C3 - SHORT STORIES/EXTRACTS FROM STORIES

*Miss out the exposition (start in the middle of something)

"Fred recognised the trackmarks that stretched out in front of him. Wolves. In this part of the country, things were never easy."

*Use APTRONYMS for your characters. If you want your character to appear brave, give them a name that reflects this. If you want them to appear cruel and twisted, give them a name that hints at this also.

*Use semantic fields to establish a tone within your narrative, and don't be afraid to add semantic shifts when you want the mood to change. For example, you could go from making lots of references to the breeze "Jemima tiptoed lightly along the gentle wind's meandering path, following closely behind a perfectly formed maple leave which fluttered through the clearing." and then move to mentioning darkness at blindness. "Out of nowhere, the gloom shrouded her vision. Great curtains of mist dropped from the canopy as if let down by some chaotic force, and she stumbled onward, desperately trying to feel her way home."

*Use a symbolic and intriguing title.

*Do not feel you have to END it - leave out the resolution section of Freytag's pyramid. But don't end it on a 'for now...'

End it on something that gets people highly engaged and thinking.

"As the final shards of light faded into utter inky blackness, one final thought transcended the gloom and lit a hopeful candle in her mind. This could not be the end, for she hadn't yet become her true form."

*Mystery is absolutely fine. It is only an extract/short story.

*MAKE SURE YOU USE A FULL RANGE OF PUNCTUATION. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR SPAG.

C3 - MONOLOGUES

 Monologues has come up A LOT in the past, so be prepared for this. Make sure you are totally familiar with what a monologue's conventions are, and USE THEM.

1. Establishing stage directions (in brackets). This can include all manner of symbolic inclusions such as elements of setting, lighting, sound, props and costume. Anything you mention MUST be symbolic or useful in some way. Here is a good example of what they could look like...

(Lights come up on a woman in her 30s sitting in a darkened dining room of a grubby bedsit. The curtains are drawn, allowing only a small sliver of light to stream through. The light has a dull tone to it, implying it is raining outside. The lone song of one bird can be heard faintly outside).

2. Embed other stage directions within the monologue. If there are any lines that you want to be delivered in a certain way, say so before the line. For example, "(In a depressed manner)" or "(Nervously scratching her wrist)

3. Look through everything this person says. A monologue should sound like a real person. Make sure that what you write is not too 'flowery' or literary. It should sound like what a person would actually say

4. Consider a scene change. Monologues often show a character starting in one mood or state, and then a later scene shows a development in their circumstances. Maybe a sense of optimism could be introduced, or the character could realise something or begin to cope with something? Or they could end up running away from something and be in a totally different setting.

Also, remember that monologues should be from a FIRST PERSON perspective, always be speaking in PAST TENSE and should NEVER feature dialogue with another person.

For example...

Every single day, it's the same. That boss of mine just does not know when to give up. I got into work this morning, and he was already there at the doorstep waiting for me telling me I'm 'late'. 

'By literally TWO MINUTES' I snapped at him. 

'Late is late' he snarled back at me. I just wish someone would wipe the smile off his face.

(Fade to black)

(New scene....)

C3 - Punctuation

 : ; ( ) - ""

Don't forget A RANGE OF PUNCTUATION - try to get a semi-colon/colon/brackets/dashes or two into your writing to show range. It's not difficult, and you can EASILY look up how to use them correctly if you're not sure. Also, if you put speech into a story or similar, make sure you're punctuating it right! Again, look it up if unsure.

C3 - Mega tips extended

 You have to be very perceptive when it comes to GENRE – you have to show the examiner that you understand that different genres follow different rules and conventions.

