PLANNING A JOURNEY DAY 1 BEFORE YOU START

PLANNING A JOURNEY DAY 1

BEFORE YOU START • FROM THE MAP YOU CREATED LAST WEEK, WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO PLAN THE ROUTE THAT YOUR CHARACTER IS GOING TO TAKE. • BEFORE YOU START, THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU WENT ON A LONG JOURNEY WITH A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER. SOME POINTS TO THINK ABOUT: WHY YOU WENT HOW DID YOU GET THERE WHAT YOU SAW DID ANYTHING GO WRONG

CHARACTERS JOURNEY • THERE NEEDS TO BE A REASON WHY THE CHARACTER IS LEAVING THE PLACE THEY HAVE STARTED. YOU HAD A REASON TO LEAVE HOME FOR YOUR JOURNEY. IT NEEDS TO BE BELIEVABLE. • THE REASON COULD TIE IN WITH THE TITLE OF YOUR STORY

STRUCTURE • OPENING, BUILD-UP, DILEMMA, EVENTS, RESOLUTION. • THIS IS THE STRUCTURE OF MOST ADVENTURE STORIES.

A LONG JOURNEY • USUALLY A LONG JOURNEY DOESN’T GO FROM A TO B STRAIGHT AWAY, YOU MAY HAVE SOME STOP OFFS ALONG THE WAY. • YOU ALSO WANT TO ENTERTAIN YOUR AUDIENCE. IN AN ADVENTURE STORY SO THINK ABOUT WHAT MIGHT GO WRONG (DILEMMA), WHAT THEY FIND AT EACH LOCATION, HOW THEY FEEL ETC. IF IT WAS A STORY ABOUT A CAR JOURNEY FROM WORCESTER TO BIRMINGHAM WITH NOTHING PARTICULARLY INTERESTING HAPPENING IT WOULD BE VERY BORING! • AUTHORS TEND TO PLANT CLUES ALONG THE WAY. ARE THERE ANY CLUES IN THE MAP TO WHAT THE CHARACTER MAY FIND IN THIS NEW LOCATION? PROBLEMS THAT MIGHT HAPPEN? YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK TO YOUR MAP AND PUT IN CLUES TO YOUR READER.

COMIC STRIP • TO PLAN OUT YOUR CHARACTERS JOURNEY WE ARE GOING TO PUT THE STORY INTO A COMIC STRIP TO SEE IF IT MAKE SENSE BEFORE WRITING. USING YOUR MAP THINK ABOUT THE ROUTE YOUR CHARACTER IS GOING TO GO. • I MIGHT START IN INDIAN CAMP, BUT WANT TO GET TO MERMAID LAGOON. TO GET THERE I HAVE 2 ROUTES TO CHOOSE, EITHER VIA HANGMAN’S TREE AND PAST SKULL ROCK, OR PAST CANNIBAL COVE AND ACROSS THE

COMIC STRIP INDIAN CAMP INTO THE WOODS CANNIBAL COVE THINK ABOUT: DESCRIBE THE WOODS CHARACTERS FEELINGS WHAT THIS PLACE IS LIKE WHAT HAPPENS DILEMMA HOW DO I FEEL INTRODUCE NEW CHARACTER? EVENTS WHY DO I NEED TO LEAVE BUILD SUSPENSE OVER COME DILEMMA EVENTS RIVER HOW DO YOU CROSS SETTING DESCRIPTION

READ YOUR COMIC STRIP • CHECK YOUR STORY MAKES SENSE • READ IT TO AN ADULT OR LEARNING PARTNER • ARE THERE ANY CHANGES YOU COULD MAKE TO YOUR COMIC STRIP TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING?

SETTING DAY 2

SETTING • WHEN YOU WRITE ABOUT A SETTING, YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU USE LOTS OF DESCRIPTION SO A READER CAN PICTURE THEMSELVES THERE. • EFFECTIVE DESCRIPTIONS APPEAL TO THE SENSES.

