Lesson video

Hello there, Mr. Barnsley here.

Fantastic to see you today.

Thank you so much for joining me as we continue to dive into some fiction writing and create these really malevolent characters.

And today, we're focusing on setting, and how the place that we choose to set our narrative writing can really help develop our understanding of character and reflect their mood.

We're going to do this by focusing on sensory writing, and thinking how sensory writing, with other kind of vocabulary choices, can really help create these excellent settings that reflect our characters.

So, really excited for you to join me today, a really, really creative lesson that we've got in store for us.

Let's dive in together.

So, let's have a look at today's outcome then.

By the end of the lesson, you'll be able to understand and apply how writers you setting and tone to really reflect their characters.

So, some keywords we're gonna look out for are: tone, setting, sensory imagery, vivid, and reflect.

So, tone is the overall mood or attitude conveyed through a text.

A setting is the time and the place, the where, the whens of when a story is set.

sensory images is a use of descriptive language that appeals to the five senses, so sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell.

If something is vivid, then it produces really strong, clear images in the mind.

And reflect means to mirror, or to show something clearly.

It can mean different things, but in the context we're using it today, it's gonna mirror, or show something clearly.

So, there are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

First of all, we're gonna think about how writers use sensory imagery, and then we're gonna be emulating that, applying sensory imagery to our own writing to craft a real clear tone to a piece of writing.

So, let's start by thinking about how writers use sensory imagery.

So, when writers describe a character, they often do so as part of a wider story, that character fits into a narrative, a story that they want to tell.

The narrative will include the plot, the action, the things that are happening, but it will also have a setting.

Now, sensory imagery can be really important to help build a really clear, a really vivid, strong and clear image of what the setting is like.

When we read a story, when we read a text, as a reader, we want to picture it, we want to be able to imagine ourselves there.

You know, we want to be able to create these images in our mind of what we are reading, and sensory imagery can be a really great way of doing that.

So, sensory imagery is using the five senses, sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound to build description.

And it really helps the readers experience the description, experience our writings in a really clear and vivid way.

It can also help convey emotions and create tone in writing.

And it allows us to do this key skill of showing, and not telling.

We don't always want to be saying, you know, "The tree was green.

The the sky was blue," we want to be a little bit more creative, we want to show our reader what this world and these characters that we are creating are like.

So I want you to imagine that your character is in a forest like the one that you can see in the image on the screen now.

Can you create an example sentence that relate to each of those senses, sight, smell, touch and taste? If you've got a partner, you can do this verbally with them, you can share some ideas.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can just think through this, and think through some sentences independently.

All right, over to you now, pause the video, imagine your character is in a forest like the one below, can you create five sentences, one to match each of the five senses, to describe what this forest is like? Pause video, give it a go, and press play when you've got some ideas.

All right, welcome back there.

Lots of creativity on show there.

Great job.

Here are some things that you might have said.

So for sight you could have said, he saw the tall trees stretching towards the sky, almost personifying the trees there.

The smell, the scent of pine filled his nostrils, a really kind of fresh smell of pine.

Touch, the bark felt really rough under his fingertips.

Taste, he tasted the fresh, cool air as he breathed in.

Sound, he heard birds chirping from above.

Now, these are great sentences, but I don't think you always need to use all five sentences in a description.

Why might this be? Why might it be that you don't always need to use all five sentences in a description? Why don't you pause the video, have a think in pairs, or by yourself, and press play when you've got some ideas? Nice, I heard lots of you saying that, actually, this will make your writing feel quite unnatural and disrupted, if you are trying to like push sentences in there, and use sentences that don't really fit your description, it can make your work feel unnatural.

So, this is a case of things that can enhance your work, but you shouldn't be just trying to force (fist thuds) these in here to show, "Hey, look, I can use all five senses." Some senses are going to work better than others, depending on what it is that you are describing.

For example, if my character was in the woods but he didn't, you know, I can only really use the touch if I want to describe him going up and putting his hand on the tree.

It would feel like quite a strange thing to suggest that my character has just randomly gone up and stroked the tree.

But what if he tripped, and as he fell, he grabbed hold of one of the trees, and therefore the bark felt rough under his fingertips? That makes sense.

If I just like, "Oh, my character stroked one of the trees," just because I wanted to use the sense of touch? I don't think it would work.

So, really think about what feels natural to what you are trying to describe.

All right, let's take a look then together at a description of a stormy night which uses sensory imagery.

The storm roared through the night, its fury rattling the windows with relentless force.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, cloaking the moon in a shroud of inky blackness.

The wind howled like a wounded animal, and the rain pelted down in torrential sheets, creating a symphony of drumming on the roof.

Every flash of light illuminated the room with a stark, ghostly light casting eerie shadows that danced across the walls.

All right, over to you.

Which senses can you identify in this paragraph, and are there any missing? Pause the video.

If you've got a partner, you can work on this together, otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

Which senses can you identify, and which are missing? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've worked them out.

