Pass ANY GCSE Narrative Question: Part 2 - from Planning to Product.

Part 1 walked you through the six simple steps necessary to plan a response to a gcse narrative question. This video will show you how to turn that plan into a great story that will score MAX MARKS on any gcse narrative mark scheme. Good luck.

AQA Narrative Question Nov 2017
'Write a story, set in a mountainous area, as suggested by the picture.'
Setting:
Response:
Setting
The mountains rose to the left of me and to the right: monuments to Nature’s beauty. Ahead, the sun began to peak above the horizon. The first reflection of the orb glimmered across the surface of the deep black lake.
Problem:
I wondered if I could swim to the mountain’s edge and back before Tiffany arrived for breakfast. I had been a champion swimmer in High School and the mountains didn’t look so far away.
Development:
I sprang up, stripped down and dove in. The water was cold, far colder than I had anticipated. A few lusty strokes, I thought, and I’d soon warm up. I plunged my face beneath the surface of the black mirror, raised my arm up high and took off in front crawl.
I felt good. My body soon warmed. What a great way to start the day, I thought. The cold water was refreshing. I powered on. Although the mountains didn’t seem to be getting closer, I didn’t care. The sun was inching above the horizon, like a great fiery eye, winking at me. I swam on, occasionally glancing at the tree covered slopes in the distance and : at their beauty.
After twenty minutes or so, I began to tire. I felt a twinge in my shoulder. My old injury was playing up again. The tear that ended my High School swimming career. I glanced back at the jetty. It looked small on the horizon: its wooden pillars more like matchsticks than tree trunks. I had swum much further out than I had anticipated and still the mountains were a long way off. A feeling of anxiety rose within me – a tingling sensation that I soon crushed. I put my head down below the surface, raised my arm up high and took off in front crawl.
Five minutes passed. The sun had risen above the horizon. My shoulders ached, my neck ached, but worse, my lungs were on fire. I felt as though the sun’s rays were incinerating my insides. I wasn’t the athlete I thought I was.
I thought I’d take a breather and tread water ‘til I recovered. I bobbed up and down. No matter which way I looked, I was far from land. Worst still, the jetty was barely visible. I was alone in the centre of this dark liquid mass. Treading water was tiring. My legs ached. My lungs ached. My shoulders ached. The feeling of anxiety I had earlier returned as dread.
I was bobbing up and down below the surface. Occasionally I gulped a mouthful of cold black water. It turned my blood to ice.
Crisis:
‘Help!’ I shouted.
More water tumbled down my throat.
‘Help me!’
I was drowning.
I pushed my arm above the surface to wave for help as my body sank out of sight.
‘Help!’ I cried. As the sound bubbled out, a lungful of water rushed in. I felt the inky black darkness take hold of me. I sank towards the lake bed. There I saw a body. White. Cold. Shrivelled. It was mine. This was my resting place.
I took a final look up. The sunlight poured through the surface of the water. I could see Tiffany’s face. She was calling to me. ‘Come back! Come back to shore! We have a great day ahead of us. And a great life!’
Falling Action:
Love surged through my veins, through my heart. I broke through the surface of the water and took a gulp of clear warm air. I didn’t care how far the jetty was, I would make it. Slowly I swam. Steadily. Stroke after stroke. My shoulders ached. My lungs ached. My legs ached. But my head remained above the water.
The jetty was getting closer. The struts looked like tree trunks again, not match sticks. It gave me strength.
Resolution:
And then I saw her, Tiffany, strolling down to the lake edge, waving at me. I waved back. I put my head below the surface, raised my arm above the water and took off in front crawl. I slapped the wooden boards of the jetty like an Olympic champion hitting poolside.
‘You’ve been for a swim before breakfast?’ she asked.
‘Sure,’ I replied.
‘Come on,’ she laughed. ‘Let’s get something to eat. I expect you’re starving. We’ve got a great day ahead of us.’
‘And a great life. I love you!’
She looked at me strangely.
‘Put your clothes on, silly,’ she smiled.

Take Your Medicine:
Amazon.com - https://tiny.cc/0gicpz
Amazon.co.uk - https://tinyurl.com/ybplzb9y

Music:
Will I? by ADERIN https://soundcloud.com/andrei-burcea-...
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/aderin-will-i
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/F0qB13gOqf0

Images:
The Thinker: Auguste Rodin Photo: Alexis Rudier
License: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Floorboards https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=111349&picture=room-interior-vintage-style