Composition Unit 1
Planning a story Read the story plan, and then answer the questions that follow. This is a plan for writing a story. It is useful to plan a story before you write it to make sure it has a good structure. This type of plan is called a flowchart. Daedalus and Icarus Good stories have five parts: 1) The story begins.
King Minos of Crete captured a terrible monster called the Minotaur.
King Minos asked Daedalus to make a prison to keep the Minotaur in. The prison was like a maze. It was called a labyrinth.
When Daedalus had finished making the labyrinth, he wanted to leave Crete with his son Icarus. 2) The story builds up to a problem. 3) The problem happens.
King Minos wouldn’t let Daedalus and Icarus leave. He kept them prisoner in a high tower.
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4) The characters solve the problem.
Daedalus made wings for himself and Icarus, so that they could escape. The wings were made of birds’ feathers stuck together with wax.
Daedalus told Icarus not to fly too high or the sun would melt the wax. 5) The story ends. The events in a story decide what type of story it is. A sad death makes this a tragedy.
Icarus forgot what his father said.
He flew too close to the sun and the wings came apart. He fell into the sea and died.
The arrows show how one part of the story leads to the next.
Get started Discuss these questions with a partner. 1. Why is it useful to plan a story before writing it? 2. How many parts should a good story have? What are they? 3. What is useful about a flowchart for planning a story?
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Try these You do not always have to use a flowchart story plan. Design another way to plan a story. You should think about: ●
the different parts that your story will have
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how to show how one part of the story moves to another.
Discuss your ideas with a partner and draw your story plan design.
Now try these 1. Plan your own story. Copy and complete this flowchart, or fill in your own story plan design. You can use one of these story titles or invent your own. ●
The Birthday Party
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The Lost Pet
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The School Trip
The story begins
The problem starts to happen
The problem happens
Characters solve the problem
The story ends
2. Write the opening paragraph of your story. Try to write four or five sentences introducing the setting and the characters.
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Composition Unit 2
Story settings Read the extract from ‘The King in the Forest’ by Michael Morpurgo, and then answer the questions that follow. A story setting is the time and place in which the story happens. This author has used descriptive words and phrases to build a picture in the reader’s mind. The same setting can have different atmospheres. Forests can be spooky or peaceful.
Sometimes short lists can give information about a setting. (They often come in sets of three.)
Deep in the forest, there lived a charcoal-burner and his son Tod. They were poor people, but if they worked hard there was just enough food to feed themselves, their cow and their donkey. Once a month, Tod’s father would load up the donkey with charcoal and take it into town to sell it in the market, and so Tod would be left on his own to milk the cow, chop the wood and keep the charcoal ovens burning.
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The author describes sights and sounds to bring the setting to life. The author has carefully chosen the most descriptive words. The horns aren’t ‘noisy’: they’re ‘echoing’.
One fine morning, with his father gone to town, Tod was out chopping wood when he heard the sound of hunting horns echoing through the forest. The King would be out hunting again as he often was. As the baying of the hounds came ever closer, Tod looked up from his chopping. Something was moving at the edge of the forest, something white and small. He put down his axe and ran over to see what it was and there, trembling in the high bracken was a fawn, a white fawn. The hounds and the horns were sounding all about him now, and he could see the huntsman riding through the trees.
Get started Discuss these questions and complete the tasks with a partner. 1. What setting has the author chosen for this story? (Think about place and time.) 2. What sights does the author describe? Find them and make a list. 3. What sounds does the author describe? Find them and make a list.
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Try these Copy and complete the passage with adjectives of your choice to make it more descriptive. sun was low in It was late afternoon and the leaves, she the sky. As she walked through the and under her feet. listened to them call of a wood pigeon overhead. She Sally heard the leaves still hanging on the tree looked up through the and spied a nest high above her head. As she bent to gather some , the fading sunlight leaves, their colours warm and shadow on the ground. cast a
Now try these 1. How many different story settings can you think of? Try to think of eight different story settings and make a list. For each setting, add a word or two to describe it. 2. Write a short description of a setting. You can write about one of these settings, or use one of your own. Try to use plenty of adjectives and descriptive phrases and include details of the sights and sounds of the place. •
A busy city
•
A beach in summer time
•
A deserted house at night
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