Francis...A Spine-Chilling Writing Adventure!

Over the past few weeks, we have been using a spine-chilling short film called Francis to inspire our story writing.

The film follows Francis Brandywine, a seventeen-year-old girl who goes camping in Canada with her parents. Late one night, she decides to venture away from the campsite and row out into the heart of the lake in search of some peace and tranquillity. However, her peaceful escape soon takes a sinister turn…

As Francis sits alone in the darkness, she hears a mysterious knocking coming from beneath her boat. The knocking grows louder and louder, and as fear begins to take hold, Francis starts making some rather questionable decisions! It really is a spine-chilling film, and I urge you all to watch it… if you dare!

Using the film as our inspiration, we began by developing our ability to describe characters and convey their emotions through ‘show, not tell’. We then explored how to bring settings to life using vivid descriptions, similes and personification. Finally, we investigated how to build suspense and keep readers on the edge of their seats through short, sharp sentences, sudden sounds, carefully chosen words and dramatic cliffhangers.

Over the past three days, armed with inspiration from the film and our co-constructed writing toolkit, the children have let their imaginations run wild as they have written their very own stories inspired by Francis Brandywine.

And WOW! I have been absolutely blown away by their writing! Every single child has worked incredibly hard to create an atmospheric, suspense-filled story. Their fantastic descriptive language, carefully crafted sentences and clever suspense techniques have left me with goosebumps on my arms and shivers running down my spine!

I couldn't be prouder of the creativity, imagination and effort they have poured into their writing. We certainly have some budding authors in our classroom!

Tim Burton-inspired artwork, mysterious knocking in the dead of night and a disappearing girl… It can only mean one thing: Halloween is just around the corner!