Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences
Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation
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It is important to remember that writers plan their texts deliberately to make the reader respond in certain ways, and think and feel certain things. This task in Question 5 asks you to think about how you can effectively engage your reader and produce a cohesive piece of creative writing.
When you reach Question 5, you will already have read an example of creative writing. You can use the ideas and structure to inform your answer. You should spend some time thinking about the question: not only the content, but also the order of your ideas. An effective piece of creative writing considers plot, setting and characterisation .
In your answer you must:
Question 5 tests your ability to create a text which is constructed in an appropriate manner.
The creative writing question assesses your skill in crafting a convincing piece of creative writing or short story. The question will be worded according to a specific task, for example:
It is worth remembering that you will be given a choice of two tasks in the exam: one will be a creative writing task, and the other will be a descriptive writing task. One will also give you a picture as a prompt for your piece of writing, but this could be to write a story or a description, so it is important that you read both options carefully.
Below are some points on how you might approach the task “Write a story with the title ‘Abandoned’”. It is divided into plot, setting and characterisation.
This task asks you to write a short story. This means you are required to plan your response carefully as you have limited time to create a cohesive plot. It is best to plan how your story will end before you begin writing so that you are in control of your story. Writing a response which has not been planned is likely to have an abrupt ending, or no ending at all, which does not satisfy readers or get you high marks. Your character development will lead the plot; you should decide if your story ends with a clear resolution or with a cliffhanger. Your resolution could be happy, or you can create a tragic ending.
There are lots of different narrative structures or arcs you could use to plan your story. Bearing in mind you only have 45 minutes, including planning time, your story needs to be controlled and concise. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to consider Freytag’s Pyramid:
| Stick to one main setting and start at the location: |
Hook your reader: | |
Decide which narrative perspective and tense you are going to write your story in: | |
Employ the five senses to create an atmosphere: | |
This paragraph could end with an “inciting incident”, which prompts the rising action and moves the story forward | |
| This paragraph should build tension, drama or interest: |
This paragraph should also develop your character(s): | |
This is the turning point of your story: | |
Your protagonist could face an external problem, or an internal choice or dilemma: | |
You should vary your sentence structure, length and language here for dramatic effect | |
What happens in this paragraph should be as a direct result of the climax paragraph: | |
It also should focus on your characters’ thoughts and feelings as a result of the climax of the story: | |
You can choose to resolve your story, or end on a cliff-hanger: | |
Your setting and atmosphere could reflect a change from the setting or atmosphere you established in your opening paragraph: |
As this task assesses the ability to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, it is important to consider how to use language constructively in a short story to convey an atmosphere or mood. Building an effective setting is key as it contributes to atmosphere and mood.
Remember, Question 5 requires an extended written response. Therefore, the most effective stories will demonstrate a well-planned response which has considered what information is relevant to the reader and the most effective way to order and structure the narrative.
This question asks you to create a short story and therefore you will need to build some elements of detailed characterisation. This means you need to consider what your character(s) represent. They may represent an idea, such as being the victim of abandonment, or as a villain to represent injustice or evil. It is best to limit yourself to two characters in the time you have.
Well-rounded characters are taken on a journey in which a character undergoes some form of development or change. The mark scheme rewards answers which clearly and effectively convey ideas, meaning that you need to consider the most effective ways of building a character in a short piece of writing. Ideally, you should focus more on indirect characterisation than direct characterisation:
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Here, we will consider how to effectively plan your character(s) to engage your reader. This is what the examiner is looking for in your answer:
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| Your character’s appearance may not always be relevant: , remember that it is rare we describe our own appearance perspective can describe appearance more effectively |
| One of the most effective ways to describe a character is through their movements: and can be used to effectively build characterisation |
| If you use the perspective, a monologue helps readers engage with the character: will help your reader understand your character better |
| Dialogue can convey the relationships between your characters and provide insights into what other characters think about each other: |
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Sam is a graduate in English Language and Literature, specialising in journalism and the history and varieties of English. Before teaching, Sam had a career in tourism in South Africa and Europe. After training to become a teacher, Sam taught English Language and Literature and Communication and Culture in three outstanding secondary schools across England. Her teaching experience began in nursery schools, where she achieved a qualification in Early Years Foundation education. Sam went on to train in the SEN department of a secondary school, working closely with visually impaired students. From there, she went on to manage KS3 and GCSE English language and literature, as well as leading the Sixth Form curriculum. During this time, Sam trained as an examiner in AQA and iGCSE and has marked GCSE English examinations across a range of specifications. She went on to tutor Business English, English as a Second Language and international GCSE English to students around the world, as well as tutoring A level, GCSE and KS3 students for educational provisions in England. Sam freelances as a ghostwriter on novels, business articles and reports, academic resources and non-fiction books.
