Passage #2 Exercise:

Narrative/Descriptive Writing/Imaginative

2013

  1. Make a list of types of writing other than stories, or narratives, which could be classified as imaginative pieces of work.
  1. Letter: Two key factors you must be aware of are punctuation and tone.
  1. Groups of people you write to: (informal) recipient who is known to you, and recipient who is not personally known to you (formal)
  2. Punctuation:
  1. Address of sender
  2. Date
  3. Salutation and name of recipient
  4. Farewell
  5. Name of sender

*** Add one more if formal: the address of the recipient

Example: Informal letter

20 Rose Road

Cambridge

CB1 7 Up

02 May 2013

Dear Anna,

Lots of love,

Grandma

Example: Formal letter

20 Rose Road

Cambridge

CB 1 7 UP

02 May 2013

The Editor

The Guardian

119 Farringdon Road

London

EC1R 3ER 4

Dear Editor,

Yours faithfully,

Task:

Imagine you are a grandparent of a teenager. Write a letter to your grandchild in which you share news and ask for news, showing that you understand the concerns felt by a young person beginning to experience the adult world.

Task:

Your local newspaper has recently published an article describing teenagers as lazy and irresponsible. Write a letter to the editor in which you complain about the views expressed in the article.

Magazine/Newspaper Articles: Questions:

  1. Two Factors to be aware of:
  1. Tone
  2. Layout
  1. Tone:
  1. Know the intended audience: school newspaper verses local newspaper or magazine: helps to establish tone i.e. informal/formal.
  1. Layout:
  1. Do not have to write it in columns
  2. Need Headline: short and eye-catching
  1. Order of events
  1. The events will not be described in chronological order, but in order of importance.
  1. Example: an article about a bank robbery would start with the fact of the robbery and then move on to the getaway car; it would not start with the robbers getting into their car to drive to the bank and then give an account of the robbery.
  2. Some will have interviews with key witnesses
  1. Journalistic questions: Who, what, when, where, how, and why.
  1. The writer must hook his reader the way one of the boxers hooked his opponent's chin. There are numerous methods for writing leads to draw the reader into your article such as:
  1. An anecdote. It is a snippet describing an incident or event of interest.
  2. Sometimes it is a short biographical sketch.
  3. The provocative quote is another lead technique.
  4. A surprising fact makes a good hook.
  5. Statistics are used as successful leads.
  6. Referencing dramatic events or common situations with a unique twist are often used as hooks.
  7. A vivid description can captivate the reader from the start.
  8. Thought-provoking questions
  9. commands to the reader
  10. rare definitions
  11. surprising comparisons or contrasts are commonly used lead techniques that work well.
  1. Steps to follow:

Follow this step by step guide to a good article:

  1. Decide what your article will be about.
  2. Research the topic of your article (brainstorm)
  3. Grab the reader's attention by using an exciting and informative intro.
  4. First paragraph: In the first few sentences, answer these questions!
    Who?
    What?
    When?
    Where?
    Why
  5. Now, give the details. It is always a good idea to include one or two quotes from people you interviewed. Write in the third person (he, she, it or they). Be objective. Use active verbs so the reader feels things are really happening!
  6. Last paragraph: Round off your article. Try ending with a quote or a catchy phrase!
  7. By-line: At the end, state who wrote the article; 'By ....'.
  8. Decide where appropriate illustrations/pictures will be placed.
  9. Proof-read your article and edit where needed.

Task: #1

Write an article for a school magazine in which you describe a recent school trip in which you took part.

Task: #2

Write an article for a local newspaper in which you discuss a local issue which interests you.

It was the strangest murder trial I ever attended. They named it the Peckham murder in the headlines, though Northwood Street, where the old woman was found battered to death, was not strictly speaking in Peckham.

‘They say he’s worth a million,’ Lucia said, he sat there in the little hot damp Mexican square, a dog at his feet, with an air of immense and forlorn patience.

Peter Morton woke with a start to face the first light. Rain tapped against the glass. It was January the fifth.

I had stuck closely to him, as people say like a shadow. But that’s absurd. I’m no shadow. You can feel me, touch, hear me. I’m Robinson.

He had been called to be there at the end. His Great Aunt Mary had been dying for some days now and the house was full of relatives.

His aunt had been small-her head on a level with his when she sat at her table-and she seemed to get smaller each year. Her skin fresh, her hair white and waved and always well washed.

And he saw the vaporetto (boat) with Laura and the two sisters steaming down the Grand Canal, not toady, not tomorrow, but the day after that, and he knew that they were together and for what sad purpose they had come. The creature was gibbering in its corner. The hammering and the voices and the barking dog grew fainter, and, ‘oh God,’ he thought, ‘what a bloody silly way to die…’

‘Mama,’ he said.

‘Yes?’

‘Did Aunt Mary say anything about me?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Before she died-did she say anything?’

‘Not that I know of-the poor thing was too far gone to speak, God rest her.’ She went on burning, lifting the corners of the letters with the poker to let the flames underneath them.

When he felt a hardness in his throat he put his head down on his books. Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died and he cried silently into the crook of his arm for the woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller of tales, that she might forgive him.