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Heywire: Tension in the air

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Heywire: Tension in the air

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  7–8, 9–10


In this Heywire audio story, explore how Marguerite Donaldson builds tension as she recounts a nerve-wracking incident that happened while she was flying one day.

Find out what this incident has revealed to her and how she shares her thoughts.

Could you write or record a similar story about yourself and/or your community?

The ABC's Heywire competition calls for stories from 16-22 year olds in regional Australia. Enter to get your story featured on the ABC and score an all-expenses-paid trip to the Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra. More: https://www.abc.net.au/heywire/


Things to think about

  1. 1.A skilful writer or director has many strategies to keep you flipping those pages or gripping your cinema seat until your knuckles turn white. What makes you tense when reading a book or watching a film?
  2. 2.What details suggest Marguerite and her father are experienced at flying? Why does Marguerite put the maps away? Describe the sky and grass as they approach the landing. How do Marguerite and her dad feel at this point? How does Marguerite then signal trouble ahead? What two words does Marguerite's dad say? What happens to time after this? Identify three phrases that describe how her father gets the plane off the ground again.
  3. 3.How does Marguerite create a sense of calm and familiarity in the first part of her story? How does the reference to 'patchy grey clouds' and 'the grass on the strip was damp' foreshadow the danger to come? How does the brevity of the sentence, 'No brakes!' shift the mood? How does Marguerite use language to add tension after this point?
  4. 4.Try these strategies out for yourself. Write a short story or recount a time where you were caught in a terrifying situation. In your story, use Marguerite's strategies, including foreshadowing, short sentences, vivid language and creating moments of calm to highlight the tension that follows.



Date of broadcast: 31 May 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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