An example written by Academy11+
The Fairground at Night
About 396 words. Numbers link to the notes.
The fairground glows on the edge of town like a giant jewellery box that someone has left open1. Long before you reach the gates, you can hear it2: a jumble of music, screams and laughter drifting across the dark field.
Step through the gates and the noise wraps around you like a blanket. Generators hum.3 Tinny pop songs blare from every ride, each one trying to be louder than the last. A man with a crackly microphone bellows, 'Roll up, roll up! Three goes for a pound!'4 Somewhere nearby, a little girl is laughing so hard that she has the hiccups.
Next, the smells hit you. Sweet, sticky candyfloss.5 Hot doughnuts rolled in sugar. Onions sizzling on a greasy grill. The air is thick with them, and your stomach rumbles even though you had your tea an hour ago.
Above everything towers the Ferris wheel. It drifts round like a slow golden clock against the inky sky, as if it has all the time in the world. Beneath it, the Twister is the opposite6: a spinning, jerking, flashing monster7 that flings its passengers from side to side. Their screams rise and fall with every turn.
The ground beneath your feet is a mess of trampled grass, snaking cables and dropped popcorn. Puddles from yesterday's rain catch the lights and turn them into wobbling rainbows8. Everywhere you look, people are moving: teenagers in noisy groups, parents pushing buggies and a grandad carrying a pink teddy bear that is nearly as tall as he is.
In a quiet corner, away from the crowds, an old carousel turns. Its wooden horses have chipped paint and faded golden manes, but they still rise and fall, rise and fall9, to a tune that sounds a hundred years old. A tiny boy clings to the neck of a white horse, his face lit up with pure joy.
As the night grows colder, the crowd begins to thin. Stallholders rattle their shutters down. One by one, the lights blink out10, until only the Ferris wheel is left, still turning, still glowing. The field that was so full of life is now silent, except for the wind tugging at a forgotten balloon.
Tomorrow, the lorries will come and the fair will move on to another town. But tonight, for a few magical hours11, this muddy field was the most exciting place in the world.