Lesson video

When we read a story, we normally decide within the first couple of pages, if we're interested in it or not.

It only takes two or three pages for us to decide this is the story I want to read, or actually I want to swap and I want to pick something different and that's okay.

A bit like you might change the channel on TV.

It's okay to swap stories and look for one that hooks you.

But actually that tells us the opening of a story is so important because that decides if a reader wants to carry on.

And it decides if a reader is interested in where the story might go.

Today's session is going to think entirely about the opening of stories.

Hello, welcome back to grammar with me, Ms. Richards.

This is our grammar meet creative writing.

So as you just heard, we are writing our own stories and we're focusing on the opening today.

I'm so excited because you know, I love stories and I love writing them myself.

At the end of today's lesson, you are going to be starting your own story.

Now, the way this is going to work is each lesson we're going to learn how to write a new section of the story.

So over the next six lessons, you're going to create and write your own story.

And I'm going to write mine alongside you.

I'm really, really excited for this.

And I can't wait to see and hear the sorts of stories you create.

And I'll be sharing my writing with you as well.

For now though, let's do one thing at a time and let's focus on today's lesson.

You know, the drill by now.

Make sure please that you've got a pen and some paper.

So a notebook or an exercise book.

If you've got another college pen that you're using for marking, that's great, but you don't need to.

And if you can try and go somewhere nice and quiet away from any distractions and turn notifications off on your devices.

Pause the video now to get yourself set up and then we'll get going.

Okay, today's lesson then, we're going to recap subordinate clauses.

I know you know these 'cause you've done them with me in the last unit.

We have drilled ourselves in them and we know those rules inside out, but we are just going to refresh them in case we're not very confident or what we just need that little reminder.

Then we're going to look at how subordinate clauses are used in a story opening.

We're going to do some planning of our own story opening, and then you get a turn at writing or starting your own story.

Because actually, as you heard at the start, we're going to write a section each lesson.

Then you'll have your quiz as always.

Okay, let's start then with subordinate clauses, quick recap.

You'll be able to shout all these rules at the screen 'cause you know them as well as I do now.

Let's remind ourselves then.

Subordinate clause is a part of the sentence, which adds extra information and which does not make sense by itself.

This is the bit, can't stand on its own.

It has to be attached to an independent clause.

Here is our example then, and you remember this from the previous unit that we have a subordinate clause, every Wednesday evening, that can't be by itself.

It doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't give me enough information to understand.

So I have to add it to an independent clause.

I can say every Wednesday evening, Craig attended tennis coaching.

Again, this is really familiar.

These are the same examples from the previous unit.

Just refreshing your memory and you know this and you know exactly what I'm going to say now, won't you? Because you were such experts at it from the previous unit.

If we put a subordinate clause in front of our independent clause, we separate the two with a comma, but if the subordinate clause comes after the independent clause, we don't put a comma.

You know that you're shouting at the screen to me now I can tell 'cause we've done so much of this I know you're absolutely brilliant at it.

Let's have a look at that rule then.

It's a rule that we've said many, many times, and it's a rule that we've practised many times.

A subordinate clause at the start of the sentence needs a comma.

If the subordinate clause comes after the independent clause, then you do not put a comma.

I'd like you to pause the video now and write that rule down.

I know you've written it down before.

I know you've used it before, but it's so important to today's lesson that I'd like it written down.

So pause the video now please and copy that.

Press play once you've got it written down.

This was the other thing that we remember from that previous unit, isn't it? Is that you can have a subordinate clause, either side of the independent clause, and we don't change the punctuation rules.

So the subordinate clause in front of the independent clause has a comma and the subordinate clause after the independent clause does not need a comma.

We also know that subordinate clauses can add all sorts of information.

We don't have to remember the technical terms. We don't have to know if it's a temporal clause or a subordinate clause of result or subordinate clause of reason or a prepositional phrase.

We don't have to identify what information or subordinate clause is adding.

But we do know that our subordinate clauses add all sorts of extra information to our independent clause because they're really versatile.

