Creative Prose Writing: How to Get Full Marks (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)
Revision Note
Written by: Deb Orrock
Reviewed by: Kate Lee
Creative Prose Writing: How to Get Full Marks
To get full marks in your creative prose writing, you need to produce a controlled and well structured story with a clearly planned start, middle and end, all in 45 minutes. Your choice of language and tone need to be sophisticated and show ambition. Unfinished or unplanned stories will not mark highly.
The following guide to getting full marks includes:
How to structure your story
Setting
Characterisation
Linguistic devices
How to structure your story
This task asks you to write a short story, either entirely fictional or based on real experience. 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 because 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.
There are lots of different narrative structures 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 use Freytag’s Pyramid, which is a five-part narrative structure:
Freytag’s Pyramid | |
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Part 1: Exposition (setting the scene) | Stick to one main setting and start at the main “location” of your story:
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Hook your reader:
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Decide which narrative perspective and tense you are going to write your story in:
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Employ the five senses to create an atmosphere:
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This paragraph could end with an “inciting incident”, which prompts the rising action and moves the story forward | |
If you want to make use of foreshadowing, this paragraph is the best place to do so | |
Part 2: Rising action | This paragraph should build tension, drama and interest:
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This paragraph should also develop your character(s):
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If you want to make use of flashback to tell your narrative, then you should incorporate it here | |
Part 3: Climax | This is the turning point of your story:
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Your protagonist could face an external problem, or an internal choice or dilemma:
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You should vary your sentence structure, length and language here for dramatic effect | |
Part 4: Falling action | What happens in this paragraph should be as a direct result of the climax paragraph:
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It also should focus on your characters’ thoughts and feelings as a result of the climax of the story:
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Part 5: Resolution or denouement | You can choose to resolve your story, or end on a cliff-hanger:
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Your setting and atmosphere could reflect a change from the setting or atmosphere you established in your opening paragraph:
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Remember, each paragraph does not have to be the same length. In fact, better answers vary the lengths of their paragraphs for effect. What is important is to develop separate ideas or points in each paragraph, and to avoid repeating the same descriptions throughout your response.
Setting
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 a great way to do this as it contributes to atmosphere and mood.
Your setting should reflect your main character’s mood:
You may know this as pathetic fallacy, which reflects the character’s mood in the environment
For example, “the lonely road stretched endlessly before me” or “the low grumble of the heavy clouds suggested rain was on its way”
As your setting reflects your protagonist’s mood, your setting may change as the story progresses:
Contrasting scenes is an effective way to convey ideas and engage your reader
For example, your story may have started on a sunny afternoon, but may end as the sun sets or as a storm approaches
Whatever way you decide to contrast the scenes, ensure it reflects your main character’s mood
The best answers build a clear setting before introducing other information, such as introducing character:
Describing setting is best done with sensory language since we experience places with our five senses
This means you could describe the dark, light, colours, sounds, smells and weather
The best way to clearly create setting is to allow an entire paragraph to describe the scene without confusing readers with other information like who is there
Ensure all of your descriptive language builds the same mood and avoid mixing ideas:
For example, “The graveyard was dark, cold and smelled like fragrant flowers” is confusing for your reader as it implies mixed messages
However, it is important not to give too much away all at once:
Keep your reader guessing and asking questions, such as “What is going on?”, “Why is this like this?” and “Who is this?”
Think of establishing a setting a bit like the game “Taboo”, in which you have to describe something without stating explicitly what it is
Linguistic devices
When considering your choice of language and the techniques you wish to employ, you must always remember that you are making deliberate choices for effect. It is important to consider the connotations of words and phrases, and how these may add depth to your writing. Do your word choices evoke certain emotions or feelings in the reader, or do they reveal aspects of a character’s personality, background or emotions? You should employ the principle of “show, not tell” in order to bring your writing to life in the reader’s mind.
Below you will find a brief explanation of some of the key techniques you could employ in your narrative writing. For further information, please refer to our article on the top 127 literary devices.
Device or technique | How to use it | Example |
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This is much more effective if you think of repetition as a motif that you use throughout your piece of writing | Throughout life, I have learnt never to give up: never give up on my dreams; never give up on my hopes and never give up on myself. | |
Remember, the words starting with the same consonant or vowel sound do not have to be consecutive. Consider the effect you are trying to achieve through the use of alliteration, but do not overuse this technique otherwise your writing will lack sophistication | The swirling mist silently settled on the sleeping town. | |
Metaphors are especially effective where they are extended and developed. Try using an extended metaphor as a way of developing characterisation | She was the chief lioness among us, fierce, determined and strong. It was she who brought us all together. | |
A great way to create atmosphere at the start of your writing is by personifying the setting to your story or description | The weary old tree, its gnarled branches outstretched like weathered arms, whispered ancient wisdom to the breeze. | |
The representation of sound on paper should be more sophisticated than comic-book terms such as “boom”. It is also not helpful to put onomatopoeic words all in capital letters. Consider sound as a way of evoking the senses in order to create atmosphere | The crackling fire whispered its secrets along with the gentle pop and sizzle of the logs as they surrendered to the flames. | |
A simple comparison using “like” or “as” should be used sparingly, as this creates more impact | Her smile was as radiant as the early morning sun on a summer’s day. | |
Engage the reader’s senses by using vivid and detailed language with symbolic significance | The sun-kissed waves crashed against the golden shore, their frothy white caps glistening in the morning light. | |
Place two contrasting ideas, images or concepts side by side to highlight their differences or to create a striking effect | Thе еlеgant ballroom was adornеd with еxquisitе chandеliеrs and finе artwork, whilе thе servants' quartеrs bеlow hеld nothing but barе walls. | |
Emotive language | Words or phrases that are intentionally used to evoke a strong emotional response in the reader are great for conveying tone and mood | The devastating aftermath left a trail of destruction, sorrow and misery. |
Power verbs | Power verbs can be especially useful for characterisation when describing how a character moves or speaks | The man stooped, bumbling slowly towards the entrance. |
Pathetic fallacy can be very effective to establish atmosphere in your opening paragraph | The lonely road beckoned him onwards with no end in sight. |
To see an example of a top mark piece of creative prose writing, please see our Model Answer page.
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