Lesson 9

Title: Planning your own Gothic story

Over the next two lessons you are going to
plan and write a Dystopian story. When you
are finished, send both the plan AND the story
to your teacher
 Task 1: plan your Dystopian story
Step 1: background
What is the history behind the
world in your story?
Was it:
• A war or rebellion?
• A natural disaster?
• A virus or disease?
Step 2: setting
What is this world like?
• Where do the wealthy live?
What is it like?
• Where do the poorer people
live? What is it like?
• Are there any rules in this
world?
Step 5: narrative perspective
Will your story be in first or third
person?
Step 3: main characters
• Who is your main character
going to be? Will they be part of
the wealthy society or the
poorer society?
• What will happen that makes
them question the society they
live in?
Step 4: those in power
• Who is in power? What are they
like?
• What rules do they have in
place and what happens if you
break the rules?
• Do they have advanced
technology?
Once you are done, think about
the interesting words and
linguistic devices you can use.
How will you describe the
setting
Try to use personification
How will you describe the main
characters?
Think of interesting adjectives
you can use?
How will you describe those in
power?
Try to use similes and metaphors
 Task 1 continued: plan the plot of your story
What is going to happen in your story? Use my guidelines to help

Remember…you need an interesting opening line Paragraph 4:

Opening paragraph:
Your character could make a plan to take
Give some background information, what has happened to down the people in power.
create this dystopian society?
Describe the setting, what kind of world is it? Describe what Again build more tension
it looks like physically in great detail. Paragraph 5:
Paragraph 2:
This should be a dramatic moment, perhaps
Introduce your main character. Who are they? What do they the big fight between your main characters
believe in? What do they work as? Or if they’re in school,
what is school like? Do they learn different subjects to us? and the people in power
Introduce the villains. Who are the people in power? Ending:
Paragraph 3: End your story. Is it a happy ending or a
Something needs to happen to your character to make them sad ending?
question the society they live and want to rebel. Build tension
in this paragraph. Maybe they overheard a conversation they
weren’t supposed to hear or saw something they weren’t
supposed to see?
 Lesson 10
Title: Writing your own Gothic story

Once you have finished and self-assessed your

story, send it AND your plan to your teacher
 Task 2: write your story

Remember:
 Whatever tense you start your story in (past or
present) you need to stay in that tense. When you
are finished, re-read it and check you have done this
 Your story should have clear paragraphs
 Upgrade your vocabulary. You should avoid using
simple words like “good”, “bad”, “scary”. Use a
thesaurus to upgrade.
 Try to include lots of linguistic devices. When you
have finished go back and make sure you have done
this.
 Try to vary the sentence lengths you use. Use a
mixture of short and long sentences for effect

Once you have finished and self-assessed your story, send it AND your plan to your teacher
kdosanjh@heathland.Hounslow.sch.uk