Reading

Genre

In this exercise you will look at genre in order to help you identify what sort of techniques Alan Aykbourn uses as a writer. This will involve:

• Working in groups to brainstorm different examples of thriller and science fiction that you have seen or read
• Adding to your brainstorm the things that helped you to categorise the films, plays, and books as either science fiction or thriller
• Preparing a list of the typical ingredients of each genre and using them to devise a 'treatment' for a story of your own

Activity

Working in pairs or small groups, add to this table as many examples of films, stories, television series etc. that you think would fall into the categories of either Thrillers or Science Fiction. When you have filled in the table, print a copy off and show it to your teacher.

Imagine what it would be like if playwrights and story-tellers used a recipe book when they were writing. Just as a recipe book might be divided into sections such as ‘Starters’, ‘Meat dishes’, ‘Quick meals’ and ‘Puddings’ etc., perhaps a writer’s recipe book would be divided into things like ‘Romances’, Murder Mystery’ and so on. These categories are referred to as ‘genres’, that is, broad types of plays or stories. While each individual play or story will be different in many ways to all others, there will be things about it that link it to some others.

To prepare your list of ingredients you need to decide what it is that makes something science fiction or thriller. You do not have to agree on all the ingredients but there should be agreement about the key ingredients. An example has been started below for you to get an idea, but don’t use this one as it’s for a fairy story!

To make a good fairy story you will need:

Activity

• Jot down as many of the ingredients as you can for Thriller
• Now do the same for Science Fiction

Stories, plays and films often start life as a ‘treatment’, that is, a step-by-step summary of what will happen. In a way a ‘treatment’ is a bit like a recipe in that it shows how the different characters and key points in the plot will be introduced and blended together.

Activity

• Select from your list of ingredients and write a recipe for either a really tantalising, taste-tickling Thriller or perhaps succulent, space-warping Science Fiction. What would you put in first? How long would you leave that to simmer before adding the next flavour-enhancing ingredient?

• Compare your list of ingredients and ‘treatment’ to Gizmo. What elements of science fiction and thriller do you think are present in the play? Is it more one than the other, or a mixture of both?

• You are now going to take part in a discussion in which you are going to argue that Gizmo belongs to a particular genre. Your teacher will assign you to science fiction or thriller. Click on the appropriate button below to read your task:

Activity

Now that you are experts in the recipes of Science fiction and Thriller you are going to write your own. You might want to have a look at some short stories first to help you see how all the ingredients blend together.

• Consider these as possible titles for your story:

• To help you plan your story complete the grid below.