Lesson video

Welcome back to this creative writing unit, and you'll know now that we are working towards writing our own memoirs.

You'll remember that a memoir was a piece of writing based on real life experiences, and I think it's a real joy that we're able to put ourselves into our writing in this way.

For today's lesson, you're going to need a quiet place to work, a piece of paper and a pen.

So press pause, get everything you need together, and let's make a start.

Now, we're already on to chapter three of our memoir writing process.

You'll remember in the very first lesson we did, we wrote chapter one, and we described our surroundings in order to introduce a sense of who we are as a person.

And then last time we delved back into an early memory, and we used powerful language to recreate that memory for our readers.

Today, we're going to be writing about someone important in our life, and I'm going to show you different techniques you can use to make our description really meaningful, but let's get started with a review of what we've already learned.

Question number one, memoirs are based on real life experience, made up events or the lives of famous people? Choose your answer and say aloud to your screen now.

And I'm really hoping that you just said, "Real life experience." In memoirs, writers often focus on their whole life, a part of their life or that birth? Choose your answer.

And the answer is a part of their life.

Autobiographies often focus on the whole of someone's life.

Whereas a memoir often focuses on a section of your life.

For example, your childhood.

Writing about your, what, can often give a strong impression of who you are? Think back to lesson one.

And well done if you said, "Your surroundings." Memoirs are written in which? Well done if you said, "The first person." And what does that mean? The first person uses which of those words? Say it aloud.

And I'm pretty sure I can hear you from here saying the word, "I".

You is the second person.

So he and she is the? Third person.

And I is an example of what type of word? Well done if you remember it's a pronoun.

In memoirs, we should avoid which of these? We should avoid dialogue.

We need to be using lots of description, and we need to be obviously paragraphing our work, but long, lengthy dialogue often draws away from the purpose of the memoir, which is to learn about you.

"I Captured the Castle" was written by? Well done if you said, "Dodie Smith." And you'll remember that that starts with the main character writing her own memoirs.

And where does she write those memoirs? Hopefully, you remember that she wrote them in the kitchen sink, a very unusual place to write.

I don't think I'd recommend it.

She writes using none of the senses, some of the senses or all of the senses? And well done if you said, "Some of the senses." And while we do incorporate senses into our writing, what do we call it? Three quite similar answers there.

So pick carefully.

Say it aloud.

And the correct one is A, sensory language.

How many senses do we have as humans? Well done if you said, "Five." It's what you can see, what you can hear, what you can feel, what you can taste and what you can smell.

Five different senses we can incorporate into our writing.

Good writing contains all short sentences, all long sentences or a range of short and long sentences? And, of course, the answer is a range of short and long sentences.

We practised that in our first lesson, doing short ones, long ones, short ones, changing up the length.

In "Cider with Rosie", the writers earliest memory was which of those adjectives? Say it aloud.

Good job if you remembered that it's frightening for him.

Which word means feelings of confusion? We learned this last lesson.

Well done if you said, "Bewilderment." Which one means to understand? And it's fathom.

So if we say I can't fathom it, it means I can't understand it.

So which one means an uncontrollable or wild movement? And, of course, it's frenzied.

Which of these refers to words which create pictures for the reader? Choose your answer.

Say it aloud.

And you should have said, "Imagery." And we've gone into quite a lot of time and detail exploring how our writers use amazing imagery to allow us to picture what they can picture through their words.

And final question, which of these is the correct spelling? Look at them carefully.

Pick which one is the right one.

And well done if you said, "C, repetition." We've got R-E-P-E in the middle of it.

So let's get that one right when we're using in our writing.

Okay, well done.

Today, we've already reviewed what we've already learned.

We're going to write the third chapter of our memoir, all about an important person in our lives.

And we're going to use really powerful language and imagery to bring this person to life on the page.

Now, the example that we're going to use today is from this book.

It's a brand new verse, and I'm actually got it here.

It's by Dean Atta, and it's called "The Black Flamingo." And I would recommend it actually.

It's a really good prize-winning book, as well.

Now, "The Black Flamingo" is a coming-of-age story, and that means it follows the life of somebody as they change from a child into an adult.

It follows the boy working out his identity.

He's exploring who he is.

And it's a really powerful story because it contains some incredible themes.

For example, race, gender, sexuality, bravery and self-discovery.

Now, it's quite unusual in some ways because if you have a look at it inside, it is not written in the normal kind of paragraphs you might expect from a book.

