Scary Story Scenes: Write and Wagooll!
Scary Story Scenes: Write and Wagooll!
Items in this lesson
Scary Story Scenes: Write and Wagooll!
What do you already know about writing scary stories?
Learning Objective
At the end of the lesson you will be able to describe a scary scene from a picture and write your own spooky story introduction.
What Makes a Scene Scary?
Details like darkness, shadows, noises, and feelings help make a scene scary. Let's look for them together.
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Describing with Your Senses
Use sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to make scary scenes feel real for your reader.
Senses Example
I heard the floorboards creak and smelled damp air.
Thinking About Feelings
How might a character feel in a scary scene? Think about words like nervous, shivery, and uneasy.
Useful Words for Scary Scenes
Adjectives
dark, scary, creepy, gloomy, cold
creak, whisper, howl, shudder, flicker
Verbs
Character in the Scene
Imagine you are in the scary picture. How does your character move and act?
Introducing Wagooll
A Wagooll is a model piece of writing to help you get ideas. Let's look at one about a scary picture.
Read This Wagooll
"The wind howled as I stared at the crooked house, shadows twisting in the moonlight. My heart thudded as something scratched the window."
What Did You Notice?
What words and phrases made the Wagooll scary? Talk with a partner and share your ideas.
Spot the Techniques
Did you find any adjectives, senses, or feelings in the Wagooll? Let's highlight them together!
Planning Your Scene
Think about what will be in your scary picture: characters, place, weather, noises, and feelings.
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Choose a Picture
Pick a scary picture from the board or your own imagination to use for your writing.
Sentence Starters
Setting the Scene
My heart raced. I felt a shiver down my spine.
Feelings
In the darkness, I saw... Suddenly, I heard... My hands shook as...
Time to Write
Use your planner and the sentence starters. Write 4–6 sentences to describe your scary scene.
Show, Don't Tell
Instead of saying "I was scared," describe what your body does, like "my knees knocked."
Check Your Writing
Have you used senses, feelings, and spooky adjectives? Read your work aloud and listen for scary details.
Share Your Scene!
Read your scary scene to a partner or the class. Listen for what makes each story spooky!
Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.
Write down 2 things you want to know more about.
Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.
