1. Creative Writing
THE TASK
You are going to create your own piece of writing about a spooky setting. This should be a description rather than a story. Try to make the language you use as interesting as possible. Think about all the senses – what can be seen, heard, smelt and touched?

2. Creative Writing DESCRIBING THE SCENE
Creative writing should be just that – creative! This is your chance to let your imagination run free. You should make your writing as descriptive and imaginative as possible, by using interesting verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

3. Creative Writing a) He ran in and out of the trees.
1. Think of a more effective word for the verbs in italics and write the sentence out again:
a)     He ran in and out of the trees.
b)    She looked round as she heard a noise behind her.
c)     I fell amongst the brambles.
d) An animal screeched in the distance.

4. (a) The tree was _________ and __________.
2. Think of some interesting adjectives to describe these nouns. The noun that needs describing is in bold type.
(a)  The tree was _________ and __________.
(b) I crept through the _________, __________ forest.
(c)  The __________ light cast _________ shadows on the _________ ground.
(d)  Each __________ branch seemed to be pointing at me.

5. You might be ‘running,’ but how are you running?
. Also think carefully about your choice of adverbs – these are words which describe the verbs in your writing.
You might be ‘running,’ but how are you running?
Madly? Furiously? Carefully? Quickly? Blindly? Violently?
THINK OF SOME ADVERBS TO DESCRIBE THE FOLLOWING VERBS:
WALKING
SMILING
EATING
PURRING

6. BUILDING ATMOSPHERE AND TENSION
As it is a spooky setting you are describing, you need to think about how you are going to make your writing tense for the reader. This will arrest the reader’s attention and make him/her want to continue reading. There are several ways to do this:

7. Good and detailed description of the scene will capture the reader’s imagination.
You could use short, clipped phrases when you get to a particularly tense and scary moment, but you would not want to do this all the time as the effect would be lost and your writing would seem too basic.
Keep the reader in suspense – try to make her/him wonder what’s going to happen next.

8. POINT OF VIEW
You can write in the first person as though you are writing from your point of view:
‘I saw…I heard…I felt…I thought…’
Or in the third person when you are a narrator talking about another character:
‘He saw…she heard…they felt…he thought…’

9. TENSE Choose either past tense or present tense and then STICK TO IT!
PAST TENSE
PRESENT TENSE
‘As she walked through the forest…’
‘As I run faster, I start to hear the sound of…’
‘The first thing she saw when she entered the woods was…’
As he gets further from the path he notices…’

10. A GUIDE TO A HIGHER Level
Whatever you write, try to think to yourself, ‘would I enjoy it and would it keep me interested?’ If the answer is ‘no’ then you need to think more carefully about your writing.
When you have finished your first draft, you should go through your writing and ask yourself the following questions:

11. q Do names and places begin with capital letters?
q   Have I split my writing into paragraphs?
q   Does every sentence start with a capital letter and end with a full stop?
q   Do names and places begin with capital letters?
q   Have I spelt every word correctly (use a dictionary!)?
q   Do all my sentences make sense?
Have I used the most interesting and descriptive language I can think of? If not, go through and think of some better words and phrases to use.

12. Remember, never settle for your first draft – you can ALWAYS improve your writing!
Enjoy writing and do your very best!