember to comment on WWW (What worked well) and EBI (Even
better if).
Some students will be asked to feedback their findings to the class.
Success criteria
Ambitious vocabulary
Techniques (Simile, repetition etc)
Range of punctuation
Variety of sentence lengths
Appeal to the senses
A few golden rules...
1. Have an impact opening ‘Bang!’
2. Vary the length of your sentences for effect.
3. English is: “The best words in the right order.”
4. Always plan – Quality beats quantity
Task - Appealing to the 5 senses
 Create a short description of a room of
your choice.
 Use as many of the 5 senses as you can.
Improving description
Improve one of the following sentences to appeal to the
senses:





He was nice
She was happy
The wind blew hard
It was sunny
He was angry
Be ready in 3 minutes to share some examples
Formal and informal
A) I once saw a couple on Valentine’s Day eating dinner, hardly talking to one
another, tapping into their black phones all evening. Why would email be preferable
to conversation?
B) Clubs are over-priced furnaces with sticky walls and the latest idiot tunes
thumping through the air so loud you can’t hold a conversation, not that any of the
planks in clubs are capable of it anyway.
C) While mobile phones are useful for emergencies or trying to find someone, on
the whole they remain superfluous.
D) Let’s be honest, a bit of spread, a bit of fat around your bum and stomach is
perfectly normal.
E) Let’s not beat around the bush here – Holby City makes for excruciating
viewing.
F) Pointless mobile phone calls squander the time and money of everyone
involved.
Informal/Formal Answers
Formal:
A, C, F
Informal:
B, D, E
Piece A
If the ratings are to be believed, almost everyone in the country has been
watching The X Factor since its return. We’re clearly not sick of Cowell and co
just yet. In fact, we’re simply content to watch what is essentially the same series
year in, year out. Rather than forming an angry mob and storming the ITV
building armed with staves and clubs, we sit and dribble and clap our hands,
gurgling ‘again! again!’ like toddlers enjoying the repetition of Teletubbies. Well, I
do anyway.
Since it’s year for sod all authenticity, I look forward to watching the following:
1. The scene where the producers ‘pre-audition’ the hopefuls and we have to
endure their tales of how much they want to it, how they’ve sung at a few
weddings, their families say how good they are (what do they know anyway?) and
blah, blah, blah. Just get on with the show.
2. One of the comically ugly or dreadful singers recount a heart-rending tale about
how their hamster died or how they’ve had such a hard time only to audition in
front of the sniggering judges.
Brilliant TV? I think I’d rather chew my own leg off than watch the new series.
Alternatively, I’ll just watch one of the other series seeing as they’re all the same.
Piece B
According to the television ratings, most people in the country have been
watching The X Factor that returned to our screen some weeks ago. It
seems that people still want to watch the programme despite having been
on for several years now. What surprises me about this is that each series is
just a repeat of its predecessors. People are essentially watching the same
programme every year. Rather than complaining to ITV producers, people
just happily watch the same scenes repeatedly such as the interviews
before the audition actually takes place. This normally involves the person
auditioning sharing some heart-breaking story in the hope that this will help
them get through. It is ghastly to watch. What is even more awful to watch
though is the judges laughing openly when people do audition.
What has become of modern television? I certainly want nothing to do with
it.
Which piece is more effective? Why?
A
B
Commissions – L9
Imagery
How does the imagery she used add to her argument?
Writing Task – 10 minutes
On your own, write a paragraph about one of the
Teenage problems you previously identified.
You can choose a serious tone or a funny tone. You can
write using formal or informal language dependent
on who your target audience is.
Your paragraph must include the following:
 2 synonyms for the word ‘annoying’
 2 examples of language techniques
 Imagery
Writing Task – 10 minutes
Here are some sentence starters which you may want to use:
 .... is annoying because...
 Have you ever...
 Irritating, unbearable, infuriating are some of the reasons why...
Remember the devices used to make your argument more
persuasive:
Facts/Opinions
Alliteration
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Simile
Exaggeration
Peer Assessment – 10 minutes
You must swap work with a partner. Each of you must now
assess a piece of work against the success criteria.
The paragraph must include the following:
 Serious/funny tone
 Formal/informal language
 2 synonyms for the word ‘annoying’
 2 examples of persuasive devices
 Imagery
Highlight WWW (what worked well) and EBI (even better if)
Commissions – L10
Lesson Objective
To consolidate understanding of simple, compound and
complex sentences and be able to apply them to written
work.
Punctuation Starter
Within your books identify what punctuation you should
Use in the following situations:
Asking a question
Ending a sentence
Creating suspense
Expressing/emphasising a strong emotion
Writing a list
When a letter from a word is missing or something
belongs to someone
Punctuation Answers
Asking a question ?
Ending a sentence .
Creating suspense ...
Expressing/emphasising a strong emotion !
Writing a list red, yellow and green
When a letter from a word is missing or something
belongs to someone is not = isn’t or John’s
Your recreations piece requires
you to use a variety of sentences.
So...
What is a sentence?
Sentences
A sentence is a group of words that tells a
complete thought.
A sentence always tells who or what and what is
or what happens.
Simple sentences
Look at the list below and identify which are simple
sentences and which are not.
Running through the field
I like to play with dogs,
The smart boy got an A on
his test.
John fell asleep while
watching the movie.
Many mystery books
Likes to play soccer every
day
The pretty girl
Kelly is a great dancer.
Compound sentence
A compound sentence is made up of two short, related
sentences. They are joined by the linking words:
 For
 And
 Nor
Think: FANBOYS
 But
 Yet
 So
Example:
Mobile phones are annoying but I cannot live without one.
