Introduction to

GCSE English Language –

Narrative Writing
You will be asked to spend around 45 minutes on this
question. You could be asked to write a descriptive piece or
a narrative piece. There’ll be a choice of two tasks, but they
could both be a description, both be a narrative, or you
could get the choice between the two styles of writing.

Every year, the exam board say that what earns students the
most marks is taking the time to write a decent plan.

So that’s what this booklet is going to be about: planning.

You can turn each plan into a full piece of writing, but the
main focus of this is to get you used to planning using a
given structure: Where? Who? What? But?
Where?

A story needs a setting. You need to give your reader a sense of time and place – this could be
using all your descriptive techniques and vocabulary to clearly bring a location to place, but you
can do so much more. Use the setting to establish a mood!

If you were writing a story that you wanted your readers to be frightened of:
- would you have a bunny hopping through the scene, or a rat scuttling?
- would you have the trees looming ominously, or dancing lightly in the wind?
- would you choose to set it in icy mid-winter, or under a warm summer sky?

The way you write is vitally important, but so is what you choose to write about. It’s the
combination of both – content and form – that makes for effective writing.

I’m suggesting, in this booklet, that if you wanted a reliable story structure – beginning with a
couple of paragraphs, full of ambitious vocabulary, language devices, and varied punctuation
about the setting might be a good place to start!
Who?

A story needs a character. Don’t get too bogged down in offering me a full biography or a full
description of their physical appearance and their outfit. Less is more. A few well-chosen
details can do the work.

If you were creating a character that you wanted your reader to care for:
- would you give them an injury, or have them fighting fit?
- would they have an easy life, or would they have faced some real challenges?
- would they be a lone wolf, or would other, more innocent, characters rely on them?

After you’ve written about the setting – introduce the character in a way that makes the reader
care about them and want them to succeed!
What?

Your character has to want something. There needs to be a goal.

Do they want to get something? Do they want to do something? Do they want to reach
somewhere? Whatever it is, there needs to be something – very clear – that this character,
who we’ve learned that we’re supposed to care about, is aiming to achieve!
But?

It can’t all be plain sailing, though. Something – or someone – needs to get in the way of them
achieving their goals. It’s up to you whether or not your character overcomes this obstacle, but
it would be dull if they didn’t even have to try…

Tell your reader when & where the story is. Tell the reader who the
story is about. Tell the story what the story is about.
 Just notes and ideas at first if it’s easier… See my example!

Where? Who?

- Tracks stretching into the distance, reaching - A man wakes up in the grass, groggy and
towards the solitary cloud, before disappearing disorientated
into nothing – swallowed by the vast blue
- No memories of where he is or how he got there
- Whistling winds whipping the grass
- Drags himself to his feet: blood matted hair, a limp,
- Roaring ocean, smashing and crashing into the searing pain…
rocks on the shoreline
- Empty pockets
- The sky – a blank canvas
- A flashback: an angry man in a bar…
- A crow lands on the tracks, croaks, leaves

- Smells of salt linger in the air

- Cold November air; bracing, pinching, nipping

What? But?

- He needs help, food and drink, medical attention - Tracks start rumbling and vibrating underfoot.
Gravel between the railway sleepers starts to
- He chooses a direction and starts following the dance and bounce
tracks
- He hears the roaring of an engine – distant at first,
- It must lead somewhere… but then closer and closer and closer…

- Jumps off the tracks and tries to flag the

- But it hurtles past him, before following the

As I was ‘planning’, I’ve come up with this idea to start and end with the same image. The rest of it
is just ideas and phrases that I’ll have to craft into a proper narrative when I write it up.
Annotate this example. What would an examiner like about it?

Railway tracks stretch into the distance, reaching desperately towards the
solitary cloud which hangs lifelessly, before disappearing into nothing,
swallowed by the vast blue of the sky.
Roaring, the ocean smashes and crashes into the rocks on the shoreline; the
explosions fling a spray high into the air – reliable as clockwork. The smell of
salt lingers. It’s a bracing November day, and despite the brilliant sunlight, the
air is piercingly cold. A crow lands on the tracks, croaks, and then leaves
again. Whistling winds begin, whipping the grass into a frenzy.
Feeling the grass against his face, he wakes up.
Groggy. Disorientated. No clue where he is; even less, how he got here.
After a short wait, he begins to pull himself to his feet. Every movement
sends a jolt of agony coursing through him, and as he places his weight on his
left foot it is filled with a searing pain unlike no other. He collapses back into a
heap. Brushing his hair out of his eyes, he feels it thick and matted: there is
blood on his hands now, thick, almost black.
He checks his pockets. No phone. No wallet. Nothing. No – a receipt… From a
bar…
A memory now: too many drinks, an angry man. He lost grip on this vision as
quickly as it appeared to him.
Determined, he knew he had to do something. He hauled himself, once
more, to his feet. Limping, he picked a direction and began to follow the
tracks. They had to lead somewhere. He needed help, food, drink, and
medical attention. He needed to find his way home. Each step was torture,
but he soldiered on.
The winds made it difficult, and the brilliant sun’s glare did its best to blind
him – but he trudged onwards for what seemed like hours. The time passed
uneventfully, until the tracks started to rumble and vibrate underfoot. The
stone chippings that lay between the railway sleepers began to dance and
jump, increasingly energetically. Roaring – like the ocean, but not – filled his
ears: distant at first, but then closer, and closer, and closer.
He jumped off the tracks, determined to flag down the train and secure some
much needed assistance.
But it hurtled past him, and down the tracks, which stretched into the
distance, reaching desperately towards the solitary cloud which hung
lifelessly, before disappearing into nothing, swallowed by the vast blue of the
sky.
 Plan a story which takes
place at a bus-stop.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place on this abandoned
beach.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place in a public garden.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place at a campsite.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place on an empty pier.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place in a car-park at night.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place in a busy city centre.

Where? Who?

What? But?
 Plan a story which takes
place in a prison.

Where? Who?

What? But?
You’ve now seen a ‘plan’ using the Where? Who? What? But?
model, and how I’ve turned it into a narrative.

You should have planned eight narratives of your own now.

Pick some of them and write them up!

You should aim to write for 35 or 40 minutes continuously. This

Things the examiner will be looking to see:

- Accurate and varied punctuation ( ! ? : ; , . - )

- Ambitious vocabulary with accurate spelling

- Accurate and varied sentence lengths

- Accurate and varied paragraph lengths

- Effective and varied use of linguistic devices

So as you can see – accuracy and variety are key.

BUT – the main thing is to have a really good story to tell.

That’s where planning comes in handy!