For today, we're just going to focus on temporal clauses and prepositional phrases.

So subordinate clauses add time and subordinate clauses add place.

And that's because these are really useful in our story openings.

Any of our different types of subordinate clauses are useful when we're writing stories 'cause they all had lots of information for our readers, but for today because we just want to really focus on getting good at one thing, we're going to focus at either temporal clauses or prepositional phrases to add time and place information into our subordinate clauses.

Let's start with time then.

Here is an example of a subordinate clause before the independent clause that adds time information.

It's also the opening to a story.

As the clock struck midnight, the little mouse scurried across the floor.

So you'll see that that subordinate clause adds the time that the little mouse was going across the floor.

And the time for this story is midnight.

But I could use the same independent clause and add some place information.

In this example.

The little mouse scurried across the floor towards the fireplace.

You can see that our subordinate clause gives us information on the place where the little mouse is.

The little mouse is heading in the direction of the fireplace.

So this is a preposition phrase.

It's a subordinate clause, that adds place information.

I can also use this structure where I put subordinate clause, either side, the independent clause and this complex sentence adds time and place information.

So now the opening to my story reads.

As the clock struck midnight, the little mouse scurried across the floor towards the fireplace.

So if this was the opening of my story, I'm already giving the reader quite a lot of information.

Let's think then how these subordinate clauses are used in the opening of a story.

We're going to start by looking at this example because we know how the subordinate clauses are being used.

What I'd like you to do now is to pause the video in just a moment and to copy this example down, I'd like you to make sure you've got plenty of space to annotate around it.

So pause the video now.

Copy this story write in the down, but give yourself plenty of space to write around it.

If you want to give yourself a whole page, that's fine.

Or half a page depends how big your handwriting is.

Just make sure you've got space to annotate.

Pause the video now.

Okay, fantastic.

What we're going to do is I'm going to talk you through some annotations of this story out now, and I'm going to explain what the subordinate clauses do.

I'd like you to just keep watching and listening as I talk you through it.

When we finish the annotations, we'll then have a chance to pause the video and you can copy them down onto your own opener.

So don't worry about trying to keep up.

Don't worry about writing as we go, because I'll give you time at the end.

Once we've talked it through to copy these annotations down.

So for now, just like you to listen and watch the screen so that you're following along.

We're going to start by looking at our first subordinate clause.

As the clock struck midnight.

And I'm going to be pulling out all the information that we as a reader learn from this as a story opening.

So when we've got, as the clock struck midnight, there are no details about this clock.

What kind of clock are you picturing in your head? The great thing about this as an opener is I'm picturing a big grandfather clock, but you might be picturing a small alarm clock or a clock on the wall, maybe even a mobile phone clock.

So it's quite a vague opener but it allows the reader to start to question what kind of clock is.

And it allows us all to connect with the story because we'll all picture something slightly different.

So that first subordinate clause gives us a little bit of mystery.

We've got the word struck here.

That's quite ominous.

It's almost sort of violent sounding.

It might suggest that the clock is making a noise as it strikes midnight.

Either the hand ticking into midnight or maybe it's timing.

It's not a soft and gentle idea of the clock.

Gently hitting midnight, struck is quite a strong sounding word.

And then the fact that it's hitting midnight means our story is opening really late at night.

This tells us that this story is maybe taking place overnight or at least starting with nighttime.

So it's quite dark.

If we now move on to the second subordinate clause.

So we're not really thinking about the information that our independent clauses add because we know independent clauses give us the main detail.

We're thinking about the subordinate clauses, which add extra detail.

So if we look at that second subordinate clause.

Towards the fireplace.

The information that the reader gets there is that this is probably a house of some kind, because it's got a fireplace.

Again, you might imagine a really big grand house, or you might be imagining your own living room.

if you've got a fireplace, you might be imagining a small cosy cottage.

It's quite vague again, it lets you as a reader really locate the story in something that might familiar to you.

And the fact that there's a fireplace in this room might make us subconsciously be picturing something else in this room.

Actually in my room, I can see kind of big windows, curtains.