Complex Sentences
They often start with:
1. an -ing verb:
Praying for forgiveness, Nancy accepts her fate that she
must die.
2. an adjective describing a feeling:
Exhausted, Oliver collapsed on the workhouse floor
after the terrible beating..
3. a relative clause (use which, that, who, when, where)
The school, which was newly built, was burnt down.
Other types of sentences
 A declarative sentence makes a statement.
The boy is happy.
 An interrogative sentence asks a question.
Did you turn the light off?
 An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a
request.
Open your mouth.
 An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong feeling. It
ends with an !
Ouch, that hurt!
Identify whether the sentences below are simple,
compound or complex
1. Watching the Sheila’s wheels advert on television is thirty seconds
of hell.
2. University tuition fees are unfair and prevent students from going
to university.
3. Everyone has to queue for hours in A&E
4. Manufactured boy bands, replicas of one another, are incapable of
creating any kind of authentic music of their own.
5. On some kind of magazine cover every month, Victoria Beckham’s
pout, ridiculous and trout-like in proportion, appears.
Identify whether the sentences below are simple,
compound or complex
6.
Roads with speed humps damage cars and don’t reduce the
amount of road traffic accidents.
7.
Men who wear socks with sandals seem to be on the increase, at
least in my neck of the woods.
8.
It was a whole new world.
9.
I loath celebrities who are famous for nothing.
10. All teenagers should be able to watch television.
Simple, Compound or Complex Answers
1 Complex
2 Compound
3 Simple
4 Complex
5 Complex
6 Compound
7 Compound
8 Simple
9 Simple
10 Simple
Writing Task
Re-write the paragraph below to include:
A variety of sentences used appropriately
Punctuation
Imagery
Discourse markers
Losing work on a computer is the worst thing. You spend hours
labouring over your homework and it’s gone. You then have to
explain to your teacher that you have lost it. Your teacher doesn’t
believe you and sets you a detention. You have to sit in detention
redoing the work all over again. The annoying thing is, is that it
isn’t as good as the first piece you lost. Your mark isn’t as good as
it could be and your teacher now thinks you are a liar. Losing work
on your computer is the worst thing.
Writing Task
“Nooo!” you cry at the screen. “Click, click, click” are the only sounds
that can be heard as you tap furiously on all of the keys. “Why me?,” you wail
as slow salty tears trickle down your face.
Although you know it won’t, you expect the computer to answer you with a
justified reason for causing this distress. After all, you have spent hours and
hours slaving away to create your English masterpiece. Ok, it wasn’t going to
be a headlining new release at Waterstones, but it was a pretty good read and
now the only tears are yours and not that of the heroine as she won Prince
Charming.
I blamed it on the computer but it didn’t cut it with Deane. “It’s such
an overused excuse,” she said as she shook her head at me. “A bad workman
always blames his tools,” she added for good measure. Talk about kicking
you when you’re down. I can still see the glint in her eye as she wrote the
detention. Whoever said honesty was the best policy clearly didn’t have her for a
teacher! What’s worse is the best grade I can now get is a ‘D’, I’ve got a
detention, she thinks I’m dishonest and my computer is still broken. Forget new
age, I’m sticking with stone age from now on.
Task
Go back to the paragraph you created last lesson.
Re-read it and identify places where you could now
improve it based on your learning this lesson. You
should be looking to include a variety of punctuation,
different types of sentences as well as some imagery.
Homework
Complete research into the topic which you will
address in your column during the controlled
conditions assignment.
Your column must be about an aspect on modern life
annoys you.
Lesson Objective
To understand how to write imaginatively and be able
to create examples of imaginative writing.
Sentence Transformation
Select a sentence from the choices below and transform it by using vivid
imagery.
 School canteens are awful places.
 Walking into a shop selling tinsel in September is ridiculous.
 Why would someone call their child ‘Justice’? Just because they’re the
child of someone famous, it won’t lessen the embarrassment the child will
suffer at school.
Effective descriptions
For each picture you are shown,
write a one sentence description
of what you think is happening.
Example:
His face exploded like a
tomato as he saw his girl
friend kissing another guy
on facebook.
Effective Description
Reflect on your work. Have you used any of the
following to create description:
 Imagery, i.e. Similes, metaphors, alliteration
 Interesting vocabulary
 Different punctuation
 Simple/compound/complex sentences
Which one do you prefer?
Example:
He was really angry when he saw his girlfriend kissing another guy
on facebook. He didn’t expect it. He was annoyed and, not to
mention, hurt. He loved her. He wanted to get back at her.
Example:
His face exploded like a tomato. His shrieking cry was so loud it
echoed throughout the house. He couldn’t believe what his eyes
saw. He couldn’t believe his nightmare was becoming his reality! It
killed him to see it, it was like a knife stabbing deep into his heart!
Annoyed, hurt and in pain, he wanted vengeance. What would he
do? No one knew, no one, but him, knew what was running
through his evil mind.
simile
Adjective
List of three
Example:
His face exploded like a tomato. His shrieking cry was so
loud, it echoed throughout the house. He couldn’t believe
what his eyes saw. He couldn’t believe his nightmare was
becoming his reality! It killed him to see it, it was like a knife
stabbing deep into his heart! Annoyed, hurt and angry, he
wanted vengeance. What would he do? No one knew, no
one, but him, knew what was running through his evil mind.
Simple sentence
Sentence with an
exclamation mark
Sentence with a Complex
question mark
sentence
Task
Choose one of the sentences you wrote and transform it to
ensure that the paragraph includes:
 Imagery, i.e. Similes, metaphors, alliteration
 Interesting vocabulary
 Different punctuation
 Simple/compound/complex sentences
Be prepared to feedback to the class in 10 mins