The climbing wall’s easiest route

Text: an original contemporary personal-account-style practice extract.

The instructor called it the easiest route. I looked up at the coloured holds and wondered whose definition of easy had been consulted. From the floor, the route seemed to offer a staircase assembled by someone who disliked straight lines. My first attempt ended with both feet searching for the same patch of wall.

The instructor did not tell me to be brave. She asked me to look at one foothold before moving towards it. I had been staring at the top, measuring the distance between myself and success so carefully that I had stopped noticing anything useful in between. When I tried again, the wall became smaller without becoming shorter. One hold. Then another. I reached a ledge where I could rest and discovered that resting was allowed.

I did not complete the route that afternoon. On the floor afterwards, however, I could name where I had stopped and which move I wanted to try next. The coloured holds no longer looked like a judgement arranged above my head. They looked like instructions I had begun learning to read. Easy remained an unhelpful word, but the route had acquired several helpful ones.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader.

In your answer, consider:

• language features and techniques
• structural techniques
• the effect on the reader.

Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.