Year 8 

I DID knock first!

Barbara Moss

Teacher - English

As explained in the Year 8 Read and Reimagine article, our students, showed some outstanding creative flair in their recent English Learning Task, Reimagining A Text - Creative Writing.

They had to ask a ‘What if...?’ question about their chosen mentor text and ‘re-imagine’ it by changing a key element or two – and then reflect on their choices. 

There were many standout submissions, and this was one of them… 

Tayler Fletcher

Year 8

Reimaging Francis (Author David Eggers) 

To better understand the Reimagining a Text exercise, I have included the original text that I based my work on for you to read first.

In posing the question, ‘What if author David Eggers was haunted by Francis in a short story?’I sought to make the readers feel immersed into this world I created by using the imagery and the mood to make readers feel like they were in the story. I decided that this was what I would do because of the way it made me feel when I thought about it, and how it felt like it was me in the story.

I wanted readers to read this text and to understand how what you read is not just a story, but it is an event that makes you feel and act a certain way. By choosing the words, ‘He turned the hot tap to full, adding bath salts and bubbles…’  a sense of safety and comfort is created for the reader; when actually they are about to feel a sense of fear and terror. 

In creating the mood of the opening setting as a peaceful and calm space, I was then able to make the story creepy and unnerving, furthering the story fitting into the horror/thriller genre. By using the narrative structure in this way, I could make it feel like the reader was safe and the mood was calm, when actually as they read on it gets suspenseful really quickly.

Now, read my reimagining of Francis, and see if you think that I achieved my goal!