Paper I, Section II – Creative Writing Tips
How to start:
•Start with thinking about Belonging ideas, rather than the creative piece itself. You should choose 2-3 ideas that you think you want to write about or that you find the most interesting.
•If you’re unsure about what ideas about Belonging there are – just think about the ones in your essay. It could be things like:
–Belonging and identity: belonging gives us a sense of identity.
–Belonging and conformity: belonging depends on us conforming to the group/society.
–Belonging to people, place and culture
–Belonging and choice: we have control over whether we belong or not
•You can then think about how these ideas relate to your character:
–Will your character gain a sense of identity through belonging in the story?
–Will your character struggle to belong because they refuse to conform?
–Will your character feel a sense of belonging to a particular place?
–Will they struggle to belong to a new culture?
–Will your character choose not to belong?
–Will your character find themselves forced to belong anyway?
•There is a lot of potential here for what could happen and how they demonstrate ideas about Belonging!
Premise:
•What is the basic background or situation that the story will occur in?
•The premise is very important to your creative, because that is what will set your creative apart from others!
•Think simply about WHO and WHERE. There is usually no need to discuss WHEN, as it is too difficult/confusing to write about another time (past/future) in a short creative piece.
•Some basic examples:
–A migrant family arriving in Australia. (You can vary this up by having refugees or so called 'illegal' migrants instead. Or using another country besides Australia.)
–A school student struggling to belong in school, although this is done frequently, so you need to add an original element. (Make this more creative by thinking about reasons why they may be struggling. Perhaps they are deaf?
–A young family moving to a new town. (Why are they moving? A new job? You don't have to state the reason explicitly, but you should clearly allude to it)
•Here are more creative examples (though the fact that they “don’t belong” is quite obvious):
–A homeless person living on the streets.
–A mentally ill patient in an asylum.
–A drifter travelling from town to town.
–A circus performer moving from town to town with the circus.
•Here are examples of less obvious instances of “not belonging”:
–A middle-aged business worker, who has worked at the same company for over 10 years.
–An old, retired man, living in a nursing home.
•Essentially, try to come up with a creative and original premise as this will really set apart your story from others.
Structuring your Creative Piece:
•Once you have selected your premise, really flesh it out.
•Who is the main character/s?
•What is going to happen to them during your creative? (the Belonging “complication”)
•What are they going to realise at the end? (the Belonging “resolution” or “realisation”).
•The above points are important, because your creative MUST have a complication of some sort and there MUST be a resolution/realisation.
•Without these aspects, the creative piece is pointless. There would be no point in reading something that JUST has a complication without some sort of finality, because then it would simply be the character complaining on and on and on!
•Something must change (whether it be simply psychological or actual):
–The character has learnt or realised something important.
–The character’s attitude or perception has been changed.
–The character has decided to begin something new.
–The character has decided to end something.
•So that’s the end. What about the beginning? How are you going to start your creative? Because your creative is short and must be written in the 40 minutes, I strongly recommend you:
•Begin your creative in the middle of the conflict. Jump straight into it. This helps to grab the reader’s attention. You can then introduce some back story afterwards to explain how your character came to that point of conflict. For example:
–He had never felt so alone before.
–He had now left the only place that he had ever felt at home.
–They laughed at him and walked away, leaving him bleeding on the dust covered floor. •Confine the time line of the story to a few hours or a day. It can tend to sound a bit too contrived (manufactured) or childish if your story spans several weeks or years. By anchoring your story in a shorter time span, you’ll also be able to get more into the detailed descriptions of what is happening. The best responses will cover the events of a single day (with flashbacks to the past of course)
•Use flashbacks or jumps in time (indicated by three asterisks in the middle of a line) if you want the story to cover a longer time.
•Limit yourself to 2-3 important characters.
How to get the marks:
•Just start writing. Even if you are a bit unsure, just start – often your story will flesh itself out once you begin.
•Here are some extra recommendations on how to write it:
–Use 1st person. Never use 2nd person. You may use 3rd person, but 1st person is generally easier to write in and to convey the character’s emotions/thoughts.
•Show rather than tell. For example, show that the character has found belonging by what he does (e.g. putting his feet up on the table) rather than saying it (e.g. He finally felt as though he belonged).
•Write in short paragraphs.
•Vary between short and long sentences. Use short sentences for dramatic moments.
•Begin with a particular image or moment or emotion that you think will really grab the reader’s attention.
•Here are some things you can do to try and improve your marks in a story:
–Use descriptive language – imagery, metaphors, similes. Details can make your story more real. Use onomatopoeia if suitable.
–Have a motif or extended metaphor that recurs throughout the story. For example, a doll’s house that symbolises belonging. Perhaps the character loses the doll house when her family moves to another country. Then, in the end of the story, she finds the doll’s house again, or a new one.
•Tell your story in a non-linear manner. For example, begin your story in the end – then “flashback” to the past and tell the story of how the character reached that point.