 Hello and welcome back to yet another GCSE revision lesson now with just less than three days to go before the English language paper one exam. What I wanted to offer you guys in this lesson is a really effective way to approach question number five in the language paper one exam. Now I would say that this is arguably the hardest part of the exam to prepare for and it carries the most marks okay. So the stakes are quite high when it comes to the creative writing portion of your exam. Now if you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed because you've only got the weekend before the exams start how can you approach this in the most strategic way. My suggestion is number one go for the story as opposed to descriptive writing only because when it comes to storytelling you can start off in one place and then end in somewhere else. Descriptive writing really restricts you to just the image that's in front of you which puts a lot of pressure on you being able to describe what you can see in a dozen different ways. So the first way I would suggest effectively preparing for this portion of the exam go for the story. Also secondly when you go for the story make sure you have some story plans memorized which can be flexible enough and that can give you the room to answer any questions that could come up. So as you can see behind me I have selected five different story plans covering different genres, different settings that you should consider and potentially use as part of your upcoming exams. So what I want to walk you guys through are these story plans and what you could write for each story plan using the story mountain structure with the beginning build up problem resolution and ending. So beginning with the first story and this is in a city setting so this could be a thriller that you could write. So let's say you decide or you get a question that tells you to write something that is based in a city landscape. This story perhaps you could use. So you can start off beginning by describing how you as a protagonist are cycling home and weaving through the busy city streets, so maybe you're in London and you're weaving through one of the busiest streets within London and you're very keen to get home. Now when you look at the weather perhaps it's sunny, it's really beautiful, there's a sense of promise. It's the afternoon because it's after school however as you're cycling and weaving through these busy crowded streets you're filled with a sense of hope starting off with the pathetic fallacy in your first paragraph. Then in your build up you could decide to cut through the side streets in order to avoid tourists. So you decide to take a detour, cut through the side streets and then you now start even moving faster and cycling quicker towards home. So now you're in the more silent, labyrinth streets so you can even describe the city as almost amazed. However in your problem paragraph you then realise that there's a rickety sound behind you. You gaze back and realise that there's an old man, maybe he looks very shabby and he's on a rickety bicycle and he's literally peering at you and almost chasing you. So of course you look at him, your heart starts racing and you start pedaling away faster and faster. Then in your resolution paragraph you decide to cut through more side streets in order to try and weave away from him. So you cut through side streets and then you enter a particularly gloomy street which has a dead end. That's your resolution and then your ending paragraph is now this person on this rickety bike slams into your bike. You obviously are sent toppling onto the ground with your bike and then he maybe stands over you and snaps out a knife. You could end by asking a rhetorical question, is this the end? That's the first story plan. Now the second story could be maybe based on a beach and maybe this could be a rescue story. So when it comes to this story, maybe you could begin again using Pathetic Fallacy, positive Pathetic Fallacy to establish a sense of hope and optimising by saying that it's a really, really nice barmy day. It's sunshine, the sun is shining down, gilding everything around you with maybe a hazy golden mist. So you're sitting by the shore in this beautiful sun and really enjoying and taking in the barmy sunny day. You're perhaps looking out onto the ocean and really enjoying the view and it's holiday time after such a busy period. You're just really happy to have time to yourself. Now in your build-up paragraph, maybe your eyes are drawn to the ocean and a specific surfer and perhaps they have a very distinctive surfboard. Maybe they have a scarlet or ruby red surfboard and you admire them as they ride in the waves of the ocean. However, the problem, and this is now the rescue aspect, is a wall of water could rise up and then suddenly the surfer disappears under that wall of water, your heart starts racing. OK, so your heart is always racing in the problem paragraph as you look around and you realise that there's no lifeguard in sight. Resolution is you could run towards the windy crashing waves of water. So now it's gone from being quite sunny to still sunny, but maybe very windy, right? The wind is beating back against you and you're rushing into the water. You plunge yourself into the water and you go towards the scarlet or the ruby red surfboard, which is still bobbing up on the water. Then your resolution is as you get to the surfboard, you see a pale, lifeless arm and you decide to snatch that pale, lifeless arm. Maybe the body feels like a rock as you swim back towards the shore because you have rescued this person. OK, that's the second story idea. Now, the third, which you could let's say, for example, you wanted to write a story that conveys some kind of secret or some kind of discovery or even the person that uncovers the secret realises that they're an outsider. This is what you could write about. So in this case, unlike the first two stories, you can use pathetic fallacy to already establish a sense of darkness. OK, so you could begin by describing how it's raining and you're outside your grandmother's cottage, standing at the front door, feeling quite heavy, OK? And perhaps you're feeling heavy in your heart because your grandmother has passed away and you're there to pack away her belongings maybe before selling your parents at your grandmother's grandmother's cottage. OK, that's the beginning paragraph. You're feeling quite heavy, you're looking at the front door and maybe you're taking out your keys, the jangling in your hands, the