Hardly a gripping topic!

STRUCTURE-Organise texts, using a range of appropriate structures
INDICATORS-Organises and sequences ideas and information for a particular effect

Depending on how we 'skin the cat', we could easily turn the most mundane, everyday activity into a wonderful piece of writing. 

In the first piece of writing below, the writer has written deliciously sensory prose, which describes the removing of the skin from a avocado.It makes the reader believe that it is possibly the most desirable fruit imaginable. 

What are the features the writer has used for effect? Make these our success criteria?

  

Here is an example of a Year 8s attempt. (both of these were taken from Pg 58 from Gail Loane's book Something to Say

From both of these pieces of writing you could easily create a 'zero draft' (key words). Wouldn't they look an awful lot like an instruction?

Here's one we did. Thanks to Ben, Jack, Shemira, Cheyanne & Broc. "Ben, I love the sentence that starts But oh...the agony arrives...3 great pieces of alliteration in the one sentence.  

Useful Links 

Vocab Rubric (e-asTTle)

SOLO Rubric

Flash Fiction or Vignette?

AO: LANGUAGE FEATURES-Use a range of language features appropriately, showing an increasing understanding of their effects.
INDICATORS-uses a range of oral, written, and visual features to create meaning and effect and to sustain interest

Vignette (pronounced vin yet) is a brief description, account or episode. Flash fiction is fiction with as little as 300 words and up to say 1000 and may have a protagonist, conflict, obstacles and complication (a short, short story in other words)

We are going to record a moment in our own lives as an 'Vignette' or 'Flash Fiction'. We have already recorded 'a memory' and tried to show a short moment in time, bringing it alive for our reader. This time we are going to tap into our experiences, find importance in them and then bring them alive using specific detail (showing not telling again!)

Click here for the 'Bare Bones' of a story.

Now read Beans by Patrica Grace

What has the author done to make it an effective piece of writing?

1. How has she made it sound like a child talking?
2. How does she make it seem as if she is talking to you directly? (a sense of audience)
3. Which part stays with you? Why?
4. Do you get a picture of the character and the scene?
5. What do we know about the boy?
6. What tells us how he is feeling?
7. What senses does the writer include?

Compare the "I play hard" from the 'bare bones' to the paragraph about 'playing hard'. Why is it more effective? Which part do you think you could rewrite and make your own?

When did you 'play hard'?

What would your listing sentence look like?

Visualise? Zero Draft?

Examples

Here are our examples of a 'zero draft' or 'bare bones', brainstorm.

Marz's
Jayni-Rose's
Josh's

Cullen's
Kaedyn's

How will we know that we have been successful? What will our success criteria be?

Useful Links

S.O.L.O Rubric

Structure and Language

Blog Links 

Marz's Vingette-'2nd Game'