Writing the opening of a story

There are 3 common ingredients (conventions) in the opening of a story:

1) Establish setting
2) Introduce character
3) Create enigma (mystery)

Think back to the activity we did in class where we listened to the opening of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' and thought about the mood he created through describing the Salinas Valley in California, followed by the gradual introduction of the two migrant workers, Lennie and George.

We also discussed the following aspects of writing to consider:

1) First or third person
2) Past or present tense
3) Adjectives for developing description
4) Imagery (including similes, metaphors and personification)
5) Structure (paragraphs and how they link/develop)
6) Accuracy (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar)
7) Pace of writing (slowing down the action/speeding up the action)
8) Sentence Types (variety)
9) Appealing to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)

Planning will be a key part of writing a successful story opening. Brainstorm ideas to do with setting, character and action before you begin. Don't forget to think back to the short story scheme of work we did too for further ideas and inspiration. Who was Talmar, for example?

Creative writing - Thinking about setting

In class today, we did some activities developing vocabulary about the following image. Please post the bits of writing you did here.

Using music and moving image to inspire creative writing

The following film clip comes from '2001: A Space Odyssey'. It has had a piece of music synced to it called 'Adagio for strings' by Samuel Barber. Please post your creative writing started in class here and develop it further should you wish too.

Using film images to inspire creative writing

The following image comes from the film 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Please post your creative writing started in class here. You may want to develop it further too.