One morning there was a different smell in the air, and the ship was moving oddly, with a brisker rocking from side to side instead of the plunging and soaring. Lyra was on deck a minute after she woke up, gazing greedily at the land: such a strange sight, after all that water, for though they had only been at sea a few days, Lyra felt as if they’d been on the ocean for months. Directly ahead of the ship a mountain rose, green-flanked and snow capped, and a little town and harbour lay below it: wooden houses with steep roofs, an oratory spire, cranes in the harbour, and clouds of gulls wheeling and crying. The smell was of fish, but mixed with it came land smells too: pine-resin and earth, something animal and musky, and something else that was cold, blank and wild: it might have been snow. It was the smell of the North. Seals frisked around the ship, showing their clownfaces above the water before sinking back without a splash. The wind that lifted spray off the white-capped waves was SIGH T HEARIN G TOUCH TAST E SMEL L

TASK: You are going to be shown a setting of a forest. You need to write a description of the setting and include a specific language device. See if you can experiment with appealing to different senses.

Vocabulary ideas: ascend, lonely, solitary, fortress, . Describe this setting. You must include an example of personification (e. g. the trees stood menacingly over me)

EXAMPLE • AS I STUMBLE ALMOST BLINDLY THROUGH THE DEEP, DENSE FOREST, I CAN ONLY SEE THE FAINT GLOWS ON SUNLIGHT THROUGH THE GLOOMY LEAVES THAT ARE CLUTCHING TO THE BRANCHES ABOVE. THE SMELL OF THE MUGGY EARTH RISES UP FROM THE SQUELCHING GROUND BELOW, FILLING MY NOSTRILS WITH THE SCENT OF DECAY. CAUTIOUSLY, I TREAD THROUGH. NOISES COME FROM ALL DIRECTIONS SURROUNDING ME IN FEAR AND BEWILDERMENT.

TASK: Using the character you created, write a description of your character in one of your settings. Do they fit in comfortably or are they out of place? Verbs: How they enter? (do they shuffle, stride, skip etc. ) Adverbs: How they move? (confidently, cautiously, briskly etc. ) Similes: Could you compare them to an animal? What could you compare their eyes/hair/smile etc. to? Metaphors: E. g. his hands were flat spiders; she had a heart of stone What are their facial features like? (E. g. small, shifty eyes could indicate they’re secretive) What are they wearing? Style of clothes and colours? (E. g. brightly coloured clothes = confident) Remember to show NOT tell.

CONTINUE THE STORY DAY 3

OPENINGS • YOU HAVE A CHARACTER, A SETTING DESCRIPTION AND A ROUGH PLAN FROM YOUR COMIC STRIP NOW WE NEED TO GET STARTED WITH THE OPENING OF THE STORY.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD OPENING? • IN YOUR EXERCISE BOOK WRITE A LIST OF ALL THE THINGS THAT YOU THINK MAKE A GOOD OPENING. • YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT FILMS YOU HAVE WATCHED, BOOKS YOU HAVE READ OR STORIES THAT HAVE BEEN TOLD TO YOU.

HOOK THE READER • MOST STORIES HAVE A GOOD HOOK, OTHERWISE THE READER WOULDN’T WANT TO READ ON! • WE LOOKED AT OPENINGS OF STORIES THE START OF THIS YEAR. THE NEXT SLIDE HAS SOME OF THESE EXAMPLES WE LOOKED AT. • READ THROUGH THE EXAMPLES AND WRITE IN YOUR EXERCISE BOOK WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT THE OPENING AND WHAT YOU WOULD IMPROVE WITH A REASON WHY.

