Point of View

A narrative is a story - something which tells of a sequence of events. The art of telling a good story has been passed down with the stories themselves from generation to generation, since long before tales were written down. We tell stories all the time ourselves, in conversation, we read them in newspapers, hear …

Character (part 2)

Authors may also like to use the environment in which a character is ‘found’ or placed as an indirect – but very effective – way of bringing a character to life. The environment which one lives in or chooses is particularly important (e.g. a bedroom, or house, or street, or area where that person has …

Character (part 1)

Whenever we meet someone new, we build up our impression of them on the basis of their appearance, speech, actions and surroundings. In literature, authors introduce 'characters' - or people - to us as readers, and we get to know them in much the same way, making our judgements accordingly. Of course, as readers, we …

Imagery

The word image means 'representation' or 'picture': in language, an image is a 'word picture', or a mental picture created by the author and recreated in the reader's mind with words. We often find it useful to create such pictures when communicating on an everyday level with one another: He's got a list as long …

The Getaway Scene

This is the second part of a two part assignment I did for my creative writing course.  The first part involved writing a witness statement for a road traffic accident where there was a fatality.  This part involved writing a getaway scene that a novelist had written based on the witness statement. I got a …

How not to use metaphor and simile!

Successful metaphors and similes bring a literary passage to life.  But metaphors and similes are not always effective. In a recent GCSE English paper, there was a question that asked for a short story which had to include examples of metaphors and similes. Here is a choice selection of extracts from candidate's work: 1. She …

The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep.

This is a short story inspired by the following verse of a poem by Robert Frost titled Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. The Woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost I yawned …

A Picnic at Sunny Sands Beach

An experience from my childhood... I walked along the path next to the beach with my father. My mother and grandfather were walking up ahead. I held a newspaper come full of chips smothered in salt and vinegar. I had a grin like a Cheshire cat on my face and I looked back at my …