Welcome back.

You might have talked about sight.

So, we could see the dark clouds, the flash of lightning.

We could definitely describe things that could be seen.

And let's be honest, in most of our descriptions, we are going to always, what we're very likely to do is describing the things that we can see, that's kind of the easiest one for us to include.

But here, this is a storm, okay? This is a storm, and we know storms are very noisy, so there are lots of opportunity to describe sound, the storm roared, the wind howled, the drumming.

We also could use the sense of touch here, because, you know, particularly if you are caught in a storm, you're going to feel it, you're gonna feel the wind whipping, you're gonna feel the rain kind of pelting down, so we can definitely use touch here.

We haven't used smell or taste, because, actually, that doesn't really work with describing a storm.

The taste, I'm not sure is gonna ever really fit.

But smell? Maybe is something that follows the storm.

You know when the storm has settled, and the rain has stopped, and you can smell the rain on the grass? Maybe that's when we might bring in smell, it feels like a natural time to do it.

But in the middle of a storm, we're not really thinking about what a storm smells like.

Very unlikely.

So, smell and taste, not use it here, because it's not natural for us to do so.

All right, let's think about this phrase, "Showing not telling," showing the reader what's happening rather than just telling them there was a storm, and it was rainy, and it was windy.

How does the paragraph do this? All right, over to you to pause the video, have a think, pairs, or by yourself, how does this paragraph show, not tell? Over to you.

Welcome back.

I heard you talking about these examples of strong verbs, like roared, pelted, and danced.

They kind of show us how bad the rain was without kind of just telling us the rain was really bad.

The simile, "like a wounded animal," really makes us think about how loud, and kind of this, the wind is howling.

Again, it's better than just saying the wind howled loudly, or the the wind was really noisy, that's telling, here, we're showing.

And we've got some great adjectives as well, like ghostly and eerie, really kind of creating this kind of spooky sense of the storm.

Okay, over to you then to check how we're getting on.

True or false, when using sensory imagery, some senses, such as sight and sound, are more important than others.

Is that true or false? Make your choice, and then justify it, explain why you picked true or false.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, well done if you said false.

So, the sense that you decide to use an description has to be what is most appropriate, what feels most natural.

Yes, we are probably gonna lean on sight more than others, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's more important, and often, sometimes the sound or the the smell can be the thing that really transports a reader and gives them that really vivid image.

So, yes, we tend to use sight more than some of the others, it tends to be one of the ones that we might use more frequently, but sometimes it isn't always the best one for really transporting your reader, and letting them kind of immerse themself in your description, in your setting.

All right, over to you then, I want you to describe one of the following settings using at least three sentences.

So here, you are gonna want to be selective about which senses you use.

You can choose between a stormy night, a dark forest, or a crowded street.

Things I want you to consider as you write, your use of sensory imagery.

Are you gonna use all five senses, or are there some that just don't feel natural to do here? And remember, show not tell, I want powerful verbs, I want figurative language, I want adjectives.

I want you to really paint this picture for me.

All right, over to you.

I'm really excited to see how creative you can be here.

Pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back, great to see you giving that such a great go, and just being really creative with your senses there.

Fantastic to see.

All right, if you've got a partner, I want you to swap your work with them, we're gonna do a little bit of peer assessment.

If you're working by yourself, you can check your own work.

So, what I want you to do is read their work and discuss and feedback on the following, the use of sensory images, which five senses did they use, and did you find them to be effective? And then work out, where did they use show not tell, and was it effective, or did they ever slip into that telling, and could they have done something a little bit more creative there? All right, over to you.

Pause the video, give this a go, and give your partner some feedback, and press play when you are done.

Okay, welcome back.

We've done some fantastic work.

We're thinking about why we might use sensory imagery, now it's time for us really to start applying this sensory imagery, to most importantly craft tone, and help us craft character.

So, in writing, tone refers to the attitude or mood conveyed by the writer through their choice of words, and the style in which they write.

Can you think of any examples of different tones of voice? Okay, so what different tones might a writer create in some writing? Pause the video, share some ideas with a partner, or just think through by yourself, maybe even make a few notes, and press play when you've got some ideas.

All right, over to you.

You might have had loads of different ideas.

I could hear lots of fantastic words flying around.

You might have said joyful, suspenseful, ominous, cheerful, angry, sinister.

All great words, you might have had different ideas as well.

So, let's take a look at another description now, and this is a description of a dark alley.

The narrow alley was silent, except for the occasional drip of the water from the eaves.

Shadows clung to the walls like old memories, and the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decay.

How does the setting here use sensory imagery, and what tone is being created? Why don't you take a moment, pause the video with a partner, or by yourself, just think through this question.

How does the setting use sensory image, and what tone does it create? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some lovely discussions here.

I heard some of you zooming in on that word drip, it's quite an irregular sound that water creates, this eerie atmosphere, onomatopoeia, some of you were saying.