There's a long sofa in the middle.

There's a nice rug.

There's lots of bookshelves.

I think that might be because I'm an English teacher and I love bookshops, but I've already created this room in my head based on the idea of there being a clock there, it being dark and there being a fireplace.

And what's exciting is the room that you're picturing in your head, just from this opening looks very different to mine.

So we've got this independent clause, the little mouse scurried across the floor, and we've included two subordinate clauses as the clock struck midnight and towards fireplace as our story opening.

The great thing about this opening is just in one sentence, we've got a sense this is quite a gothic story.

It's really late.

It's dark.

There's an ominous sound.

We've got this little animal, but there's no signs of people.

So possibly something supernatural is about to strike because it's dark.

So this opening allows us to really establish the genre within it.

Okay.

I told you, I'd give you time.

So what I'd like you to do now is to pause the video and copy these annotations down onto the opening, just so that you're annotating and thinking about the information that we're adding in an opening.

Pause video now, get this copied and press play when you're ready.

Fantastic.

So that example was a subordinate clause with a comma to separate it from the independent clause and then our subordinate clause that came after the independent clause.

That used time as the first subordinate clause and then place.

We're going to look at a story opening now.

There is two lots of place in the subordinate clause.

Two prepositional phrases.

At the end of the lane, there was a small gap in the fence just beyond the old oak tree.

This is a very different kind of story opening.

It still uses the same sentence structure, but now we've got two lots of place information.

Just like before, I'd like you to pause the video and copy this story opening down.

Again, give yourself plenty of space.

You've seen the kind of annotations we're going to do together.

So make sure you've got the space to do those.

Pause video to copy this down now and press play when you're ready.

Fantastic.

Let's think about why an author might use this story opening and why they might've used subordinate clauses to add extra information and ideas of place.

First of all, by starting with, at the end of the lane as a reader, like where is this set? Which lane are we in? We're at the end of it, but where? Now because the story opens telling us as a reader that we're at the end of the lane, we start to question, what else was on the lane? What might we have walked past? What might our characters have seen? Because it's a lane.

We probably start to imagine already that we're in the countryside because we'd say road, if it was in the city.

So now that we've put that information of lane and we're in the countryside, you might already start to create this picture of trees or fields or hedges it's possibly quite green.

Maybe you're picturing some houses there already, just in that first subordinate clause.

We start to picture and connect with the ideas and make assumptions about things that might or might not be there.

Now we've got our independent clause.

There was a small gap in the fence.

This is obviously giving the reader some extra information.

We know there's a fence there.

The gap is quite intriguing 'cause we sort of think of what might be through the gap.

Are we going through the gap, has something come through.

But actually we are just thinking about the extra information in our subordinate clauses.

So we're not going to annotate the independent clause.

So this small gap in the fence is at the end of the lane.

And it's just beyond the old oak tree.

Look at that phrase, just beyond.

It's a really vague measurement and it's not specific.

That's really deliberate from the writer because it assumes that you as a reader know exactly where they're talking about.

You know, which lane our author means.

You've spotted that gap before because you know it's just beyond the old oak tree.

So by using such a vague measurement in our subordinate clause, the author suggests that you, as a reader know where we are and that creates familiarity.

It starts to feel like a place that you've been before.

By suggesting it's by the old oak tree this story is establishing this aged idea.

An old oak tree is something that lots of people might respect.

It's a local feature that everyone knows.

So again, just like the familiarity of assuming that you know where the gap in the fence already is, it's because you know where the old oak tree is because it's a local feature and everyone in the area knows it.

And then our oak tree reinforces that we're in the countryside.

This isn't by a building or lots of concrete or traffic lights or something.

The oak tree suggests we're in the countryside and we're somewhere quite old and well established.

So within our two subordinate clauses here, we've really connected with this story just in a single sentence by the author creating the sense of familiarity that as a reader, we know exactly where they are and it's somewhere that we've been before.

Just like before, I'd like you to now pause the video and copy those annotations down so that you've got them on your page.

When you're ready, press play.