EXAMPLES • THE HOUSE WITH CHICKEN LEGS – SOPHIE ANDERSON I LIGHT THE CANDLES IN THE SKULLS AT DUSK. AN ORANGE GLOW FLICKERS OUT FROM THEIR EMPTY EYE SOCKETS, BECKONING THE DEAD. THEY APPEAR ON THE HORIZON LIKE MOST AND TAKE SHAPE AS THEY STUMBLE OVER THE ROCKY GROUND TOWARDS THE HOUSE. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I USED TO TRY TO GUESS WHAT THEIR LIVES HAD BEEN LIKE, OR WHAT PETS THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD, BUT NOT I’M TWELVE YEARS OLD, I’M BORED OF THAT GAME. MY GAZE IS DRAWN TO THE LIGHTS OF THE TOWN GLISTENING FAR BELOW; A UNIVERSE OF POSSIBILITIES. • HOLES – LOUIS SACHAR THERE IS NO LAKE AT CAMP GREEN LAKE. THERE ONCE WAS A VERY LARGE LAKE HERE, THE LARGEST LAKE IN TEXAS. THAT WAS OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. NOW IT IS JUST A DRY, FLAT WASTELAND. THERE USED TO BE A TOWN OF GREEN LAKE AS WELL. THE TOWN SHRIVELLED AND DRIED UP ALONG WITH THE LAKE, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED THERE. DURING THE SUMMER, THE DAYTIME TEMPERATURE HOVERS AROUND NINETY-FIVE DEGREES IN THE SHADE – IF YOU CAN FIND ANY SHADE. THERE’S NOT MUCH SHADE IN A BIG DRY LAKE. THE ONLY TREES ARE TWO OLD OAKS ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF THE “LAKE”. A HAMMOCK IS STRETCHED BETWEEN THE TWO TREES, AND A LOG CABIN STANDS BEHIND THAT. • STORM WITCH – ELLEN RENNER “ARE YOU SCARED? ” THEY WERE NEARLY AT THE HARBOUR, AND STORM NEEDED T KNOW BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE. SHE DODGED A STEP AHEAD AND WALKED BACKWARDS, STUDYING THORN’S FACE. IT WAS THE MORNING AFTER THE BOYS’ CHOOSING. LAST NIGHT ALL THE THIRTEEN-YEAR BOYS HAD TRAVELLED TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, ONE BY ONE. EACH OF THEM HAD PASSED THE ORDEAL AND BEEN CHOSEN BY ONE OF

• COGHEART – PETER BUNZL LILY WRINKLED HER FRECKLED NOSE AS SHE TRUDGED ALONG AT THE BACK OF THE LINE OF GIRLS. WITH EACH STEP, HER HEART BEAT HARD IN HER CHEST, AND HER GREEN EYES FLICKED ACROSS THE DOG-EARED PAGES OF HER BELOVED PENNY DREADFUL HIDDEN INSIDE HER SCHOOLBOOK. SHE WAS ENJOYING A PARTICULARLY GORY SCENE IN VARNEY THE VAMPYRE VERSUS THE AIR-PIRATES, WHERE VARNEY HAD CAPTURED THE HEROINE IN THE DISUSED ATTIC OF AN ITALIAN BOARDING SCHOOL AND WAS PREPARING TO FEAST ON HER BLOOD. LILY HAD HER PENCIL POISED TO MARK UP THE GRUESOMEST PASSAGES OF THE MAGAZINE, SO SHE COULD REREAD THEM LATER AT HER LEISURE. • FLAMINGO BOY – MICHAEL MORPURGO I READ IT IN A BOOK ONCE, WHEN I WAS A BOY. I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT BOOK IT WAS FROM, BUT THE STORY I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN. AN OLD TRAVELLER IS SITTING ON THE STEPS OF HIS GYPSY CARAVAN, DRINKING A MUG OF TEA IN THE SUNSHINE HE’S STOPPED FOR A WHILE, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROUNDABOUT, HIS TETHERED PIEBALD HORSE GRAZING THE GRASS VERGE NEARBY. A POLICE CAR PULLS UP. “YOU CAN’T STOP HERE, ” THE POLICEMAN SAYS. “MORNING, SON, ” SAYS THE TRAVELLER. “YOU WANT SOME TEA? GOT PLENTY TO SPARE. ” THE POLICEMAN IS RATHER NONPLUSSED BY THIS. NO ONE HAS CALLED HIM “SON” FOR A VERY LONG TIME, AND HE RATHER LIKES IT. • SECRETS OF A SUN KING – EMMA CARROLL ONE FILTHY WET WEDNESDAY, THE WORLD STOPPED MAKING SENSE. I WISH I COULDN’T SAY I’D BEEN EXPECTING IT, LIKE THOSE CLEVER PEOPLE WHO SMELL THUNDERSTORMS OR FEEL TIDAL WAVES BEFORE THEY HIT, BUT THAT WASN’T QUITE HOW IT HAPPENED. WE’D BEEN EATING BREAKFAST, MUM AND ME, BUMPING KNEES UNDER OUR TINY KITCHEN TABLE AS WE POLISHED OFF THE LAST OF THE BREAD AND DRIPPING. I’D BE HUNGRY AGAIN WITHIN THE HOUR: I ALWAYS WAS, I WAS ALSO DREADING SCHOOL. SO YOU COULD SAY THE DAY HAD STARTED AS GRIM AS ANY OTHER. UNTIL, THAT WAS, I SAW THE HEADLINE IN THE MORNING PAPER: ‘HUMAN FEET FOUND IN BLOOMSBURY TOWN HOUSE. ’ “IS IT TRUE? ” I ASKED, BAFFLED.

