Task: Write three paragraphs describing your character entering the forest below. Your descriptions should give the reader a clear idea of

-What your character is like (describe their appearance and personality through their actions)

-What the forest is like (What can be seen, heard, smelt, touched)

-What your character is like (appearance, personality)

Verbs
How do they enter the woods? Shuffle, stride, sneak, sprint

Adverbs
How do they move/act? confidently, cautiously, slyly, strangely, arrogantly, fearfully, fearlessly

Similes
His hands were moving like little spiders, her heart was as cold as ice.

Metaphors
He had the eyes of a hawk, She was a shadow passing from tree to tree.

Facial features
small shifty eyes, disgusting rotten teeth

General appearance (clothes, style, general cleanliness, other distinguishing features)
His clothes were soaked in sweat, she wore a beautiful flowing dress which gently brushed the ground.

Try using these sentences to help write your own practise description!

What the forest is like - What can be seen, heard, smelt, touched, tasted (Five senses)


See (try using noun phrases here to describe plants and animals)
Golden leaves, ancient tree trunks, mighty oaks, spindly branches, darting muntjac deer

Hear (try using powerful adverbs)
Stream bubbling gently, the birds tweeting majestically, the trees gently bent and swayed)

Smelt (try and use interesting verbs)
The smell of fresh blossoming flowers rose to her nostrils, the stench of rotting leaves sat heavy in the wood

Touch (aim to use similes and metaphors)
The tree's bark was like wizened wrinkled skin. The birds were chattering children. The leaves danced like a graceful ballerina.

​Try using these sentences to help write your own practise description!

Example and practise

Here is a model of an excellent first paragraph - pay attention to how I show not tell

The hunter slowly kneeled down and keenly surveyed the forest in front of him. Leaves fluttered gently in the breeze, like graceful dancers. Great oak trees were soldiers standing to attention. With eyes like a hawk, the hunter spotted a deer standing as still as a statue in the sun dappled clearing. The only sound was the birds gently tweeting in the canopy above.

Example and practise

Try and write a practise paragraph using the examples in the previous slides!

Example and practise

Finally before the assessment you should have a plan for your paragraphs.

We recomend using this plan shown below

Paragraph 1
1. Describe your character entering the forest, and what they can see/smell/hear in detail.
2. describe the character in detail, appearance and personality
3. Describe the character moving through the forest

Example and practise

Remember - you do not need to tell a story it only needs to be a description of the character and setting - there does not need to be a beginning middle or end!


Read your work when finished and use this guide to help you make improvements before the end of the writing assessment.