• The VERY FIRST thing that you need to do is to set yourself a mini-brief by detailing which features and conventions you are going to include. This is like the recipe/buying ingredients stage of baking a cake.
• If it gives you a really unusual genre, and there’s no way around it (ie, the other question is even worse) then you simply use your common sense.
• For example, write a section of a short story where a battle is taking place during a mass-war. Brutal imagery, clear enemy who we are supposed to dislike, semantic field of weapons and destruction, ß I have no idea if these ARE key conventions of the war-literature genre, but they certainly SOUND sensible to me, so I’m going to use them as my mini-brief. Now, I will feel a lot more confident in putting my writing together.
• THE SECOND thing that you do is to carefully put your piece of writing together, using all of the ingredients that you identified in the first process. But, the key thing here is DON’T RUSH IT. You have got LOTS of time to write a really good piece. You should make sure you read over every sentence to make sure it is worthwhile and that you are spelling/punctuating really well. MAKE SURE IT IS THE MOST PRECISE AND WELL PUT TOGETHER WRITING THAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF – that is literally what they are testing. ß this is like BAKING the cake.
• THE THIRD thing is the commentary. There is literally nothing to worry about here. There is no real set formula – although I will suggest one that has worked in the past. All you really have to remember is: What have you done? Where did you do it? (with terms) and Why did you do it?
• In terms of how many points you should write here – simple answer, as many as you can in the time you have left. If you do CRAVE a structure, as I know some of you do, then do something like this: 3-4 genre conventions 2-3 attitudes 2 more or so on things like purposes/sub-purposes of you writing/specific target audience/etc ß this section is like the bit on Bakeoff where Paul Hollywood goes round and asks you how you made your cake.

C3 - Mega tips

 *Remember there is a CHOICE of questions. Choose wisely. (You cannot mix and match)

*Be ESPECIALLY prepared for MONOLOGUES and SHORT STORIES as these have both been up multiple times.

*Key word the question PRECISELY. If you even SLIGHTLY answer the question wrongly, it will ruin your mark.

*Take you time. Take your time. Take your time. You have PLENTY of it - this is definitely a QUALITY over quantity exam.

C3 - Example PARAGRAPH of analysis - you need lots!

"Following an established convention of guidebooks, I have used lots of fronted imperatives in order to influence my target audience where to go. The dynamic imperative verbs, ‘Stride’, ‘Walk’ And ‘Wander’ all advise the audience how best to enjoy the attraction in an active way. Similarly, I have met the conventions of the genre by showing a voice of expertise, visible through the verb and first person pronoun, ‘trust us’ and enumerator ‘100’ before the noun phrase ‘years experience’. Both of these examples would imply the organisation was reliable and make the reader more likely to follow the guide. An educational tone, another convention of guides, can be seen where I state ‘This was Shakespeare’s favourite hideaway’ - the proper noun ‘Shakespeare’ and compound noun ‘hideaway’ implying that the audience are being given secret and informative knowledge about the place. Similar to other guides I have read, I have...."

Etc etc etc

Notice how the paragraph follows the same pattern repeatedly.

*Identify a convention (making it clear that it is a convention of the genre)

*Give an example of two

*Apply terms

*Discuss the effect on the audience 

You can then follow the exact same structure on your other paragraphs.

C3 - Advice from a past blog

 Here is a pretty complete overview of what we discussed in the lesson today - read it and make sure it all makes sense.

*EMBRACE THE CRINGE - For years, I have witnessed students hiding, ripping up very good creative writing work because they get cringed out by their work once they have put feeling and effort into it. This is one time where you MUST NOT be ashamed of your efforts. THe whole point of creative writing is that you are expressing yourself and being creative. Sometimes this may feel cringey when you are the one who wrote it, but you need to GET OVER this. What will get you the best marks in this exam is ADOPTING STRONG VOICES, being CONFIDENT and making AMBITIOUS language choices. If this makes you cringe, so what? Just write it, and be safe in the knowledge you have given it your all.

*You are given a choice of questions, each with 3 parts (a,b,c). You choose one and answer all parts. So EITHER 1abc or 2abc. NOT BOTH.

*Each question comes with a stimulus extract. For some writing tasks, you will be required to pick out details from the stimulus (like if it has asked you to write from a character's perspective) - but in other tasks, you will not need to refer to the stimulus at all. THE STIMULUS IS THERE TO HELP YOU AND GIVE YOU IDEAS/DETAILS, not to restrict you.

*Make sure you KEYWORD the question. Last year, many students messed up because they were asked to write a study guide which gave advice to students about how to avoid DISTRACTIONS. A lot of students missed this word, and just write generic study guides. So, READ EVERY WORD CAREFULLY.

*We do not know if tasks will be FICTION of NON-FICTION. Could be both. Just be prepared for any genre, and use your COMMON SENSE when writing it.

*The commentary is on ONE of your writing tasks, not both.