rain is pelting down and you realise you have to go and start packing away your beloved grandma's stuff. Now, the build up could be you enter the front room, the sitting room and you start reminiscing as you're walking around. So you describe what you can see in the sitting room. Maybe you can see her wheelchair or her rocking chair even. Maybe you can see like a table. You start reminiscing on all of these things as you walk in through the front room. You walk in through the kitchen, you're going up the stairs and you're describing what you can see in your grandmother's cottage. Now, what is the problem? The problem could be your heart sinks as you realise that you're unsure as what you need to pack first. OK, so you your heart sinks as you're unsure what to pack away and you feel very overwhelmed. Now, how do you resolve this problem as you're looking around? Once more, your palms are getting sweaty. You're feeling as if maybe your heart is sinking to the pit of your stomach. Resolution could be you decide to go to the loft. OK, so you decide I'm going to go to the loft because there's lots of things in the loft I can kind of get used to packing them away before I look at other areas of the house. And you climb up the loft and find this mysterious chest of drawers. Perhaps they have lots of dust on them. And you're curious to see what's inside these chest of drawers. Now, your resolution could be you decide to yank. Open the drawers, right? So maybe the the locked but the locks are rusty and eventually you force it open and this these sheets and so on come flying out. OK, so like a shower of papers all come flying out. One particular paper catches your eye and you realize that it is your adoption certificate. So you're an outsider because you actually were never biologically connected to your family. And that was a massive secret. OK, that's story number three. Story number four, this could be a horror inspired story. So let's say you want to go for like a little bit of a scary story. This is what you could write about. So your beginning paragraph, perhaps you can base it in October or November, write a dark dismal day. Even a dark dismal night to create the sense of terror, maybe the sense of foreboding. So you and your friend are standing in front of this abandoned mansion, OK? And you're holding Halloween treats in your hands and you're really panicking because you don't want to do this. So maybe your reader is reading this and thinking, what do you want to do? Then your second paragraph, your buildup paragraph is we learned that your friend is upset because you don't want to go through with this day whilst she went through with her day. OK, so she's upset because she knocked on a terrifying stranger's door. And now it's your turn to enter this abandoned mansion, walk through it and then come out because that's part of the dare game. So you turn in the buildup to enter this abandoned derelict run down mansion. Problem paragraph. So as you enter your heart races, as you push the door in and you enter this vast front room, maybe you look up, you see this chandelier, which is maybe having light bulbs missing. You look across, you see windows with window panes missing. You walk through your heart is racing. Your palms are sweaty and moist, OK? You're walking through. This is part of the day and you're really terrified. Then resolution paragraph is you suddenly as you're entering, perhaps maybe the kitchen, you suddenly see a dark shadow quickly pass you or flip past you. And that's when you decide to turn and run. However, how does it end? This could be your cliffhanger. So as you decide to run, you hear the front door slamming shut, some mysterious force called the front door to slam shut. And then as you run through the rooms, you then suddenly feel two cold claws grab onto your shoulders and sink the sharp nails into your shoulders. That could be a horror story plan. Fifth and final paragraph, where you can maybe juxtapose a paradise with something terrible that happens in this paradise is where you can have, say, for example, a beach setting. Or to be honest, you can even substitute beach setting with a forest setting with a cave setting, whatever any place. That's like really beautiful, very scenic. Again, you're on holiday, but now there's a complete plot twist by the end. OK, so this paradise turns into this horrific place. Now, in this case, I've decided to go for a beach. OK, so the beginning could be once more. It's really nice. It's really sunny. It's quite beautiful. And you are really excited to be in this beach paradise for holiday. And as you saunter and wander around on the beach, right, so maybe you're walking on the white sand, you're looking around, you're looking at the sky, it's an endless turquoise blue. You're looking at the ocean across. You start to notice something interesting. OK, so now this is the build up. So you're walking along the coastline and you notice a dense thicket of trees. So you notice this dense clump of trees on this forest. It's the kind of this random jungle in the corner. And you notice that no tourists really go there and you're curious. OK, so that's the build up. Now, the problem could be that you decide to venture away from this noisy coast into the darkness of and into the silence of this dense jungle. OK, it's still sunny, it's not become dark, but perhaps because there's lots of trees, it's become quite shady. OK, so it's lots of shade and kind of a little bit of darkness there. OK, so as you venture further from the noisy coast and into the gloomy dense forest, you notice decaying trees. You can even notice a decaying carpet of leaves on the ground. And you start being curious as to what's going on in this part of the forest. Now your resolution is when it gets even more scary, right? So you notice a gigantic fallen palm tree with insects crawling out of it. Right, that can be your motif. Maybe it could foreshadow a dead body because in your ending paragraph, which can be the cliffhanger, you decide that you want to leave. You maybe take several steps back from this tree and you suddenly step on a human skeleton's head, right? So maybe you step back, you hear a crunching noise or a splintering sound, and then you look and find a human skeleton's head. OK, and that could be a contrast, this paradise that turns into this horrific place. So that's really it when it comes to creative writing and the different ideas that you could incorporate into your story when you sit in this exam on Monday. Thanks so much for listening.