The image of the shadows suggest something sinister or mysterious.

Using the sense of smell, so the scent of damp earth and decay really adds to this sense of death.

And then, overall, the tone is very dark and sinister.

Okay, here's your prompt that we're gonna be working towards the end of the lesson.

We're gonna be writing a description of a setting that reflects the mood of a character.

Now, this is great, we're gonna really love writing about setting, but setting can be really helpful in developing our character as well.

And in today's lesson, we're gonna see how setting can reflect the mood of character.

So, not only we are creating this really interesting setting, but we're also developing our character further through the setting that we put them in.

And we're gonna use sensory imagery to develop a really specific tone.

So, let's think about what different scenarios can you think of that might fit this prompt? For example, an anxious character who is in a crowded city.

Can you notice there how the anxious is the mood of the character, and the tone, and the crowded city is the setting, but they're reflective of each other, this character may be anxious because they are in this crowded setting.

So, it heightens, by describing a really crowded city, we're gonna heighten this sense of anxiety within our character.

Can you think of any other prompts that would work? Any other scenarios that would work for this prompt? Why don't you pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

All right, welcome back.

Some fantastic ideas and I hope you are gonna expand on these and build these out later in today's lesson.

So, let's have a look at how I might begin to develop the idea of an anxious character in a crowded city.

So, this is my plan, my sensory imagery that I want to use.

What's sight? I want crowded streets, I want bright lights, I want signs everywhere.

Sound, I want this to be loud and confusing, I want traffic with car horns, I want the sound of voices chattering.

And I want the smell to be really overwhelming.

I want pollution from cars, different smells from different restaurants.

I want my character and my reader to feel really overwhelmed.

I want 'em to feel stressed, anxious, you can see these in the tone.

And I also want to think carefully about my verb choices.

So, verbs like gripping her bag, her heart pounding, the lights flashing, all of these are gonna create this sense of stress, anxiety, and just this really overwhelming situation.

So, my plan might turn into something like this.

Sarah stood on the crowded street, her heart pounding fast.

Around her, the city was noisy and overwhelming, car horns honked loudly, and people chatted loudly everywhere.

Bright neon signs flashed with harsh yellows and pinks, making her head spin.

The air smelled strongly of car exhaust and cooking food, which made it hard for her to breathe.

Sarah's hands shook as she gripped her bag tightly.

Where can you see elements then of this sensory imagery that's really been used to craft tone? Pause the video, have a think, where have I used sensory imagery and other methods of crafting tone? Pause the video, have a think, and press play and you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

So, you might have picked out when I zoomed in on the sounds of the cars, and the people, you might have seen some of those verb choices from my plan, gripped, beating, flash, all of those words really help create this sense of stress and pressure.

All right, true or false then, tone is created through sensory imagery, is that true or false? And justify your response.

Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Well done if you said false.

You should have said that tone is actually created through careful consideration of word choice and the style a writer chooses.

Sensory imagery supports this, but it is not the only method which creates tone.

So, lots of different things you are going to be doing to create tone.

Sensory imagery is just one of those elements.

Okay then, over to you to plan and write a one-paragraph description of a setting that reflects the mood of a character.

Use sensory imagery and develop a specific tone.

So, fill in the plan, and then make sure you build this out into a paragraph.

Things to consider.

What's your character's mood, how are you gonna reflect that in the setting? Make sure you're using show-not-tell, and sensory imagery, and really think about that tone that you want to convey and how you are going to craft this.

All right, over to you.

Get creating.

Pause the video, press play when you are done.

Welcome back, some fantastic writing going on there, it was so pleasing to see you writing with such confidence.

Really, really well done.

And I hope you really thought carefully about your sensory imagery and making sure that you weren't trying to shoehorn any of those sentences in, those senses in, or force those sentences in where they didn't fit.

All right, before we finish today's lesson, I want us to take a moment to sit back and reflect on the work that we have done.

So, we're gonna pause the video and do some self-assessment here.

We're gonna look at your work, and identify an example of where you've done the following, and identify where you've used show-not-tell, tell an example of where you've used some sensory imagery.

I want a sentence which clearly showed the tone that you were trying to convey, and then I want a sentence that really shows how the setting reflects your character and their emotions.

All right, pause the video, and identify where you've done all of this in your own work.

Right, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson, and what a fantastic job you have done today writing really creatively, describing setting, and developing tone.

So, in today's lesson we've learned that descriptions of a setting can really help reflect a character's personality, their mood, or their emotions.

We know that sensory imagery can be used to describe a setting, 'cause this creates a really vivid description.

Tone can be built through a description of setting, and you can combine the sensory description of a setting and the emotional state of a character, and all of this, collectively, can create a really clear tone.

Fantastic work today, thank you so much for joining me, I do hope to see you again in one of our lessons in the future.

All right, have a great day with the rest of your day, however you choose to spend it, and I hope to see you all soon.

Bye bye.