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
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