A 10-minute writing task - SHADOWS! Quickly change the atmosphere in a story

Week 20 – Setting Focus: The Shadows 🌑✨

This week’s setting focus: the shadows.

They seem harmless… until they start to move.

This week we’re playing with shadows.

Shadows in a forest. 🌲
Shadows in a creaking house. 🏚️
Shadows stretching across a playground at dusk.

At first, they simply follow.
Then they begin to suggest.
And sometimes… they warn.

One minute it’s a calm walk beneath tall trees — the next, the shadows between the trunks seem longer than they should be. Something flickers just out of sight. The light shifts… but nothing else does.

And here’s the twist:

Shadows don’t have to be dark and frightening.

They can be:
• Long and protective
• Thin and trembling
• Playful and dancing
• Twisted into strange shapes
• Watching… waiting… whispering 👀

By changing what lurks in the half-light, children can build rising tension without revealing the danger straight away.

A shadow can hint before the monster appears.
It can stretch before the door creaks open.
It can flicker before the branch snaps.

Small detail. Huge foreshadowing power. ❗

Our focus this week is on suggestion, suspense, and rising action in settings.

Think of:
• A shadow that moves when the character doesn’t
• A staircase swallowed in darkness
• Tree branches casting claw-like shapes on the ground
• A flickering candle that makes everything shift

Think about:
• How do the shadows behave? — creeping, stretching, swallowing, flickering, twitching, splitting, circling
• What do they feel like? — cool, close, heavy, protective, suffocating
• What might they represent? — fear, secrets, danger, memory, something approaching, something hidden

Figurative Language You Might Use:

Metaphor
• The shadows were ink spilling across the floor.
• Darkness pooled at the bottom of the stairs.

Simile
• The trees stretched like giant fingers across the path.
• The shadow clung to me like a second skin.

Personification
• The shadows leaned closer to listen.
• Darkness crept up the walls and held its breath.

Alliteration
• Silent shadows slid across the stairs.
• Flickering, fluttering figures filled the forest.

Onomatopoeia
• Flick. The candle stuttered, and the walls jumped.
• Creak… The shadow shifted before the door did.

10-Minute Task:

Write 3–4 sentences where shadows build tension in the rising action of a story.

Don’t write, “It was scary.”
Let light, shape, and movement create the unease.

Example Sentences:

• The candle flickered, and the shadow behind me stretched taller than I was, bending its head as if it were listening.
• Tree branches scratched against the moonlight, casting clawed shapes that crept closer with every step I took.
• At the top of the stairs, the darkness waited, thick and patient, swallowing the light before I could reach it.
• My shadow moved first — just a twitch — before I felt the breath behind me.

Coming Up Next:
We’ll explore another powerful setting detail that can quietly control the mood of your story.

Happy writing, everyone!

Anna Donovan
Qualified Teacher (QTS 2005)
Specialist 11+ Exam Essay & Creative Writing Tutor