In fact, it's written in lines of poetry.

And if something's written in lines of poetry, we can call it, as you can see on your screen, verse, and that contrasts to normal sorts of books, which write in the continuous paragraphs that we're used to seeing, and that would be described as prose.

Right, let's check your understanding of those two terms. Which one means continuous paragraphs? Say it aloud.

And you should have said, "Prose." Which one therefore means when it's written in lines of poetry? And well done if you said, "Verse." Let's make it a little bit harder.

Which one refers to when something looks like poetry on the page? Well done if you said, "Verse." And so which one is continuous paragraphs? And that one is prose.

Let's check your understanding of what we've covered so far.

Press pause and choose the correct answer to each of these questions.

Off you go.

And when you're ready, let's check your work.

Who wrote "The Black Flamingo"? It was Dean Atta.

You remember that Laurie Lee wrote "Cider with Rosie", and Dodie Smith wrote, "I Captured the Castle".

Number two, which of these describes changing from a child into an adult is a coming-of-age story.

Which of these means written in lines of poetry? It's verse.

And we've already seen that "The Black Flamingo", number four, is also written in verse, lovely.

Now, in the extract we're going to read today, the writer is describing his sister, and this is the person that's really important to him in his life.

He writes in verse, as we've already seen, and he includes beautiful imagery and sensory language to describe the importance of his sister.

Let's look at that section now.

I am eight when my sister Anna is placed into the nest of her white-wicker Moses basket, newly hatched, a chick for me to help Mum raise for the whole of the summer holiday.

Crying for her thumb to suck when I tuck her hands under her tiny torso.

Anna is a living doll, a brown-skinned barbie.

Mum lets me pick out her outfit each morning.

So we can see here how important this person is for the writer.

And we can see the really beautiful words and powerful imagery he uses to describe her.

Now, to check your understanding of what we've just read, I'd like you to press pause and answer the four questions, please.

Off you go.

And let's check your work.

How old is the writer when his sister is born? He is eight years old.

How do you think he feels about her? When you might have said that he obviously feels loving and protective towards her.

He wants to look after her.

What is the writer's mother asked the writer to help with? The writer's asked to help pick out the sister's clothes.

And what noise does the sister make? The sister cries, and we can see that as an example of using the sense of sound.

So what's that technique? Say it aloud.

It's sensory language.

Now, let's have another closer look at the imagery that Dean Atta uses to present the person that's important to him in his life, his little sister, Anna.

Now, one piece of imagery he uses is this one.

"Anna is a living doll." Now, let's explore this a little bit by saying three things about it.

Is Anna actually living doll? No, it's a comparison.

So what technique can we call it? It is a metaphor, and often when we're creating pictures with our words, not imagery, often we'll incorporate metaphors or similes into that imagery.

Now, what's this suggest about Anna? It suggests that Anna is perfect and beautiful.

What does it suggest about how the writer feels about her? Well, it implies that the writer wants to protect her and look after her.

Okay, I have explored this imagery by saying three things about it, and I'd like you to do the same thing now to another piece of imagery from this book.

Have a look at this quotation.

When the writer describes his sister as "newly hatched, a chick." I'd like you to press pause.

I'd like you to write it into book.

And I'd like you to say three things about it, please.

What technique does it use? And what does it suggest? Off you go.

And let's add to your notes as we go through it.

Lots of you will already have noticed that, again, this is an example of a metaphor.

She's not actually a chick.

It's a comparison.

It's metaphor.

What does this suggest? Well, it suggests that Anna is small and delicate, as we might expect a chick that's just come out of its egg to be, and it implies that she is brand new, perhaps vulnerable and needs protecting by her older brother.

Okay, we're going to review this memoir, and then we're going to use it to inspire our own.

Now, in the example we've just read, we're going to answer these questions in this grid.

Let's do the first one together.

In the example, how old is the writer when he first meets the important person in his life? And you might remember he's eight years old.

Where does he see Anna first? And hopefully you remember, he sees her in that wicker basket.

I'd like you to press pause, copy out the grid and complete the first row, please.

Off you go.

Okay.

Let's continue and check our work.

What animal is she compared to in this example? She's compared to that newly hatched chick.

What is Anna doing in this extract? She's crying and trying to suck her thumb, isn't she? Object that she appears like to the writer? A living doll.

We already explored that metaphor.