*Often, the question will ask you to write and EXTRACT, INTRO or ENDING rather than a full piece. Be careful to take notice of this. If it is an EXTRACT then it is fine to start it in the middle of a piece of action, or in a dynamic scene. 'Darius lurched forward, and grasped the cold steel blade.' for example, is a perfectly acceptable way to start your piece.

*Don't obsess over ACTIONS. Yes, some action and movement is essential in fiction writing, but successful writing also consists of a character's internal emotions, flashbacks, heartache, memories, plans etc. Don't be afraid to spend whole paragraphs which explore feelings and emotions rather than physical actions.

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*Short stories are, I suppose, reasonably likely to come up as a genre, though it may specify a type (sci-fi, detective, crime, thriller etc).

Here are some very useful rules/conventions to follow in your writing if it does:

*Adopt a strong, personal narrative voice

*Use well chosen adverbs – these can help to characterise a person without saying things explicitly

*Aptronyms – Use names which hint at character properties

*Symbolic use of setting – Mention things like light/shadow/gloom to make the reader feel a certain way

*Pathetic fallacy could also be used here.

*If beginning an extract without an exposition – explain why you have done this and analyse how the opening sentence would make the reader feel.

*If ending the extract without a resolution, do the same

*Multisensory descriptions

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How to actually construct a piece / commentary as a pair.

You may not know which of your two pieces you will use for the commentary until you have actually finished them. Don’t choose the one you LIKE the best, choose the one you have the MOST to say about.

To begin: -

Once you have chosen the question that you are going to answer, keyword the Q and prepare to write in that genre. You should begin by giving yourself about 5-6 rules that you are going to abide by when writing your piece.

For example: -

A short story must have these conventions: 1. Characterisation techniques 2. A meaningful/symbolic setting 3. A strong narrative voice

I want my character to display the following attitudes: 1. Independent/feisty 2. Unforgiving

I want my story to be clearly aimed at: Teenagers

STRUCTURING THE COMMENTARY

Then, all you do in your commentary is to unpick what you have done, like this:

Conventions: (But don't actually write sub-headings. This is just a guide for you)

Firstly, I was keen to meet the genre convention of including techniques to characterise the main protagonist. I have done this where it says ___________ within which the word ________ is important because _____. I hope that this would make the audience feel _______. A second convention I wished to address was to include a symbolic setting in order to sway the reader’s emotions, seen through the quote ________. Here, _______ is important because ______. This was included in order to make the reader think _______. A final convention that I hoped to address within my writing was to make sure my narrative had a clear and individual voice. I have mainly achieved this through declaratives such as __________ within which the word ________ was chosen to make the audience feel _______. Additionally, the word _________ was used to suggest to the audience that _________.

Attitudes: (same again)

Because of the given brief, I decided to create a character who was feisty and independent, shown through the declarative statement __________ which uses the word _______ to prove to the audience that ____________. On top of this, I felt it was important for the character to appear unforgiving due to the context of __________. I have achieved this by describing the character as ________ and by having her say "__________". Here, the words __________ and __________ both combine to make the audience feel _________>

Audience: (same again)

In order to ensure that my writing clearly appeals to an audience of teenagers, I employed a semantic field of _________ such as in the statement ________. Here, the word _______ and the phrase ______ have been used to make a teenage audience feel ________. Additionally, I feel that the declarative _________ would appeal to a teenage audience due to the connotations of ______ and ________. This would probably make them think __________.

To finish the commentary:

If you have more time, and hopefully you will, just make a series of points where you pick out ANY OTHER deliberate language choices you made. Structure them like this:

What did you do? Give an example? What effect were you hoping it would have on the audience?

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Q. How many paragraphs for the commentary?

Paragraphs for the commentary:

Begin with one big paragraph (as above) which deals with the different conventions you have used. Aim to mention 3-5 conventions. (this can be 2 paragraphs if it is getting a bit long)

Then, do another big paragraph where you discuss any attitudes you have woven into your writing. Aim to mention about 3-4. (this can be two paragraphs if it is getting a bit long)

Then do a paragraph about who your target audience is, and how you appealed to them throug7h deliberate lexical and literary choices.

Then, individual paragraphs on any other deliberate choices of language that you put into your writing for any effect.

Result = 3 big then some small