Structuring Your Writing Flashcards
All 11 cards in this deck
What should a Question 5 plan contain?
The moment you're writing about, a dominant mood, five or six paragraph boxes each with its own focus, and the ending decided in advance. A few words per box is enough.
What is a shift in focus, and what does it do in your own writing?
A deliberate move from one thing to another: wide to narrow, outside to inside, one character to another, or present to memory. It guides the reader's attention and lets you change the mood without telling the reader you are doing so.
What is a cyclical structure, and what is its effect?
Ending by returning to the opening image or line, usually changed in some way. It gives a sense of completeness and highlights what has changed between the beginning and the end.
A description opens "The swing creaked in the empty playground." and ends "By dusk the swing had stopped, and nobody had come back for the red glove." What structural technique is used and what is its effect?
A cyclical structure: it returns to the swing from the opening. The image is now still, and the abandoned glove adds a sense of loss, so the reader feels the mood has darkened since the start.
When should you start a new paragraph in creative writing?
At a change of time, place, topic or speaker, and also for effect: a new paragraph can mark a shift in focus or isolate a key moment. Paragraphs that link fluently are part of what the top AO5 band rewards.
What is the effect of a one-sentence paragraph?
It isolates and emphasises a moment, creating a pause, a shock or a turning point: "Then the lights went out." Used once or twice it has impact; used constantly, it loses force.
How do you link paragraphs smoothly in creative writing?
Use time and place links ("By the time the lights came on…", "Further along the pier…") and echo a word or image from the end of one paragraph at the start of the next. Avoid essay connectives like "Firstly" and "In conclusion".
What is foreshadowing, and how can you use it in Question 5?
An early hint at something that matters later, such as a loose railing mentioned in the first paragraph. It builds tension and makes the writing feel planned and cohesive when the hint pays off.
How can a brief flashback help a Question 5 piece?
It adds depth by explaining a character's feelings or a place's past, and it creates a temporal shift. Keep it short and signal clearly when you move into it and back out, or the reader gets lost.
What is the effect of withholding information from the reader?
It creates mystery and tension: the reader keeps reading to find out what is being held back. For example, a narrator who refers to "what happened last summer" without explaining it.
How can contrast or juxtaposition work as a structural device in Question 5?
Placing opposites side by side, such as a crowded beach in one paragraph and the same beach at night in the next. The contrast sharpens both moods and can show change over time.