Descriptosaurus: Fantasy

Alison Wilcox

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138858749
• eBook ISBN: 9781317511021
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Descriptosaurus: Fantasy builds on the vocabulary and descriptive phrases introduced in the original bestselling Descriptosaurus and within the context of fantasy develops the structure and use of the words and phrases to promote colourful, cinematic writing. This essential guide will enable children to take their writing to the next level. It incorporates the essential skills and creative devices that are used in other genres while extending to themes of battle, sieges, magic and mystery to unleash children's imaginations.

This new system also provides a contextualised alternative to textbook grammar and will assist children in acquiring, understanding and applying the grammar required to improve their writing, both creative and technical.

Part 1
The setting

1
Hooks to build interest and tension

Note: Apart from aiding the flow of your writing, this chapter can also be used to stimulate quick, brainstorming activities to get your creative juices flowing by asking the questions – Why? How? When? Where? Who? What happened? It is amazing how many stories can be created as a result of these quick activities.

OPENINGS

★ Something terrible was about to happen – she could sense it. She wanted to get away, to run from whatever waited for her, but she knew it was her destiny to face it.

★ He sensed that a decision had been made. He knew he didn’t belong here any more. They treated him differently now.

★ As she entered the forest, she looked up at the dark shadows between the trees and got the weirdest feeling.

★ As soon as he had entered the tunnel, an eerie sensation had enveloped him and would not go away.

★ He would remember this moment later. When everything was normal and he had been unaware of the approaching danger.

★ Although he had no idea what it meant, he could sense that it was a warning.

★ He could sense the danger prickling down his spine. Every night he dreamed of being pursued, chased by a menacing presence closing in around him, lurking in the background, but which he could never see. He didn’t know how to put his unease into words as he didn’t know what it was he feared.

★ She woke shivering with a sense of foreboding, a premonition of doom hanging over her, as if her dreams foreshadowed terrible events to come.

★ Sometimes, she wished she could just forget what she knew.

★ It was days later that he would remember that moment.

★ They were nervous days while she waited. She knew that there was no going back. Not now.

★ The time had come, and he was terrified of what lay ahead.

★ He lay awake night after night, heart filled with dread; he knew he had to make the most difficult decision of his life.

★ Nowhere was safe any more.

★ He was shaken to the core by what he had just witnessed.

★ How different things would have been if she had never …

★ She shouldn’t have hacked into his emails. That was when everything started to go wrong.

WARNING OF DANGER TO COME

★ He couldn’t shake off a sense of unease, a vague feeling that something was wrong, that he shouldn’t have come.

★ It was becoming a bubbling cauldron that was about to boil over.

★ She was safe for now.

★ He had seen and heard enough to know that he was in grave danger.

★ On the fourth day of his journey, events took a different turn.

★ He had a feeling he was delivering himself into a trap, but nothing could have prepared ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Key elements
• Part 1: The setting
• Part 2: Fantasy characters
• Part 3: Magic
• Part 4: Sieges and battles
• Appendix