AREA OF STUDY: CREATIVE WRITING
BELONGING
Some points to consider when writing.
Use the stimulus (visual or text) and stick to the basics of the question. Do not stray from your ideas of belonging. Try and engage and explore more than one dimension of belonging in your story.
Don’t include too many characters. Candidates, particularly weaker writers find it difficult to write convincing dialogue. It is much better to create a scenario where only one or, at most, two characters are in their story.
Experiment with time. Don't just write a linear story. Show the marker that you are capable of complex ideas.
Find a unique concept. Stay away from airports, schools, divorce, death, long term injury, car accidents, amnesia, teenage friendships, teenage relationships. Try to move beyond teenage experience.
The setting is vital- I don’t just mean place. Students who can set the tone or mood of their story in the first few lines will engage the reader. Simple techniques such as simile and metaphor can help here. E.g. ‘The sun’s rays cast a soft purple glow like the dying embers of a fire at midnight.’ What is even better is the use of personification- it is a really powerful technique in creating the mood. E.g. ‘The daffodils danced and bobbed in the warm spring wind as Daisy set out on her journey full of expectation and hope’. Or ‘The moon’s icy stare was unblinking and its frozen bitter fingers seemed to claw the stranger.’
Give dimension and originality to the character. What a character feels is really important-it reveals the ‘inner’. E.g. ‘Although Tania felt as lonely and detached as an evening star in the twilight, she also felt strong, inviolate and in control at the end of her journey.’ Make sure that they don’t use characters ‘borrowed’ from popular culture (unless it is a parody) as it reads like an imitation.
Using allegory can be a really powerful technique is developing an idea or thesis on belonging. Topping and tailing a story with an allegory looks sophisticated and urbane but is in fact not difficult. E.g. If the student’s story on ‘Belonging’ is a tale about alienation and subculture and perhaps the central character is resorting to drug misuse and can be gravely ill because of the predatory nature of many of those associated with drug culture, you could top and nail this sad story with an allegory such as this…..’The fly buzzed its futile song against the grimy window. In the corner at the base of its web the spider waited in anticipation….As the young man lay dazed and emaciated on the filthy mattress he thought of the home he had left in the country seeking fame and fortune in the city.’ To finish the allegory, at the end of the story, the fly would be captured by the spider in its web. Thus, the allegory would mirror the principal story.
BELONGING
Some points to consider when writing.
Use the stimulus (visual or text) and stick to the basics of the question. Do not stray from your ideas of belonging. Try and engage and explore more than one dimension of belonging in your story.
Don’t include too many characters. Candidates, particularly weaker writers find it difficult to write convincing dialogue. It is much better to create a scenario where only one or, at most, two characters are in their story.
Experiment with time. Don't just write a linear story. Show the marker that you are capable of complex ideas.
Find a unique concept. Stay away from airports, schools, divorce, death, long term injury, car accidents, amnesia, teenage friendships, teenage relationships. Try to move beyond teenage experience.
The setting is vital- I don’t just mean place. Students who can set the tone or mood of their story in the first few lines will engage the reader. Simple techniques such as simile and metaphor can help here. E.g. ‘The sun’s rays cast a soft purple glow like the dying embers of a fire at midnight.’ What is even better is the use of personification- it is a really powerful technique in creating the mood. E.g. ‘The daffodils danced and bobbed in the warm spring wind as Daisy set out on her journey full of expectation and hope’. Or ‘The moon’s icy stare was unblinking and its frozen bitter fingers seemed to claw the stranger.’
Give dimension and originality to the character. What a character feels is really important-it reveals the ‘inner’. E.g. ‘Although Tania felt as lonely and detached as an evening star in the twilight, she also felt strong, inviolate and in control at the end of her journey.’ Make sure that they don’t use characters ‘borrowed’ from popular culture (unless it is a parody) as it reads like an imitation.
Using allegory can be a really powerful technique is developing an idea or thesis on belonging. Topping and tailing a story with an allegory looks sophisticated and urbane but is in fact not difficult. E.g. If the student’s story on ‘Belonging’ is a tale about alienation and subculture and perhaps the central character is resorting to drug misuse and can be gravely ill because of the predatory nature of many of those associated with drug culture, you could top and nail this sad story with an allegory such as this…..’The fly buzzed its futile song against the grimy window. In the corner at the base of its web the spider waited in anticipation….As the young man lay dazed and emaciated on the filthy mattress he thought of the home he had left in the country seeking fame and fortune in the city.’ To finish the allegory, at the end of the story, the fly would be captured by the spider in its web. Thus, the allegory would mirror the principal story.