LOL you guys. Judging from the comments I'm constantly hearing from people about how bad Imaginative Landscape is this year, I'm glad I had a chance to do it last year before the changes. Really, it isn't a difficult topic to write on at all; in fact, you can write on a whole host of different things depending on the essay topics you're given.
Since I haven't read The View From Castle Rock, I'll give my perspective based more off One Night the Moon and generic tips from Island by Alastair MacLeod (the novel that got cut from IL). With One Night the Moon, many of the topics you'll be writing on will require you to focus on the different 'landscapes' of the various characters; for instance, the connection between the Aboriginal tracker and the land that he has lived on for his entire life, the father's view of his homestead as a commodity to be used to earn money, and the little girl's perspective of the land as a mystical, wondrous place etc. As I'm sure you've already figured out/will learn, the word 'landscape' has different connotations attached to it, that can be interpreted in a number of ways. You can focus on internal landscapes (psychological and mental landscapes), or physical landscapes and their connections to us as individuals (a home environment, or new/threatening environments). As you can see, there's a lot of overlap between this and other Contexts, which is a good thing! You can talk about similar topics with friends from other schools who may be doing different Contexts, but still be discussing things relevant to both of you.
Island was cut at the end of last year (I'm not sure if anything else was cut, cos I'm a little behind the times
), which in my opinion is a great shame, as it's a really fascinating read and very easy to incorporate into expository essays and creative pieces. Really, the theme is changing landscapes; traditions becoming less practised, people growing up or coming of age, death- these are all things explored in Island that you can just as easily find in other texts, or maybe from your personal experiences. I recommend reading Island, if only to get an idea of general themes and points to discuss in your essays. Who knows, some of these ideas might even be in your other texts!
The trick for Context is to enjoy it. Don't regurgitate expository essays if you find them boring- mix them up a little, try interweaving a short story into your expository essay to support your points. Don't be afraid to do a full creative piece, either- once you get the hang of it, creative pieces can be absolutely amazing and can stand out amongst a bunch of boring pieces to an examiner
but that being said, a good expository/hybrid Context essay can quite easily score just as well as a great creative piece, just make sure you're comfortable with what you're doing. Experiment a little; it is quite early in the year, after all! Hope I helped you guys out a little
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