KS3
Gothic
Writing
Extension
Booklet
Task 1: Vocabulary in Context
Macabre
Extinguished
Melancholy
Vulnerable
Claustrophobic
Isolated
Ethereal
Try to use all of these words in a paragraph of writing about a young
woman in a haunted house. You will have to look all of these words up
in a dictionary. Don’t guess the definitions, as you will need to use
them accurately in the right context.
For example, ‘melancholy’ does not necessarily mean the same as ‘sad’
Task 2: Whole Text Structure
Types of text structures:
Cyclical – stories that begin and end in the same place or at the same
point.
Linear – events happen in a chronological order, one after the other.
Dual narrative – two alternative perspectives given within the story.
Flashbacks – includes anecdotes from the past.
Here are the events that you have to include:
1. Vulnerable male or female character
2. Locked doors or rooms
3. A Secret
4. Something or someone being trapped
5. Discovery of something horrible
You need to include all of these events and choose two different
models of whole text structure from above. You will need to write two
different stories in two different structures.
What is the difference between these structures? Which do you prefer
and why?
Task 3: Writing in different styles
He woke up surrounded by a pool of blood.
Use this line as part of:
 A newspaper article
 A letter
 A descriptive story
You will need to consider the differences between writing styles and
adopt a specific tone to suit each one.
E.g. A newspaper article will include a lot of factual information.
A letter will include personal feelings and emotions.
A descriptive story will include creative techniques.
Task 4: Developing sophisticated use of descriptive techniques
Here is your base simile:
The darkness surrounded her like a shroud.
Shroud = the
cloth used to
cover a dead
body when placed
in a coffin.
How can you develop this simile to make it even better?
Complete the examples below:
The __________ darkness surrounded her like a _________
shroud.
The darkness surrounded her _________, like a shroud.
Like a shroud, the __________ darkness ________.
Come up with another three of your own versions, where you change
the sentence structure and add or change vocabulary.
Can you come up with a completely new simile to
describe darkness, or another gothic feature?
Task 5: Transformation and understanding of genre
Read the following first four stanzas of the poem.
The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe
First Published in 1845
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,
Nameless here forevermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me---filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door,
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.
This it is, and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you." Here I opened wide the door;--Darkness there, and nothing more.
Activities:
1. Look up all the words that you don’t understand in a dictionary.
2. Underline all the Gothic elements. Look back at Task 2 to help
with this.
3. Below is some information on the conventions of a dramatic
monologue. Make a list of three genre features that you need to
include to write an effective dramatic monologue.
Types of monologue
Dramatic monologues are a way of expressing the views of a character and
offering the audience greater insight into that character's feelings. Dramatic
monologues can also be used in novels to tell stories, as in Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein, and to implicate the audience in moral judgments, as in Albert
Camus' The Fall and Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Monologues are also linked with soliloquies, such as in Macbeth, when Lady
Macbeth reads a letter to herself and then speaks her thoughts as though she is
thinking.
4. Using the poem for inspiration, write a dramatic monologue
based on the speaker in the poem.
To achieve a level 6 and beyond, have you demonstrated the
following?
Sophisticated use of vocabulary for effect
Relevant use of vocabulary – have you used words in the correct
context? Do you know exactly what a word means?
Appropriate use of genre conventions
Varied sentence construction, manipulated for effect
Exemplary written accuracy
Impressive use of different whole text structures. Does your
writing demonstrate that you understand the different types of
whole text structures?
Consistently maintaining different types of writing styles