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The Difficult Choice — Narrative Writing — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 7 narrative writing writing prompt.

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Year 7 · English · Narrative Writing

The Difficult Choice — Narrative Writing — Answers

Success Tutoring

Plan

Plan for five to seven minutes. Spend most of your planning time on the choice itself.

1.Main character and what they want more than anything:

Answer: Marcus, 12, who wants to make the state swimming team to prove to his dad that moving towns was worth it.

2.The two options, and what each one costs:

Answer: Option A: swim the final and probably win. Option B: pull out so his best friend, Eli, who is second fastest, gets the last team place. Eli's family cannot afford club fees next year without it.

3.Where and when does the moment of decision happen?

Answer: On the blocks at the regional final, in the three seconds before the starter's beep.

4.Two ways you will show the conflict rather than tell it:

Answer: He keeps re-tying his goggles even though they are fine. He looks at Eli in lane five and Eli will not look back.

5.What does your character choose, and what does the last line of the story show?

Answer: He swims, and wins, and finds Eli afterwards and tells him the truth about why. Last line: 'It was the first race he had ever won that did not feel like winning.'

Write

6.Write your story. Give it a title. Make the reader feel the weight of the choice before it is made.

Model answer: Lane Four. The pool smelt the way it always did, chlorine and sunscreen and something metallic underneath, and Marcus had never wanted to be anywhere less. He pulled his goggles down, pushed them up, pulled them down again. In lane five, Eli was staring at the water as if it had said something to him. Three seconds, the starter would say. Three seconds was plenty of time to decide to lose.

Success criteria:

  • The character's motivation is clear early in the story
  • The story builds towards a single moment of decision
  • Internal conflict is shown through actions, thoughts and dialogue
  • Both options are shown to cost something
  • The resolution shows the consequence of the choice and a changed character
  • Sentence length and paragraphing are varied for effect
  • The final line is deliberate and memorable
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Marking tips

  • Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
  • For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
  • Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.

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