Week 4 Tips - Drawing a Map

One way to plan your setting is to draw a map. A map shows the shape of your land if viewed from the sky and uses symbols to show where the important things are.

Here's one I knocked up quickly called Boglewax Island

I've used villages, churches, railways etc. You can put whatever you like an a map, as long as you create a key with all the symbols in it.

If you create a map at school, best check whether or not your teacher has any special symbols that he or she wants you to use. If not, you can make up your own symbols.

If you're interested in how maps work, here is a picture of a real place (Falmouth) taken from the sky, and a map (by Google) of the same place.

Week 4 Tips - Naming Places

Here's quick game to help you invent a place name:

1. Write a List of Funny Words
Think of words that makes you laugh, or even better, words that makes you go 'ugh'. Suitable words include 'bogie', 'slime' and 'sausage' but you can come up with your own.

2. Find Place Names on a Map
Find a map of somewhere similar to the land in your book and jot down some of the place names on the map.
Do you notice any patterns? For example: 'Falmouth', 'Plymouth' and 'Exmouth' all end in 'mouth'.
If you don't see any patterns, try chopping a long word in half. For example: 'London' would become 'Lon' and 'don' and Manchester would become 'Man' and 'chester'.
Make a list of the bits of place names that you really like.

3. Combine Your Funny Words with Bits of Real Place Names
Mix your words from Part 1 with the bits of place names you found in Part 2, to come up with your snotacular place names.
For example: Bogiemouth, Slimedon, Sausagechester

Week 4 Task - Design the Environment

We now know a lot about our characters but characters are not the only thing a book needs, it also needs a setting and a plot.

This week, we're going to work on the setting. A setting is the place and type of surroundings in which a story takes place.

Please write a description of the place where our story takes place in up to 200 words.

Here are some things to consider:
- Where is the book set? (e.g. England, a fictional country on Earth, a different planet)
- What time period is it? (e.g. past, present, future)
- What season is it? (e.g. summer, autumn, Christmas)
- What is the weather like? (e.g. icy, scorching, windy)
- What is the landscape like? (e.g. mountainous, coastal, desert)
- If you were standing in the middle of our setting, what would you see/hear/smell going on around you?

Remember to use showing as well as telling. You also might like to use similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia.

Further resources and information
- Personification
- Naming places (a silly game)
- Looking for clues (What do we already know?)
- Connectives (including another exercise)

- Drawing a map

Week 4 Tips - Looking for Clues (What Do We Already Know?)

It's important, when setting the scene, to make sure that our setting doesn't clash with any of our characters.

For example, if we put an astronaut in a book set in Victorian times, that would be a continuity error because man didn't go into space until 1961.

We can make sure there are no clashes by looking for clues in our character descriptions. For example:
- We know that it's later that 1942 because there is styrofoam in our story and it wasn't invented until the 1940s.
- We know that Tigs originated from Portugal. So our story is set somewhere in our universe.
- We know that there is open water like a lake, river or ocean, because we have characters who swim.
- We know that there are snakes, puppies and zebra in our world.
- We know that football is played.

Perhaps you can spot more clues about our setting?

When you imagine a setting for our book, make sure it is suitable for our characters and animals.

Week 4 Tips - Connectives

Connectives are connecting words and help the reader move smoothly from one point to the next.

Here are some examples of connective words:

and ~ so ~ but ~ because ~ when ~ for ~ as ~ though

It's important to use connective words when setting a scene because setting a scene involves giving your reader lots of information. You want your reader to move smoothly through your description.

Here is a special exercise for classes learning about connectives:

Imagine the town in which our monster story takes place.

1. Choose a name for your imaginary town. Say that there are lots of interesting things to see in your town and choose one of these giving example connectives to launch into your description.

such as ~ for example ~ for instance

Here are some examples:

'There are many interesting things to see in Soggyswamp, for example ...'

'There are many interesting things to see in Soggyswamp, such as ...'

'There are many interesting things to see in Soggyswamp, for instance ...'

2. Think of two things that can be found in your town. Now put them together using one of these adding connectives:

and ~ also ~ as well as ~ too ~

Here are some examples:
'... there are purple horses and orange cows.'
'... there are purple horses. Also, there are orange cows.'
'... there are purple horses as well as orange cows.'
'... there are purple horses, orange cows too.'

3. Think of two more things that can be found in your town. Now put them together using one of these space and place connectives:

above ~ behind ~ below ~ beyond ~ to the right ~ to the left ~ opposite ~ in the background

Here are some examples:
'Lumipoo momps fly above a glittering pond.'
'Lumipoo momps fly beyond a glittering pond.'
'A pond glitters beneath lumipoo momps.'