Writing non fiction...
It’s World Creative Writing month, so why not try some creative writing activities with your students? Creative writing allows students to use their imaginations and creativity, and practise essential writing skills. It’s a way to keep students engaged, encourage collaborative learning and allow test-taking students to use their written English skills in a different way from a typical test task type.
Here are four creative writing exercises to use in class with your teen and adult students.
1. group stories.
This creative writing activity encourages learners to work together and use their imaginations to come up with unique and creative stories.
This engaging activity shows that creative writing for English language learners doesn’t have to be long! Creative written language can be short, yet a lot can be expressed.
This activity also works well in online classes, where students work in breakout rooms to come up with their tweets and share them as a whole class.
This creative writing lesson idea encourages students to share ideas and learn from each other. It works well in both face-to-face and online classrooms.
This creative writing activity allows students to put different grammatical structures into practice. It also allows the opportunity for reflection on their learning and themselves.
There are a variety of ways you could do this activity with your students.
Do you do creative writing activities with your English language learners?
What activities have worked well?
Share your ideas below!
If you want to read more about creative writing activities in the classroom, you can read this blog.
Helping advanced students overcome the language learning plateau, listening activity ideas for adult learners, 6 alternative halloween activities for the classroom.
Thanks a million! I’ll definitely try ‘finish my story” IMO they’re all engaging, motivating and encouraging)
I have a question please. Which strategy is preferable to focus on, free or guided writing to help our students achieve improve their writing skill?
Recent posts, soft skills activities: ideas for your language classroom, motivational speaker techniques to encourage students’ english speaking skills, keeping it human: four things every teacher should consider when using technology, how graded readers and engaging activities can ignite student interest in the magic of books, recent comments.
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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Writing > 5 writing exercises you should try to improve your creativity
As we continue to develop our writing skills, occasionally we need to reacquaint ourselves with a creative boost. That’s where these five creative writing exercises can come in: they are designed to loosen up the blocks that might get in the way of our creative process. See what you can do to overcome the fear of the blank page with these fun ideas for getting the creative juices flowing.
Sometimes, we can be stymied by our writing process: it is easy to fall into the all-or-nothing mentality that demands that we write a masterpiece right from the start. That’s why a creative writing exercise is a useful tool. They’re meant for writers to brainstorm and ideate potential new ideas for projects. Whether the ideas and words that we generate lead to something publishable is not the end goal: instead, they’re meant to provoke the improvisational skills that can lead to fun new ideas.
Elevate your writing and collaborate with others - anywhere, anytime
Here are some ways to begin putting pen to paper:
Freewriting is the easiest creative writing exercise that can help with creative blocks. Simply write down anything that comes to your mind, without any attention paid to structure, form, or even grammar and spelling mistakes.
For example, if you’re working from a coffee shop, write based on what you notice around you: the potent smell of the barista’s latest batch of coffee… the furrowed eyebrows of the local students hard at work on their assignments.
Or, if you’re in your home office , perhaps you can observe the light that pours from your window in the morning hours as you start your 9 to 5. Or reminisce about the dusty, ill-used pens and paper clips sitting in the back of your desk drawer.
Do this for 10-15 minutes per session, uninterrupted: the Pomodoro technique can help with this.
Use an otherwise mundane phrase or sentence to kickstart a writing session and create a short story or character description. Try these sentences as story starters:
This exercise asks the question: what would you say to your teenage self? Or a version of you 5, 10, or 20 years younger? In this exercise, you can recast your life in a different light and offer advice, reassurance, or reexperience a special moment again. Maybe you can write from a perspective of optimism: now that you are successful, for example, you can be excited to share your accomplishments. This highly personal exercise can help you tap into all manners of emotions that can then go into character development.
Take two characters from your work, or a book that you love and rewrite their experiences and plot points while switching their points of view. Perhaps one character knows something more than the other, or another character’s perspective and thoughts have been unwritten. Switching these POVs can help you see how a storyline shifts, taking on different tones and emotional beats.
Flash fiction is a type of short fiction that is 500 words or less. The objective of this exercise is to craft a narrative or a character portrait all within a highly limited constraint. Flash fiction differs from freewriting in that you write with focus, aiming towards a fully-formed story that can include plot, conflict, and a character portrait. Writing flash fiction seems deceptively easy, but it can be a challenge—which is why literary magazines and writing contests often have opportunities to publish and award great flash fiction.
If you’re looking for more ways to tap into your creativity, check out more writing tips here .
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Creative writing is an art form that transcends traditional literature boundaries. It includes professional, journalistic, academic, and technical writing. This type of writing emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and literary tropes. It also explores poetry and poetics traditions.
Tips and strategies for writing a high scoring GCSE creative writing paper: 1. Learn the formats. Know the different formats and conventions of the different GCSE writing tasks. There is a standard layout for a leaflet, for example, where including contact details and a series of bullet points is part of the mark scheme.