And what do they do together? He picks up clothes for her, doesn't he, and he looks after her.

So we've looked at the details from our example that we've just read together, and now we're going to use the same kind of details to describe someone who's important in our lives.

So I'd like you to think now, please.

Think of someone who's important in your life.

They could be important now, or they could be important in your past.

Pick somebody now.

Now, for me, someone really important in my life, especially in my teenage years, was my teacher, Mr. Smith.

He was our form tutor, but he was also a math teacher, and I remember really vividly on our first day of school, we were all quite nervous to be there, but he, you know, organised us and helped us out and welcomed us into the school.

We saw in every single morning for five years.

So he really saw us develop and grow up and learn.

And he also taught us maths.

And before he was my math teacher, I did not enjoy maths at all.

So he really helped me out in my studies, as well.

So I'm going to be describing in my memoir, Mr. Smith.

So let's add to the details here as a bit of a plan.

Age when I first met them? I was 11.

Where did I see them first? Just outside the form room as he was bringing us.

An animal that I could use to describe him? But he was always full of energy.

So I would describe him as a spaniel, always running about bouncing around off the walls.

What was he doing when I first saw him? Definitely taking the register.

I mean, he did that every morning for five years.

Object that he appeared like? He was quite tall and thin.

So I'm going to describe him as a ruler in a suit.

And what did we do together? Well, he taught me maths.

In the same way, I'd like you to choose somebody who's important in your life and add to your grid.

Develop some details about them.

Off you go.

Okay, when you've developed your details, that's going to work as your plan for you to write your own verse form description of them.

So the first version of this we're going to write is actually going to be a bit of a poem, just like we saw in Dean Atta's fashion.

Here's my example of my description of the person who's important to me in verse form: I am 11 when I first meet Mr. Smith.

We arrive loudly to our new form room, and he's rushing around full of energy like a spaniel taking the register.

Later in maths, he is a ruler in a suit, a calculator processing equations.

But we never understood numbers before he made them clear to us.

You can see, in my example, I've written my description of my important person in my life in verse form.

You can see I've got my imagery there in the form of that simile, like a spaniel, and that metaphor, a ruler in a suit or a calculator processing equations.

And I've tried to finish with a sense of why he is an important person in my life and how he helped me.

Over to you, I would like you to describe your important person in verse, please.

Don't make it rhyme, but I would like you to include some very, very short lines in there just as Dean Atta did, and I'd like you to include the imagery from your plan.

Press pause, and write your description now.

Right, well done.

Check your work.

Have you incorporated the imagery? Have you changed the length of your lines? Have you described your important person? Because now the final thing we're going to do is use the same ideas to write about our important person, but this time in prose, and here is my example.

My prose example says this: I was 11 when I first met Mr. Smith.

It was our first day of secondary school, and we had arrived outside a classroom in a big uncertain mass, unsure of ourselves and our new environment.

We were ushered to our new form room, and then suddenly Mr. Smith appeared bouncing around full of energy.

He was like a rushing spaniel taking the register, barking out our names for the very first time.

He would do the same thing every weekday morning for the next five years.

He was also our maths teacher.

I had never enjoyed maths, and I was dreading that first lesson.

But tall Mr. Smith welcomed us in, a ruler in a creased shirt, a ruler.

He was also our math teacher.

I had never enjoyed maths, and was dreading that first lesson.

But tall Mr. Smith welcomed us in, a ruler in a creased suit.

He started churning through digits like a human calculator processing equations.

I never understood numbers before he made them clear.

So in my example, I've written two paragraphs.

I've changed the length of my sentences, and I've tried to include lots of imagery that you can see that in purple.

Okay.

Now, it's your turn.

You're going to finish your day by writing chapter three of your memoir.

In it, you're going to describe your important person in prose.

I'd like you to describe how you first met them.

I'd love you to include imagery, and you need to finish, please, with why they're important to you.

You're going to be writing for about 10 to 15 minutes.

So press pause and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

We have now just finished chapter three of our memoir.

That means chapter one, we've already described ourselves using our location.

Chapter two, we delved into that past early memory and described that for our readers.

And today we described an important person in our life.

Next time, we'll be considering how to create tension and conflict and suspense in our writing, and I'm going to teach you the techniques to do that.

In the meantime, please, do take the exit quiz so you can keep on track with your knowledge, and I will see you next time.

Bye-bye.