Welcome back, friends!

January’s two thirds over (can you believe it???), and I’m starting to notice how much of our language is built around control—or the illusion of it. We “seize the day,” “take charge,” “make things happen.” English loves this fantasy of agency, as if willpower alone could bend reality. But then there are those other phrases, the ones we whisper when things go sideways: “it is what it is,” “que sera sera,” “nothing we could do.” It’s fascinating how quickly we code-switch between these two registers—the language of control and the language of surrender—depending on whether we’re winning or losing. And maybe that’s what makes storytelling so powerful: it forces us to confront the space between what we can change and what we cannot, between action and acceptance. The best stories live in that tension, where characters push against unstoppable forces not because they’ll win, but because not pushing would cost them something essential about who they are.

This week’s essay prompt: “Write a story which includes the words, ‘… it could not be stopped … ‘”; it is question 4 in the May 2025 Paper 2 series from Variant 1 – we’ll end with Q1 Variant 1 next week before heading in to Variant 2 thereafter!

Here’s what makes this prompt brutally effective: those four words force you to write about powerlessness—but they don’t tell you what cannot be stopped, who tries to stop it, or why it matters. The prompt is a constraint that creates immediate dramatic tension, but the real test is whether you can build a story where the unstoppable thing isn’t just plot machinery—it’s thematically essential. Many students will reach for the obvious: a natural disaster, a speeding vehicle, an illness. But the strongest responses understand that “it could not be stopped” is only interesting when someone desperately needs it to stop. The emotional stakes determine everything. What’s being threatened? Who’s trying to intervene? What does their failure (or partial success) reveal about human agency and limitation? This is where narrative writing becomes sophisticated: when you use external, physical momentum to explore internal, moral questions. Can you make us feel the gut-punch of pulling an emergency lever that does nothing? Can you show us a character learning, in real-time, that acceptance and action aren’t opposites—they’re sometimes the same desperate thing?

As always, the essay will be marked according to the IGCSE First Language English marking criteria available in the rubrics, and you will understand clearly what works and what doesn’t, and why. As always, so you can understand the logic of why what works works and get inspiration for your own writing.

You’ll find the essay here!

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Thank you all, and look forward to seeing you in the next one!