If you're interested in the world of creative writing, we have eight fantastic exercises and activities to get you started. ️🤩 Don't miss on the joy of Creative Writing: here are 8 ways to get started. Click to tweet! 1. Use writing prompts every week. Coming up with ideas for short stories can be challenging, which is why we created a ...
Some have a separate writing test, others build it in as an element of their English paper (usually alongside a comprehension, punctuation and spelling exercise). ... 11+ creative writing questions from real papers—non-fiction prompts. Write a thank you letter for a present you didn't want. You are about to interview someone for a job ...
Here's how our contest works: every Friday, we send out a newsletter containing five creative writing prompts. Each week, the story ideas center around a different theme. Authors then have one week — until the following Friday — to submit a short story based on one of our prompts. A winner is picked each week to win $250 and is highlighted ...
Types of Creative Writing. Examples of creative writing can be found pretty much everywhere. Some forms that you're probably familiar with and already enjoy include: • Fiction (of every genre, from sci-fi to historical dramas to romances) • Film and television scripts. • Songs. • Poetry.
A lot falls under the term 'creative writing': poetry, short fiction, plays, novels, personal essays, and songs, to name just a few. By virtue of the creativity that characterizes it, creative writing is an extremely versatile art. So instead of defining what creative writing is, it may be easier to understand what it does by looking at ...
Information. The marks for questions are shown in brackets. The maximum mark for this paper is 80. There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
The marks for questions are shown in brackets. The maximum mark for this paper is 80. There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A. You will be assessed on the quality of your ...
June 2019 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers. June 2019: Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1) Download Insert - Download Past Paper - Download Mark Scheme. June 2019: Paper 2: Writer's Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2) Download Insert - Download Past Paper - Download Mark Scheme.
In Paper 1 Question 5 you will be presented with a choice of two writing tasks and a stimulus image. One task will ask you to write descriptively, most likely based on the image, and the other question will ask you to write a story, based on a statement or title.
The eight elements of creative writing that are used in short stories and novels are character development, setting, plot, conflict, theme, point of view, tone, and style. Some of these elements ...
Literary techniques you develop with writing plays and screenplays can include satire, motif, dramatic irony, allusion, and diction. 5. Personal essays. Focusing on the author's life and experiences, a personal essay is a form of creative non-fiction that almost acts as an autobiography.
The vital presence of creative writing in the English Department is reflected by our many distinguished authors who teach our workshops. We offer courses each term in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and television writing. Our workshops are small, usually no more than twelve students, and offer writers an opportunity to focus intensively on one genre.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE 8700/1 Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing Mark scheme June 2021 Version: 1.0 Final *JUN218700/1/MS* MARK SCHEME - GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - 8700/1 - JUNE 2021 2 Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant
English Creative Writings with Detailed Answers. Creative Writings Covering Different Styles. Model Answers with Hint, Plan and Checklist. Best for UK Schools Creative Writing Exams. 8000 + Packs Sold. Subscribe Now. Free English Creative Writings & Answers ️. English Creative Writing Paper 1. Answers.
Paper 1 Question 5 is the writing question. It asks you to apply what you know about imaginative and creative fiction writing, such as in the text you read in Section A, and use these same techniques in your own writing. AO5 rewards you for your ideas, as well as the style and the fluency of your writing. As this task is worth 50% of the paper ...
Creative writing in English is a rewarding activity that increases students' creativity, trains their imagination, and improves their English skills. To improve creative writing skills, students ...
Paper 2: Creative Writing. Writing non fiction... Click here for information on the author of this site and for contact details. Please note that this is a not-for-profit website that was put together because I got bored during lockdown.
The survey revealed that the most popular creative writi ng activity was writing detective, horror, and what-if. stories (45% of the students agreed with that) whereas poetry writing scored 27% ...
Creative writing activity ideas 1. Group stories. This creative writing activity encourages learners to work together and use their imaginations to come up with unique and creative stories. Put students into small groups of 4 or 5 and have them arrange themselves into a circle. They each need a pen and a piece of paper.
Assessment resources. Paper 1. Showing 8 results. Insert: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing - November 2022. Published 31 Oct 2023 | PDF | 189 KB. Insert: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing - June 2022. Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 154 KB. Question paper: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing ...
English Language GCSE was one of my favourites. It was sooo fun & very methodical if you know what you are doing. Hopefully this video helps!!Hey everyone, m...
Creative exercises to improve writing skills. Here are some ways to begin putting pen to paper: Freewriting. Freewriting is the easiest creative writing exercise that can help with creative blocks. Simply write down anything that comes to your mind, without any attention paid to structure, form, or even grammar and spelling mistakes.