4. Imagine something that's different from your own town and use one of these opposite connectives to explain in what way it's different:

instead ~ whereas ~ unlike ~ but

Here are some examples:
'Instead of a blue sky, the sky is green.'
'Whereas most skies are blue, the sky in this town is green.'
'Unlike on Earth, the sky is green.'
'Skies are usually blue but this one is green.'

5. Think of something in the town that is causing something else, i.e. something that is happening as a result of something else. Use one of these results connectives to explain the cause and effect:

because ~ therefore ~ thus ~ consequently

Here are some some examples:
'All the people are walking puppies because they want to scare off tubsters of terror.'
'People fear tubsters of terror, therefore they all have puppies.'
'People want to scare off tubsters of terror, thus they all have puppies.'
'Evil tubsters of terror are scared of puppies, consequently all the people have dogs.'

Now let's look at my example without any connectives:

My place is called Soggyswamp. There are purple horses. There are orange cows. There are lumipoo momps. There is a pond. The sky is not blue. The sky is green. Tubsters and scared of puppies. The people walk dogs. 

Compare it to my example using connectives:

There are many interesting things to see in Soggyswamp, for example there are purple horses and orange cows. Lumipoo momps fly above a glittering pond. Whereas most skies are blue, the sky here is green. Evil tubsters of terror are scared of puppies, consequently all the people have dogs.

As you can see, using connectives makes a description flow nicely.

More Comments of Our Brave Heroes

So far, sixty-seven children have taken part in the vote for the hero characters to be included in our book. Here are some of the latest comments:

'I like Tigotha's power and I like the way Wowser Women is described.'

'I voted for Turbo the Toddler because it is hilarious and enjoyable. My favourite part was the part where Turbo the Toddler took a bite of the cake and realised he had super powers. But I didn't get why nobody else got a bite because normally everyone gets a bite. But it was still a really good story about a toddler.'

'I choose simon because its a sad story. I choose turbo because he has a funny backstory. I choose Jeff also because I liked the way he was described.'

'I voted for Jeff and Turbo because I thought it might be funny to have a toddler saving the world with a cleaner.'

'I think the friendly lumipoo is a humorous monster and an amazing duck and also his power is awesome!'

'I like Turbo the Toddler's backstory about how he ate a piece of birthday cake that gave him powers! Simon the child is a heart touching story about how his parents get killed by a pack of Lumipoo Momps but its good that he makes a friend with a Tig and both have a wonderful time with each other!'

'I voted for Simon, Super Amazing Wowser Woman and Turbo the Toddler. I chose these three because I have feelings for simon. It must be sad losing both his mum, dad and grandpa. I voted for Super Amazing Wowser Women because I think when I read it I thought the person how wrote that is amazing because it reminded me of my brother - he thinks he is a super hero! And I voted for Turbo the Toddler because having a piece of cake and the next day he woke up with super powers is as funny as a monkey smelling its bum.'

'I chose Bob the Good Lumipoo Momp because I love the description of it and I like how he turned nice. I also love the beginning when the lady thinks he is a boiled egg and it is a bit funny how he likes his milk. Next I chose Simon the Child because he has a sad back story which makes me feel sad and sad for him. However it gets better as it goes along like for example when he meets the tig outside the shop was a nice part and then at the end when he has hope again to kill the lumipoo momp flock and save other people from being killed which is very nice to see he has hope again. Finally, I voted for Turbo the Toddler cause it's an original idea because you don't normally find babies as heroes in books  and I also like how he got his super power.'

'I voted for Jeff the Cleaner, Super Amazing Wowser Woman and Sir Fartalot the Fredanielawrobyus because they have a funny backstory and they are truly a extraordinary characters for the book and also hilarious.'

Which Heroes? Votes Have Started to Arrive.

Already many of you have voted for the hero characters that should go into our book. Here are some of the comments so far:

'I voted for Jeff the Cleaner because he is random.'

'I think Simon the child has a great backstory therefore would make a great hero in this particular book!'

'I voted for Bob the Good Lumipoo Momp, Sir Fartalot the Fredanielawrobyus and Turbo the Toddler because they are an awesome threesome.'

'I chose Bob the Good Lumipoo Momp because I thought it was a good idea to have good and bad lumipoo momps.'

'I want Simon the Child because his story is very sad and it makes you feel sad for him.'

'The Tig sounds amazing and Jeff the cleaner sounds very helpful for a hero also Turbo the todler sounds really funny.'