 Hello and welcome back to yet another creative writing lesson where this time we're going to be going over yet another story plan. And in this instance, we're going to be going over how you can develop a really good story set in a desert. Remember the best way to win with creative writing is literally develop lots of different story plans, lots of different ideas related to say you've got an image which has a say for instance, in this case, a desert setting or even a statement or something that's quite unexpected or, you know, where you develop a story related to an adventure. The best way to win with creative writing is having different story ideas and you do this prior to sitting down. Okay, try not to put too much pressure on yourself in your actual exam where you're coming up on the spot with ideas. Try to memorize some of these ideas and of course now what we're going to do is go over a potential story that you could use and develop of course when it comes to a desert setting. So you can start off your story in this desert. So this is a really interesting structure that I've adopted and of course here I always write about it as if you're the protagonist, right? So you can write about it either in third person or the first person perspective doesn't really matter. I personally like first person narrative, however, either or works, okay? So I'm obviously always going to write about it from first person perspective or I'm going to describe it from first person perspective, but of course you can still apply this with third person. Anyway, so starting with the beginning, this structure of this story is going to be a little bit interesting and you're going to see why, right? So in the beginning, you can write about it with your eyes. So my eyes, so I'm the narrator, right? So my eyes blink open as I gaze around in confusion, staring out at the endless desert, right? So my eyes blink open. I'm looking around in confusion. What's happening? And you're actually starting this story in media ray in the middle of the action, right? So here, the pathetic fallacy you could use is not the sun's rays beaming down really nicely. The sun's rays would be scorching. They are pelting you. You almost feel as if your skin is on fire because the sun is so hot, right? So using pathetic fallacy here to create a sense of discomfort, a very strong sense of discomfort as you're waking up, you're looking around at this endless desert, which is, you know, a sea of sand, for instance, so you can obviously use lots of metaphor to describe what you can see before you. Obviously make sure you establish a sense of setting. But here, when you're describing the setting and the desert setting, you're really confused. Why am I here? Now in your buildup paragraphs, this is your second paragraph. You slowly stand up and you cough and feel bruised. Perhaps your neck feels sore. Perhaps maybe your eye is struggling to open because it's maybe swollen and puffy. Perhaps your mouth feels dry. You give indirectly and you offer your reader indirect hints that something has happened to you. Maybe you're kind of, you're involved in a bit of a tussle and you don't know why, you know, everything is hurting right now, right? So you feel quite bruised and you look around and you notice wilting bushes. Okay. So wilting bushes could maybe also be a symbol of how you feel, right? You feel kind of like a little bit worse for wear. Obviously you look around this desert, you see cacti, you see palm trees and so on. Remember, obviously one cactus is cactus US. Cacti is plenty more than one cactus. Okay. Now, what is your problem? So now this is where the structure you could use can be quite interesting because now you can introduce a bit of a flashback. You very careful with flashbacks and flash forwards. They have to really seamlessly flow into your story. Okay. But this is a good example of how you can use a flashback because as you look around, you suddenly remember your problem paragraph, right? You remember hours before you had a desert guide. Maybe you'd paid a desert guide to guide you on camel back through, you know, the Sahara desert, maybe you were in Morocco and you're going through the desert with your desert guide. And just hours before your desert guide had beat you to a pulp. That's why you're bruised everywhere and they stole everything including your camel with all the things, you know, all your possessions or your worldly possessions with your camel and just left you for dead, right? So that's the problem paragraph. That's why we've got the tension that's introduced in your story and in your narrative. Now, in your resolution fourth paragraph, you decide, okay, I need to somehow survive. What can I do? So you stumble around seeking for help and your heart leaps with joy when you spot an oasis in the horizon. So you spot an oasis in this desert, in this vast desert, you can see just in the distance a little what seems to be a little body of water. Remember, an oasis in a desert tends to also not only is it a place where you can drink water from, but also civilizations, especially nomadic civilizations tend to be built around oases, right? So you're leaping with kind of faith and feeling happy because suddenly actually not only am I going to be able to get a drink of water, but there's probably people living around this oasis that can ask for help, right? I can even maybe get them to figure out who this guide is that beat me up. Now, the ending, you stumble forward towards this oasis. You're stumbling, stumbling. You're so excited to get to this oasis and you tears fill your eyes as you walk towards this oasis. You walk and walk and walk for what feels firstly like minutes. You're walking towards this oasis for what feels like minutes, then these minutes turn into hours. You're walking towards this oasis, but it's not coming any closer to you. And the oasis after hours seems far. And you wonder, are you losing your mind? Is this all just a mirage? This is obviously a mirage, which is a hallucination. This is a common issue that people in the desert tend to face when they're very dehydrated and so on, right? So they see mirages and hallucinations of oases, which are not actually there, right? So this is this ending. Again, you're ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, OK? So this is the suggested framework and the suggested story plan I would suggest when it comes to a desert setting.