Fantastic.

Well done.

This opening sentence is quite exciting as well because it doesn't narrow down the genre.

This could be the opening to a romance story.

Maybe at the end of the lane, beyond the old oak tree, beyond the gap in the vents is going to be the house of our hero or the person our hero is in love with.

Maybe this is going to open up a fantasy story where the gap in the fence leads to somewhere magical, or perhaps it's going to be a gothic story and lead us into danger.

This is such a beautiful opening because as a reader, we're not sure what genre we're going to be reading.

We might have picked up other clues from the title or the cover or the blurb.

And obviously as we read a bit more, we will get a real sense of the genre, but it does show how our subordinate clauses around an independent clause is a really versatile way of opening a story and leaving the reader in quite a vague sense of wanting to confirm lots of questions.

Okay, here's another one for you.

We're going back to now our opening subordinate clause, adding time information, and then adding in a second subordinate clause in the opening to suggest place.

So this opening to a story is.

As the sun rose slowly in the distance, Hudson swung his bag over his shoulders whilst closing his front door softly.

You can see that we've got the time of day because the sun is rising.

We don't have to give a specific time we don't have to say 5:00 AM, 6:00 AM, anything like that.

But we do get sense of time.

That's very early morning because the sun is rising and we've got place.

If he's closing his front door softly, then he's right outside his home right outside his front door.

Again, we don't have to be specific and give a house number or state really obviously that he stood outside his front door.

That still gives us time and place information.

As the sun rose slowly in the distance, Hudson swung his bag over his shoulders was closing his front door softly.

As before then, pause the video now, copy that opening to a story down onto your page and yourself space to annotate.

Press play when you're ready.

Okay.

Just like before, I want to stress that I'll give you time to annotate at the end.

So don't worry about trying to keep up when I'm talking, it's more important that you just listen and focus on the screen, and then you'll be able to put this into your own notes after.

Our story starts with the phrase, as the.

Now this opening tells us that something is happening at the same time as the sun rose slowly in the distance, something else is going to be happening as well.

So we start off with the idea that there might be a couple of things going on in one go in this opening.

As we said, the fact that the sun is rising tells us that this is quite early in the morning.

Our adverb slowly gives us an idea that this is quite a soft, peaceful start.

And it really sets a pace for the text that this is going to be quite gentle and quite slow, or certainly the opening is.

There might be a contrast later with lots of more action, which is great, but for now the adverb slowly just gives a really soft and gentle pace to this story Now the fact that as a reader, we can see the sun rising slowly in the distance suggest that we can probably see quite far, maybe we're in the countryside, maybe there's some open space.

It's certainly not a particularly crowded city because otherwise the sunrise would be blocked by the other buildings.

So just that idea of something happening in the distance gives the reader a real sense that there's space around.

Again, we're not looking at our independent cause right now, 'cause we're just thinking about why an author chooses to add subordinate clauses.

So we've gone on to the second subordinate clause of whilst, whilst closing his front door.

Now we said after tells us that there are things happening at the same time and the word whilst does that as well.

It tells us the order of these actions of the sun rising, Hudson putting his bag over his shoulder and him closing the front door are all happening simultaneously.

They're happening at the same time.

So if Hudson is closing his front door as a reader, we might start to wonder where he's going.

And then if he shuts his front door softly, maybe we start to think, is he trying not to wake somebody? We already said the pace is quite soft because of the slow sunset.

It's now also quite quiet because he's being soft.

And we might wonder if he's avoiding being caught.

Is he trying to get out of the house quietly so that nobody hears him? Who else is in the house? Okay.

You know the drill now, what I'd like you to do is pause the video and copy these annotations down onto your own version of the story opening.

Press play when you're ready.

This is another story where the opening is quite mysterious as to what genre we might be in.

Again, it could be romance.

Is Hudson sneaking out his front door to go and secretly, see the person he's in love with.

Is Hudson about to go on some fantasy adventure.

And in his bag, it's all kinds of magical equipment that's going to help him because he's on a journey that's going to take days.