WRITE YOUR OPENING • THINK ABOUT THE GOOD POINTS THAT YOU PICKED OUT FROM THE EXAMPLES YOU READ. • WRITE YOUR OWN OPENING TO YOUR STORY. YOU MIGHT WANT TO USE SOME OF THE WORK YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE ON CHARACTER AND SETTING DESCRIPTIONS.

BUILD UP AND DILEMMA DAY 4

SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO GO WRONG… • YOU HAVE YOUR OPENING TO YOU STORY WHERE YOU SHOULD HAVE HOOKED THE READER IN. • YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR CHARACTER AND SETTING DESCRIPTION. • THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU NEED TO BUILD UP TO SOMETHING GOING WRONG – THE DILEMMA.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? • MAKE A LIST OF THINGS THAT COULD GO WRONG FOR YOU CHARACTER IN THEIR CURRENT LOCATION. IT NEEDS TO BE BELIEVABLE IN YOUR STORY! • IF I WAS SETTING MY STORY IN WORCESTER AND WAS ON MY WAY TO THE PARK, BUT SUDDENLY THE ROAD TURNED TO LAVA THIS WOULD NOT BE REALISTIC. HOWEVER, IF I HAD SET MY STORY IN A FANTASY WORLD CALLED ‘VOLCANO ISLAND’ AND A RIVER TURNED TO LAVA THIS WOULD BE MUCH MORE BELIEVABLE. THIS ALSO LINKS BACK TO PLANTING IDEAS WITH YOU READER. IF IT IS CALLED VOLCANO ISLAND, AS A READER I WOULD BE THINKING SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH A VOLCANO. • HAVE A LIST OF 4 OR 5 THINGS THAT MIGHT GO WRONG AND THEN DECIDE WHICH ONE WOULD BE BEST. TALK THE IDEAS THROUGH WITH SOMEONE AND THEY MIGHT GIVE YOU INSPIRATION.

SELECT THE DILEMMA • NOW YOU HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THE PROBLEM YOU NEED TO BUILD A LINK TO YOUR OPENING AND THE PROBLEM THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. • DOES THE CHARACTER NEED TO MOVE TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION? • DO THEY MEET SOMEONE NEW? • DOES THE WEATHER TAKE A TURN FOR THE WORSE? • PATHETIC FALLACY (WEATHER REPRESENTING MOOD IN STORY) IS GREAT TO USE HERE. IN FILMS HAVE YOU NOTICED WHEN SOMETHING SAD HAPPENS IT RAINS, OR WHEN SOMEONE IS HAPPY IT IS SUNNY? THIS IS DIRECTORS USING PATHETIC FALLACY! YOU CAN USE THIS AS AN AUTHOR.

DILEMMA AND OVER COMING THIS. • YOUR CHARACTER HAS FACED THEIR FIRST DILEMMA, FOR THE STORY TO MOVE ON YOU NEED TO THINK HOW THEY ARE GOING TO OVERCOME THIS PROBLEM BEFORE THEY CAN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT LOCATION. • START BUILDING THIS IDEA INTO YOUR DILEMMA. • EXAMPLES: THEY MAY FIND A WEAPON, A NEW CHARACTER HELPS, THE WEATHER CHANGES, THEY SPOT A DIFFERENT WAY AROUND ETC.