Marks here reward three things at once: ambitious, precise vocabulary; a deliberate structure; and accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. Our teachers wrote the prompts below to mix description and narrative. They also vary the starting point: an image, a title, a first line, a single moment.
Plan for a few minutes before you write, then reveal our approach and checklist to sharpen your next draft. Keep to the word range the paper sets.
1Use this scene we describe as a starting point: an old fairground at the end of the season. A stopped Ferris wheel stands against a bruised evening sky, ticket booths are shuttered, litter turns slowly in the wind, and one string of bulbs is still lit. Write a description suggested by this scene.
Focus on creating atmosphere rather than telling a story. Keep within the word range the paper sets.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Description is about atmosphere, not plot. Plan a route for the reader's eye (wide sky, then the wheel, then close detail on the lit bulbs). The piece then has shape.
Choose a dominant mood such as melancholy or stillness and let every image serve it. Use varied sentence lengths and at least one extended image, and resist drifting into narrative.
Model opening: The Ferris wheel had stopped at an unlucky angle, one empty carriage hung higher than the rest, rocking a little, as though the ride were still deciding whether the summer was truly over.
Checklist:
- I created a consistent atmosphere rather than a plot
- I gave the description a deliberate structure (a route for the eye)
- I used ambitious vocabulary and at least one developed image
- I varied my sentence lengths for effect
- I checked spelling, punctuation and grammar at the end
2Write a story with the title 'The Key That Did Not Fit'. You may set it anywhere and in any time. Aim for a shaped narrative with a clear turning point rather than a long list of events, and keep within the word range the paper sets.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: A short story needs one strong idea, not many. Decide the turning point first (the moment the key's failure to fit changes everything) and build toward it.
Limit yourself to one or two characters and a single setting. Open close to the action, control the pace around the key moment, and end with resonance rather than a summary.
Model opening: The locksmith had cut the key three times, and three times it slid in smoothly and refused, at the last quarter-turn, to become the sound my mother had waited eleven years to hear.
Checklist:
- My story has one clear turning point, not a string of events
- I opened close to the action and did not over-explain
- I controlled pace, slowing down at the key moment
- My ending resonates rather than merely stops
- I proofread for accuracy in the final minutes
3Continue and complete a story that begins with this line we have written: 'By the time the tide came back, the whole town knew what Nadia had found.' Develop the story from here. Keep it focused and within the word range the paper sets.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: The given line promises a discovery and a town's reaction, so honour both. Decide what Nadia found and why it matters, then structure around the gap between the find and how the town responds.
Tried these practice tasks? A teacher can mark your child's attempt and explain the next step in a paid one-hour trial.
Keep a consistent narrative voice from the opening line onward. Aim for a controlled ending that pays off the promise of the first sentence.
Model opening: By the time the tide came back, the whole town knew what Nadia had found, and by evening they had all agreed, without discussion, never to speak of it to the men from the mainland.
Checklist:
- My story follows on naturally from the given first line
- I answered the questions the opening raises (what, and why it matters)
- The narrative voice is consistent throughout
- The ending pays off the promise of the first sentence
- I left time to check accuracy
4Write a description of a busy kitchen during the final ten minutes before a big meal is served. Slow that short span of time down and appeal to several senses.
This is a description, so build a vivid picture rather than telling a complete story. Keep within the word range the paper sets.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Compressing a few minutes lets you layer sensory detail. Plan the senses in advance (heat and steam, the clatter and calling of orders, the smell that changes as dishes finish). Move between them deliberately.
Keep your tense consistent. Choose precise nouns and verbs over piled-up adjectives, and give the passage a clear beginning and end.
Model opening: Eight minutes out, and the kitchen tightens like a held note: the pass glows under its lamps, a whitecoat calls a table number twice, and the butter in the far pan turns, all at once, from gold to the colour of warning.
Checklist:
- I focused on a short span of time and slowed it down
- I appealed to more than one sense, deliberately
- I chose precise verbs and nouns over adjective lists
- I kept my tense consistent
- The description has a clear shape, not a random list
5Write a story built around a single decision. Open at the moment just after the decision has been made, then reveal how the character reached it.
You choose the decision and the character. Keep within the word range the paper sets.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: A non-linear structure rewards planning. Open on the aftermath (the character's state just after deciding) so the reader wants to know why.
Then move back to show the pressure that led there, and return to the present at the close. Keep the timeline clear with signals the reader can follow, and make the decision one that costs the character something.
Model opening: I posted the letter before I could take it back, and stood watching the box as if it might change its mind for me, though of course the only mind that could still change anything was already made up.
Checklist:
- My structure opens after the decision, then reveals the lead-up
- The reader can always tell where they are in time
- The decision costs the character something
- The story returns to the present for a purposeful ending
- I checked spelling, punctuation and grammar
See the method and an annotated model on the descriptive & narrative writing page for OxfordAQA 9270, or the technique in our descriptive & narrative writing skills guide.