Oh, is Hudson about to go on some action adventure where he might be in danger, battling a villain.

We know he's closing his front door softly.

So is he about to go on some big adventure where he doesn't want to wake somebody 'cause they'll tell him, he's not allowed.

Our genre isn't very clearly defined here.

We can probably rule out gothic because the sun's rising.

So this is taking place early in the morning.

And that suggested that there's light rather than the dark gloomy gothic sequence that we might expect.

But our genre is still quite open.

I've got a little task for you now.

I'd like you to add subordinate clauses to these, to turn them into story openings.

Now, for number one, I've given you an example of subordinate clause that you could add in front of the independent clause and a subordinate clause you could add after the independent clause.

If you want to use my example that's absolutely fine.

If you want to put something else in there instead, feel free, but you must keep the independent clause the same.

And I'd like you to add in different subordinate clauses to each of the examples, to build them into story openings.

Pause the video now to get that task a day.

Great.

Let's have a look at some answers then.

So for number one, I'd given you the idea of.

As the clock turned eleven, Alice climbed carefully out of her bedroom window.

You could use my example.

That's fine.

Or you might have created your own.

Number two.

Obviously your answer is going to be very different to mine because there's so many options we could put here.

But as an example, I've put.

Because it started to get dark, he looked at his map for somewhere to hide.

Number three.

Crawling along the ground, the zombie reached out to grab Jake's leg.

Again these are only possible answers.

You might've used entirely different subordinate clauses.

You might have focused on only adding time and place information.

You might've put in lots of extra details.

And that's okay.

And for number four, I've said.

In the middle of the forest, the werewolf growled as the hunter approached.

Just have a look at your answers because although they might be very different to mine.

Do you make sure you started each one with a capital letter.

Do you make sure that you've put a comma in the subordinate clause that comes in front of the independent clause, but not in the second.

And do you make sure that your sentences end with a full stop every time and you checked all your capital letters.

well done.

You've now got four story openings that all fit different genres as well.

Or maybe you stick to one genre and you make them all gothic or you make them all fantasy.

Just pause for a moment now.

You might want to look at your own story openings, or you might want to look at mine, particularly if there was one that you couldn't do, you might want to copy mine down.

Of those openings, which is your favourite? Are any of those stories you think you'd want to read and do any of them really hook you and make you excited to find out what happened more? Writing our own stories is such a good way of thinking about what choices we like and what things might hook a reader or make`it interesting for them.

Pick your favourite now, maybe of yours, maybe of mine.

Are yours better than mine.

Fantastic.

Okay.

We've hit the exciting part now.

This is the section of the lesson where you're going to start to plan your own story.

I told you the beginning that I'm really excited and I am, 'cause I can't wait to plan my own story alongside you.

Each of our stories are going to be different because we're all going to use our own ideas and use them in different ways.

But there are some factors that will be the same for all of us.

So let's just cover those first.

Let's look at the things that are going to be the same across all of our stories.

First of all, we're all going to have the same story order.

We're going to write at least one paragraph that opens the setting of the scene.

Then our next paragraph, which we'll do in the next lesson is introducing our hero.

In the lesson after that we'll reveal a problem or quest, then we'll have a climatic moment and then move on to our ending.

So over the course of the next five lessons, we're going to do one section each time.

Do not worry about trying to do all of these things today in one go and writing a complete story.

The whole point of these lessons is that we're going to do one section each lesson and we're going to steadily build our story together.

So today's lesson, as you know, we've been focusing on the opening to set the scene.

So they will all write different settings or they will all use different subordinate clauses and opening.

The thing that's similar is that we're all going to write our opening today.

The other thing that's going to be really similar in our stories, is each lesson we're going to focus on adding in one technique.

Now as really good writers, you will definitely use more techniques than just one in each paragraph, but we're just going to make sure that we do put the same one technique in every single paragraph that we write.

So you know what technique we're focusing on today because I've talked about it nonstop all the time.

We will all be starting our openings of our stories with a subordinate clause, a comma, independent clause, and a following subordinate clause.

