Today, we are going to look at creating a fantasy character –
this is where you can get really creative. You could try mixing and matching
the physical characteristics of creatures which already exist or you could make
up a brand new creature!
If fantasy writing is your thing and you would like some
help with creative fantasy words and sentences, I would highly recommend this
book:
It isn’t cheap, but it has SIGNIFICANTLY improved my son’s creative
writing, so I know that it works. It contains some great vocabulary and gives
you plenty of new ideas.
Here are extracts from it which you can look at for free:
This is an extract from “Prince
Caspian” by C.S. Lewis.
“Oh! Ugh!
What on earth’s that? Take it away, the horrid thing.”
He really had some excuse for
feeling a little surprised. Something very curious indeed had come out of the
cabin of the ship and was slowly approaching
. . . you might call it – and indeed it was – a mouse. But then it was a mouse on its hind
legs and stood about two feet high. A thin band of gold passed around its head
under one ear and over the other and in this was stuck a long crimson feather.
(As the mouse’s fur was very dark, almost black, the effect was bold and
striking.) Its left paw rested on the hilt of a sword very nearly as long as
its tail. Its balance, as it paced gravely along the swaying deck, was perfect,
and its manners courtly. Lucy and Edmond recognized him at once – Reepicheep, the most
valiant of all the talking beasts of Narnia, and the
chief mouse. He had won undying glory in the second Battle of Beruna. Lucy
longed, as she had always done, to take Reepicheep up in her arms and cuddle
him. But this, as she well knew, was a pleasure she could never have: it would
have offended him deeply. Instead, she went down on one knee to talk to him.
Reepicheep put forward his left leg,
drew back his right, bowed, kissed her hand, straightened himself, twirled his
whiskers, and said in his shrill, piping voice:
“My humble duty to your Majesty. And
to King Edmund, too.”
Points
for discussion
-
Look
up the word “anthropomorphism” – what does it mean?
-
Which animals best fit characters with the following characteristics?
-
- Brave/heroic
-
- Anxious
-
- Fickle
-
- Cruel
-
- Intelligent
-
- Vain
Look at the
range of simple, compound and complex sentences used in this extract. (If you
cannot remember simple, compound and complex sentences, use this resource,
which explains it brilliantly https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/simple-compound-and-complex-sentences-6137004.
It is free – you just need to create a TES account!)
-
How does the writer use sentence structure (a mixture of simple, compound and complex sentences) to create an effect in this
extract?
-
How does the writer use dashes (-) and ellipsis (…) for a specific
effect?
If you would
like more help creating your own fantasy character, I would recommend the resource
below which takes you through building your own character step-by-step. It also
contains some more examples of characters from the fantasy genre for you to
analyse:
It is a free
resource – you just need to create an account on TES to access it.
How does this link to the GCSE?
In Paper 1, question 5, you could be asked to write the opening of a
story. The examiner will be looking for:
- an original and imaginative plot
- language techniques such as similes and metaphors
- high level vocabulary
- varied sentence structure for effect (i.e. a mixture of simple,
compound and complex sentences)
So the more creative writing practice you can get, the better!
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