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Spooky Sagas: Writing with Tension, Suspense, and Atmosphere

Learn how to write a spooky saga using tension, suspense, and atmosphere. Explore different settings, characters, and endings for your story. Get inspired and start writing!

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Spooky Sagas: Writing with Tension, Suspense, and Atmosphere

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  1. TODAY YOU ARE GOING TO: • Watch a video • Complete an activity • Plan, draft and write a poem for Young Writers’Spooky Sagas mini saga writing contest

  2. YOUR TEACHER WILL SHOW YOU THE FUN SPOOKY SAGAS VIDEO… https://youtu.be/EAFEa0Ejh-Q

  3. IN THIS LESSON YOU WILL PRACTICE WRITING USING TENSION, SUSPENSE AND ATMOSPHERE. When writing a spooky saga, which in essence is a very short ghost story, these three writing devices play a huge part in setting the scene, creating imagery and drawing the reader in…

  4. CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO YOUR TEACHER WHAT TENSION, SUSPENSEAND ATMOSPHERE ARE? (Don’t worry if you can’t,see the next slide for explanations!)

  5. TENSION MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL STRAIN; INTENSE SUSPENSE, ANXIETY OR EXCITEMENT E.g. As I walked past the abandoned house Iheard music and decided to investigate…

  6. SUSPENSE WAITING FOR UNCERTAINTY OR EXCITEMENT, SUCH AS A DECISION OR OUTCOME WITH APPREHENSION OR ANXIETY. AN ELEMENT OF RISK IS USUALLY INVOLVED IN CREATING SUSPENSE! E.g. Exploring the forest seemed a good ideain daylight. Suddenly a blood-curdling screampierced the silence of the forest.

  7. ATMOSPHERE THE DOMINANT MOOD OR EMOTIONAL TONEIN A PIECE OF WRITING E.g. The old, ivy-clad barn disappeared as the thick fogrolled in, silencing nature. The only sound to beheard was the thud of my heartbeat in my ears. (Let your teacher know if you don’t understand any of the writing techniques.)

  8. YOU’LL NOW BE SPLIT INTO 4 GROUPS AND BE PROVIDED WITH A LARGE SHEET OF PAPER TO WRITE YOUR IDEAS ON

  9. YOUR TEACHER WILL TELL YOU WHICH NUMBER GROUP YOU ARE IN… GROUP 1 You need to write down ideas for settings – where can you think of that a spooky story would be set? GROUP 3 You need to write down ideas of ways the spooky saga could start – what time of day, what type of weather, is there an event or occasion etc GROUP 2 You need to write down ideas of spooky characters – who could appear in your spooky saga? GROUP 4 You need to write down ideas of ways the spooky saga could end – what happens to end the story? A cliffhanger ending? Something funny? Was it a dream? etc

  10. YOU HAVE 1 MINUTE TO COMPLETE YOUR GROUP’S CHALLENGE! Aim for a minimum of 3 ideas.

  11. NOW PASS YOUR SHEET TO THE GROUP ON YOUR LEFT. YOU HAVE ANOTHER MINUTE TO ADD YOUR IDEAS TO THE PAPER THAT IS PASSED TO YOU. Repeat this a further two times until you have had a goat adding your ideas to all four sheets of paper.

  12. EACH GROUP WILL NOW SHARE THE IDEAS WITH THE CLASS. Which ideas are your favorite and why?Discuss with your group or the class. You should be feeling excitedand ready to get writing!

  13. NOW YOU HAVE SOME IDEAS TO WRITE ABOUT, IT’S TIME TO TRY USING THE CREATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES… Here is a short activity for you:  Use these 3 places: an abandoned house a church a forest You need to write a short sentence abouteach one on a bright sunny day.

  14. USE THE SAME 3 PLACES(AN ABANDONED HOUSE / A CHURCH / A FOREST ) Now you need to write a new short sentence about each one,using awful weather at dusk or at night.

  15. READ ALL YOUR SENTENCES TO YOURSELF, HOW DO THEY COMPARE? Can you see how you have set the scene usinglocation and weather / time of day / time of year? Darkness, bad weather, isolated property,ruins, graveyards etc, automatically givethe reader a sense of something sinister. One or two short sentences can set a scene leaving the remainder of the mini saga to develop the plot.

  16. THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING POINTS BEFORE WRITING YOUR SPOOKY SAGA: • Will there be a ghost/apparition or will you justsuggest that through the power of words? • Will the events be in the character’s mind or real? • Will you use a cliffhanger ending or givethe spooky saga a solid ending? • Will the ending have a twist or be funny? • Will you use description, dialogue or action to tell your spooky saga? • Will you plunge the reader straight into the action oruse a sentence or two to set the scene beforehand?

  17. DON’T FORGET THE 3 GOLDEN RULES OF MINI SAGA WRITING: • Be original! You can be inspired by other stories,but add a twist, make it your own! (Copying someone else’s work is cheating!) •  Keep to the 100-word limit – less is always more!(Mini sagas can be up to 100 words long.The title isn’t included in the word count!) •  Remember that a mini saga must havea beginning, a middle and end!

  18. THE WEREWOLF Charlie looked up at the moon. He heard a mournful howl. He looked around and saw it: fur bristling, teeth shining in the moonlight. A werewolf. Charlie tried to sneak away. Crack! He’d stood on a branch. It turned, red eyes gleaming. Suddenly it ran at him, saliva flying. It knocked him over onto the hard, cold ground. Charlie shut his eyes tightly... But instead of the sting of claws and teeth, Charlie felt its rough tongue against his cheek. He slowly lifted a shaking hand and put it on the monster’s soft, silky fur. “Good doggy,” he said.

  19. THE NOT-SO FUN HOUSE Freddie and Penny stuffed their faces with cotton candy, checking out the rides at the fairground. They soon came to the Fun House.“Let’s go inside!” said Penny excitedly. She loved jumping out at people. Freddie thought this time he could do the scaring, so once inside he ran to the mirror maze and hid. Suddenly, the lights turned off. Freddie heard a scream and turned around to find Penny. Phew! She was right behind him. But then he realised he could still see his reflection, disappearing into infinity, in the mirror behind her. He was looking right through her...

  20. THE MYSTERIOUS DINER A waitress, wearing a pink apron and bright red lipstick, asked if she could get me more coffee. I needed all the coffee I could after my rough day. The diner was decorated in 1950’s style with a noisy jukebox, comfy booths and bright neon lights. Must be a themed diner, I thought. I finished my dark, rich coffee and headed outside. A man was walking down the dusty, deserted road.“The coffee in that diner’s great!” I told him.“What diner? The only one that was here burnt down sixty years ago...”I looked round. The diner had gone.

  21. IT’S TIME TO WRITE YOUROWN SPOOKY SAGA! Use the worksheet your teacher has provided you with. Remember to write your name, age and class on the entry form before handing it all in to your teacher!

  22. IT’S PEER ASSESSMENT TIME! Share your work with a partner. They are to give you a suggestion on how to improve your mini saga and let you know what they liked about it. You then do the same for your partner.

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