Show Don't Tell
At the moment in English, we've been working on a slideshow that's been assigned to us by our teacher.
~I stood in front of the ruined building. It was completely black and half of it was ash. A few doorframes were still standing but everything else had either burned to a crisp or just disintegrated.
~He looked down at me as he walked up the steps. He whispered to me those few words that no one wants to hear. He spoke and walked away. The words hit me like a brick. I felt sick to my stomach. Why... why me?
~It was gaining on us. We ran through the fields, long grass tangling up between our feet like they were hands trying to trip us up. We saw the forest in front of us and darted towards it like our lives depended on it... well, they do.
~She did it. She actually did it. I warned her not to, that she'd regret it, and she went ahead and did it anyway. How could she disobey me? I'll make her pay. She'll rue the day she disobeyed Nathaniel the Great!
~He looked down at me as he walked up the steps. He whispered to me those few words that no one wants to hear. He spoke and walked away. The words hit me like a brick. I felt sick to my stomach. Why... why me?
~It was gaining on us. We ran through the fields, long grass tangling up between our feet like they were hands trying to trip us up. We saw the forest in front of us and darted towards it like our lives depended on it... well, they do.
~She did it. She actually did it. I warned her not to, that she'd regret it, and she went ahead and did it anyway. How could she disobey me? I'll make her pay. She'll rue the day she disobeyed Nathaniel the Great!
Setting It Up
A Medieval Household
The floorboards creaked upstairs. The door burst open, Lady Hillary cried- "How could you betray me, my dear husband!?" She left the castle without another word except for her loud sobs. I knocked on the King's door and heard him sigh 'come in'. I walked into the room and a strong whiff of alcohol tickled my nose. "King Bernard?" His head snapped my way. "What?" His deep voice boomed. "If this is about Hillary, I don't want to hear another word!" He shouted. I nodded. As I was about to leave, he said, "Oh, and refill this, will you?" He handed me an empty flagon of alcohol. "Of course your majesty." I bowed and left the room. I tip-toed down a flight of stairs, crept through half a dozen corridors, and into the kitchen. I saw Charles cooking away at one of the many stoves. He was preparing dinner along with other cooks. "Hello, Charles." I chirped. "Oh, hello Eleanor." He said glancing my way for a second. "I've come to refill this for the King." I filled the flagon to the brim with whiskey and waved goodbye to Charles. As I was walking toward the king I took a sneaky sip and the liquid left a tangy sensation in my mouth. I took the bottle to the king. I knocked on the door and heard King Bernard groan. I entered and placed the jug onto the King's desk. "Thank you..." He poured some into a cup and took a swig. "Why are you still here?" I snapped out of my trance and quickly hurried out of the room.
A Futuristic City
A flying car sped past above my head. I looked up at it when a bright light caught my eye. I watched as more flying objects shone lights onto big purple and blue buildings almost completely made of glass. The sky was lit up with little lights that looked like stars when really, they were cars and buses and trucks. As I walked on the see-through footpath 40 feet above the ground, I smelled a delicious scent. I noticed a food truck hovering next to the footpath. They were selling doughnuts! I hurried over when suddenly someone zoomed past on their hoverboard and knocked me over the railing. I screamed as I tumbled towards the ground. Is this it? Is this really it for me? I closed my eyes as I almost made an impact. I felt the ground and... sunk? A few seconds later I was flung back up into the air. I gasped... oh. Trampoline flooring. I forgot about that. I tumbled down again and bounced around a few more times. People jumped by and stared at me weirdly. I smiled awkwardly. I bounced back up to the footpath and decided to grab a doughnut. I handed the lady some Futurbux (that's the currency we use now). I took a bite of the doughnut and a gazillion flavours exploded in my mouth. Mmmm, that's delicious. I heard a loud buzzing noise below me and saw a train float by. So... this is definitely the future.
A Made Up Fantasy Land
Giants stomped, fairies whizzed, gnomes ran around the grass, mermaids swam alongside Leo the Loch Ness monster. Yes, I live in a magical world. Everything here has something to do with either magic or witchery or straight up fantasy. Suddenly I heard some people shrieking and laughing. "Nina, you have to see this!" Agnes shouted. I ran over and saw a little gnome dancing away with a fairy. He was probably only three-years-old. They were giggling and doing what looked like the salsa... but they're little. And also a fairy and gnome, so. I smiled at the cute sight and walked off to carry on with what I was doing. Which was creating a party for Dooly- he's a giant. He's turning seven and he's already 20 times the size of me... giants. "Hey, Connie! How's the cake going?" I asked. "Great! Taste this-" She said and shoved a spatula covering in icing in my mouth. "Ooh, this tastes amazing, Con. Keep it up." She smiled and continued icing. Along with about ten more of us mortals (humans) and two other giants.
Setting as Backdrop
The wind howled like a wolf as the trees swayed like they were slow dancing. I entered the subway and heard the familiar sound echo through the air as I walked up to the edge. The train slowed to a stop and I let my eyes adjust to the fluorescent lights. The doors creaked open making the sound of a squeaky step, and people hurried to get to places I don't think I'll ever know about. Even though it was late in the evening there was still a handful of people. Colourful people... people with beards as long as my arm, people wearing clothes that looked like they just came from the Mad Hatter's wardrobe, all sorts.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Reflection Post
What new things have I learned?
I learned how to make my starters for stories more interesting instead of something boring people wouldn't enjoy reading.
How is this going to help me to be a better creative writer?
Now that I know how to make everything more interesting I'll be able to create better stories people will want to read.
What activities did I enjoy from this unit of work and why?
I liked doing the Protagonist and Antagonist activity, it was fun creating my own characters from scratch. I think if I created a story with them they would somehow meet and become enemies.
Which styles of learning work best for me?
I think I work best at Setting it Up. Creating fun little things like those are what I would usually do.
Were there any obstacles to learning this?
I sort of struggled with Setting as Backdrop, I had a hard time coming up with different ways to describe the people and objects to make them more fascinating. Although I think it ended up pretty okay.
Hey Paige, I really enjoyed the part about your Medieval Household piece of writing. I found it very interesting and mysterious. I liked how you used various text and words through out your post. I think you could have made this blog post better by explaining what it is you were writing about at the start.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used full sentences and how you used descriptive words.
ReplyDeleteNext time i think you should try drag out the paragraphs so you can get a better mark.