1. Monsters: First Impressions

The monster: First impressions As Conor watched, the uppermost branches of the tree gathered themselves into a great and terrible face, shimmering into a mouth and a nose and even eyes, peering back at him. Other branches twisted around one another, always creaking, always groaning, until they formed two long arms and a second leg to set down beside the main trunk. The rest of the tree gathered itself into a spine and then a torso, the thin, needle-like leaves weaving together to make a green, furry skin that moved and breathed as if there were muscles and lungs underneath.

Verbs to describe As Conor watched, the uppermost branches of the tree gathered themselves into a great and terrible face, shimmering into a mouth and a nose and even eyes, peering back at him. Other branches twisted around one another, always creaking, always groaning, until they formed two long arms and a second leg to set down beside the main trunk. The rest of the tree gathered itself into a spine and then a torso, the thin, needle-like leaves weaving together to make a green, furry skin that moved and breathed as if there were muscles and lungs underneath.

Verbs: who is active? The monster Conor gathered watched shimmering peering twisted formed set weaving creaking groaning make moved breathed were Conor watched

Verbs: Present participles and describing nouns As Conor watched, the uppermost branches of the tree gathered themselves into a great and terrible face, shimmering into a mouth and a nose and even eyes, peering back at him. Other branches twisted around one another, always creaking, always groaning, until they formed two long arms and a second leg to set down beside the main trunk. The rest of the tree gathered itself into a spine and then a torso, the thin, needle-like leaves weaving together to make a green, furry skin that moved and breathed as if there were muscles and lungs underneath.

Verbs: Present participles and describing nouns As Conor watched, the uppermost branches of the tree gathered themselves into a great and terrible face, shimmering into a mouth and a nose and even eyes, peering back at him. Other branches twisted around one another, always creaking, always groaning, until they formed two long arms and a second leg to set down beside the main trunk. The rest of the tree gathered itself into a spine and then a torso, the thin, needle-like leaves weaving together to make a green, furry skin that moved and breathed as if there were muscles and lungs underneath.

Conor’s nightmare monster We never fully see the ‘real’ monster of Conor’s nightmare but our first impression of him tells us he is ‘formed of cloud and ash and dark flames, but with real muscle, real strength, real red eyes that glared back at him and flashing teeth that would eat his mother alive’. Write a short description of this monster in its pit, thinking about making verb choices which describe its actions and using present participles to add extra vivid description to some of the nouns. As you do this, think about what impression of the monster you want to create for your reader.