Now you might use time and place to place to time.

That will be different, but we will all use that opening sentence structure of subordinate clause, independent clause, subordinate clause.

The other thing that will be the same for us all, is that we're all going to write a fantasy story.

These will be different because as we work our way through each lesson, you'll have different fantasy choices to make.

You'll have different creatures, magic, different hero options.

So you all end up writing something very different, but we are going to stick to the fantasy genre.

Now I know we've covered other genres and I know some of you might be desperate to write an action story or moment story, feel free, you can, but in the structured work that we're doing together, we're sticking to fantasy because it's my favourite genre.

And it just makes it easier if I can guide us all through one genre.

The final thing then that's going to be the same for us all is that each lesson there'll be some sort of image prompt.

And this image prompt will be the starting point for all of our fantasy stories.

Don't panic if you see the images and they don't inspire you because you can adapt and adjust, they're just a starting point.

So this is going to be today's image.

But if you wanted to set the village beside a lake, instead, if you wanted to make it winter and covered in snow, if you wanted to add a church or a castle in, you can, you don't have to stick to this exact image, but they are a starting point so that all of our stories start out the same source.

Okay? As always, you will be pausing the next slide to have a look at this story opening.

If you're quite worried about writing a story, don't worry.

You don't need to pause the next slide because following it, there'll be lots of help and information.

This is our image prompt then.

You're going to write one paragraph to open the story.

If you get carried away and write more than one paragraph, that's okay, but your paragraphs must all describe the setting.

You can't get carried away and write the full story because you know, we're going to do a section of the story in each lesson.

So we're only doing the opening on this setting.

You're only describing the location.

Don't give away any characters yet.

Don't give away any details about what the fantasy quest is going to be.

Just describe the location.

In your opening you might want to hint that this is the fantasy genre or that we're going to meet magic, or you might keep it as a total surprise, but you must start with the subordinate clause in your opening sentence.

If you love creative writing and you've got loads of ideas.

I want you to pause the video now and I want you to get going, get writing straight away and enjoy it.

Have fun.

If you're somebody who's a little bit less certain, and maybe you struggle a bit with creative writing or you just don't find that picture, particularly inspiring.

Keep watching.

And we're going to start talking about some of the ideas we can include.

So the first thing we're going to do is look at this picture really closely.

We're just inspired by the picture.

That means we can change it as much as we like we can add in lots of other details too.

But what I might start to do to think about writing an opening that describes the setting is start to zoom in on different details.

So I've zoomed in on this section of the house and I might want to describe one of the buildings.

When I'm looking at this picture, I can see that there's lots of different things going on.

So it might be interesting to make a reference to the mountain somewhere.

If this has given you enough ideas, get going.

You don't have to listen to me the whole way through if you've got an idea, if you're still not sure, that's fine.

Keep listening and we'll look at other things we can do to help us get started.

Looking at my picture, I can see that there is a forest and actually there's forest all at the side of the mountain as well.

So that's quite interesting.

And I think I'd like to make reference to that.

And I really like, I can see this hint.

Of a very narrow windy road.

So I think I'm going to talk about that as well.

And I'm going to make sure that's mentioned in my opening.

So here are four sections of the picture that we could write about that might now help you write your opening.

In which case, off you go.

Pause the video, write your opening.

Just one paragraph describing the setting.

You could write one or two sentences about each of those four points, and that would give you a full opening.

You don't need to mention any characters, but do you make sure you start with the subordinate clause? If that's the bit that you're struggling with, let's look at that more closely.

Here's an independent close, there's a small and unremarkable village.

You could you use that as your opening and put in your own subordinate clause before the independent clause and your own subordinate clause after.

If that's given you all the ideas that you need, pause the video, get going, get writing.

If you're still not sure why don't we start with the idea of at the base of the looming mountain.

So that makes reference to these giant mountains in the background.

And it tells us of villages at the bottom.

You might now have an idea for the next subordinate clause.

In which case, off you go.

If you're not sure, try this one.

At the base of the looming mountain, there's a small and unremarkable village down a winding road.

