1. Gernre and Tone
Exploring the language and crafting techniques that help us write and analyse genre and tone.

2. Aims and Objectives
To look at a range of texts in order to understand how writers set a tone and write for a particular genre.
To find out what genre conventions are and how we recognise them.
How does an author portray the tone through use of language?
What genre, or genres, of writing does it suggest?

3. Genre & Tone Complete the following sentence in 10 different ways:
It was almost midnight…
Aim to conjure up a different place, setting, event or situation in each of your 10 sentences.
READ and Discuss (make notes) on the reading: The looking glass by Michele Roberts: note the tone of the piece, what language and literary devices are used to create the piece; what genre do you think it comes under? Any other thoughts.

4. Writing Task
Imagine a scene which includes water (sea, rivers or ocean, stream, lake, pond, puddle or waterfall).
Choose two different genre’s of writing: romance, thriller, sci-fi, historical, horror, rites of passage, humour, literary, chick-lit etc. and write the opening paragraph of each of your choices. Be sure to set the tone of each piece to reflect the genre of writing i.e. think if the tropes and conventions of the genre and the language to set the tone e.g. dark, eerie, ominous would be used in horror.

5. Read and Discuss
Read the extract: the Looking glass by Michele Roberts
What is the tone of this excerpt?
How does the author portray the tone through use of language?
How does the sentence structure enhance this tone?

6. Writing Task
Imagine a natural setting which includes water. Examples might be the sea or ocean, a river, a stream, lake, pond, puddle or waterfall. Choose two different genres of writing; romance, thriller, sci-fi, historical, horror, literary, humour, chick-lit etc., and write an opening paragraph for each of your choices in which you describe this setting. Be sure to set the tone of each to reflect the genre of writing.

7. Fear
Warm up exercise:
What are your 10 personal fears

8. Read and discuss the excerpts
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
A cream Cracker Under the Settee Alan Bennett
Fall of the house of Usher - A short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Compare and contrast the depictions of fear.
How does the writer depict fear?
What different context of fear do they use?
What are the characters afraid of and does it manifest itself in the extract.
Hoes does the writer use perspective (1st person) and tone to effect the reader/viewer?

9. Writing Task
Write in any form you like in which a person expresses their greatest fear.

10. Crime We have three distinct pieces of crime writing:
Fiction –Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Non-fiction Gunmen’s political Wat in Chicago by Ernest Hemingway
Non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Read and discuss how the different forms use a similar tone. Compare and contrast the three pieces.