So we've already referenced the fact that we've got that small narrow road in here as well.

If that's helped, off you go.

Pause the video and now use that as your sentence starter to describe in one paragraph, the different elements we can see in this village.

Pause the video and get writing, let your imagination run loose and really enjoy it.

Fantastic.

I hope you enjoyed writing.

I want you to just look at your story opening now.

We did say you could write more than one paragraph.

That's fine, but they must all describe the setting.

You must have a minimum of one paragraph.

Did you remember to indent it? That means move it away slightly from the margin only the first line.

Have you made sure that you've described the setting and did you make sure that you've only described the setting because it's an opening we don't want to mention the characters just yet.

Have you put any hints of fantasy or magic and have you started with a subordinate clause? It didn't have to be the one that I suggested that was just to help those struggling to get started.

If you wanted to use it, that's absolutely fine.

But have you started with that subordinate clause that really helps hook the reader in.

Sure you have.

I hope you've made a really exciting opening.

One of the things that's really exciting for me is that while you're writing your story, I get to write mine too.

And I really want to share with you how I've used this prompt.

And you'll notice that I've used the sentence starter that I suggested if you were struggling a little bit.

So I'm using all the same ideas as you, I'm using the same image, the same sentence prompt, and I'm turning it into my own story.

Now I might have written a little bit more than you because I'm an English teacher and I love writing and telling stories.

So don't worry if you haven't written quite as much.

I'd love to now read you my story.

And then the end of each lesson, I'm going to read you the section that I've written.

So you will get to hear my story over the next few lessons.

Make yourself comfortable now, get nice and cosy and ready to listen.

At the base of the looming mountain.

There's a small and unremarkable village down a winding road.

It looks just like any other village, a small cluster of houses that sit under the dominating Mount Mundale.

If you followed the narrow and winding road through the village, then you might not notice anything different.

There is a small village post office, a village pub, and the blacksmith's forge.

On a cold day plumes of smoke arise from the chimneys of all the buildings.

On sunny days everyone in the village has their doors open to welcome in the light pine scent from the nearby forest.

If you chose to follow the road further, then you'd come to a beautiful and twinkly lake that on a still day creates a perfect mirror reflection of Mount Mundale.

It's especially beautiful in the winter when the Lake is slightly frozen and the mountain is covered in snow.

You might be mistaken for thinking this village is completely unremarkable.

In many ways it's just like any other.

However, if you were to walk into the blacksmith's forge, then you'd realise this isn't any forge.

While she'd find the usual array of horseshoes, candlestick holders and ornaments made by the talented village blacksmith.

You might also spot the swords, shields and knights armour hanging from the hooks.

But this village was unlike others in many ways, Elm Mundale as the village was properly known was home to the famous Mundale School for Knights.

There were more knights living in this village than anywhere else in the realm.

From the outside Mundale School for Knights looked a little bit like a barn.

The outside was timber and it had a simple red tiled roof, just like every other building in the village.

There was nothing very different on the outside about this school, none of the grand jury you might expect until you walked inside the unassuming door.

Suddenly behind the facade of timber, you were transported into the grandest stone hall with double height ceilings that you had ever seen.

Well, you'd be transported there if you were a knight, that is only knights were allowed to step inside.

And I finished that.

Now, I'm sure your fantasy story has gone down a completely different route to mine.

And that's fine.

And if want to go back to your story and add in any extra details, feel free.

But from my story opening, you might now have a bit of a clue about who the hero of my story is going to be, or at least what their job might be? And you might have an idea about what sort of journey my hero is going to go on.

I wonder if you'll get the prediction right or if I'll take you by surprise.

Next lesson then, we'll be creating our heroes of our stories.

So in my story I've decided to add in a School For Knights called Mundale, which I've named.

I made it up after the mountain.

That might give you a little bit of a clue about who my lead character is or what kind of character they are.

In our next lesson, we'll be creating those heroes to our stories.

For now, though, don't forget to complete your quiz on this lesson and then I'll see you next time to create our heroes.