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March 30, 2024, 12:53:27 am

Author Topic: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing  (Read 53886 times)

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Aliceyyy98

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2016, 10:48:39 pm »
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Hi! Im just wondering what are some cliche storylines to avoid??

Thanks heaps,

WLalex

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2016, 11:55:28 pm »
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Hi! Im just wondering what are some cliche storylines to avoid??

Thanks heaps,

Hey, from off the top of my head, try and steer clear of these topics...

Schoolyard bullying, teenage angst, abortion/suicide (anything that could be too controversial - remember you don't know who is marking your paper/what they believe etc.., depression, a death in the family, a new planet, the HSC (haha), teenage boyfriend/girlfriend love triangle stuff :P

Alex :)
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jamonwindeyer

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #17 on: July 14, 2016, 12:32:31 am »
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Hey, from off the top of my head, try and steer clear of these topics...

Schoolyard bullying, teenage angst, abortion/suicide (anything that could be too controversial - remember you don't know who is marking your paper/what they believe etc.., depression, a death in the family, a new planet, the HSC (haha), teenage boyfriend/girlfriend love triangle stuff :P

Alex :)

I'll add to the list off the top of my head!

- Refugees, Orphans, Migrants (very hard to do in a way that isn't overdone and is adequately captures experiences)
- Terrorism, Domestic Violence, Graphic Political Violence, Religious (controversial topics, note that they may be okay if treated with utmost care, for example, I had a religious story that was, tbh, quite anti-Christian, despite the fact that I am a Christian and went to a Catholic school. Treaded carefully, and it did well, but take care!)
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elysepopplewell

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #18 on: July 14, 2016, 11:00:12 am »
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Hi! Im just wondering what are some cliche storylines to avoid??

Thanks heaps,

Great question! I tend to think there aren't too many stories that are cliche and should be avoided. I do disagree with Jamon on the refugee/migrant stories. Some of the best creative stories I've read have been about those topics. My personal favourite stories at the moment are ones of migrants talking about the transition to Australian life. There are so many ways to do this, you don't even have to write a story! But, a speech or a feature article.

The main stories I tend to think don't have scope are: first day of school, teenage love crisis, ending with a dream to cancel out everything that has happened, starting with the alarm clock, or questioning if the HSC is really worth it.

:)
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jamonwindeyer

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #19 on: July 14, 2016, 11:11:46 am »
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Great question! I tend to think there aren't too many stories that are cliche and should be avoided. I do disagree with Jamon on the refugee/migrant stories. Some of the best creative stories I've read have been about those topics. My personal favourite stories at the moment are ones of migrants talking about the transition to Australian life. There are so many ways to do this, you don't even have to write a story! But, a speech or a feature article.

The main stories I tend to think don't have scope are: first day of school, teenage love crisis, ending with a dream to cancel out everything that has happened, starting with the alarm clock, or questioning if the HSC is really worth it.

:)

In response, I'll disagree with the dream thing. Markers love knowing that everything they just read was completely inconsequential!

Lol, massive sarcasm, couldn't agree more Elyse, the dream thing is my pet peeve with movies/books in general  ;)

With the migrant/refugee thing, I'll clarify my view that you absolutely can do those topics, but it is a popular choice, and so you must have a good creative to do it well and stand out from the crowd. At least in my opinion  ;D

conic curve

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #20 on: July 14, 2016, 11:17:22 am »
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Usually does your creative have to fit in with the rubric perfectly?

WLalex

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2016, 11:22:16 am »
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Usually does your creative have to fit in with the rubric perfectly?

Not perfectly, but it should certainly be your aim and you should manipulate your story to also fit in with the stimulus (which will usually be derived from some section of the rubric)

Alex :)
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2016: Advanced English, Mathematics , Extension Maths, Chemistry, SOR II, PDHPE

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conic curve

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #22 on: July 14, 2016, 11:33:24 am »
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Not perfectly, but it should certainly be your aim and you should manipulate your story to also fit in with the stimulus (which will usually be derived from some section of the rubric)

Alex :)

Oh, so it has to match part of the rubric?

kavinila

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #23 on: July 14, 2016, 12:35:18 pm »
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if we were to include a direct sentence from a well-known text in our discoverycreative, would that be considered plagiarism? for example, if my first sentence was "Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive," would that be considered plagiarism?
basically, if we're trying to captivate the marker through our first sentence and you a well0known quote perhaps, would it be wrong?

thanks!

jamonwindeyer

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2016, 12:46:05 pm »
+1
if we were to include a direct sentence from a well-known text in our discoverycreative, would that be considered plagiarism? for example, if my first sentence was "Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive," would that be considered plagiarism?
basically, if we're trying to captivate the marker through our first sentence and you a well0known quote perhaps, would it be wrong?

thanks!

Hmmm, I don't think so! To cite a similar situation, for one of my compositions I adapted 4 bars of the melody from Hedwig's Theme (Harry Potter Theme) at the end of my composition, because I was re-composing a Harry Potter scene. That was okay!

A single phrase doesn't constitute plagiarism in my opinion (like putting "To be or not to be" in a creative doesn't mean you are ripping off Shakespeare), but if you are quoting something famous, make sure that it is clear WHY you are doing that. It should play into the theme you want to address or the story you want to tell  ;D

jamonwindeyer

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #25 on: July 14, 2016, 12:49:20 pm »
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Oh, so it has to match part of the rubric?

The rubric for the Creative section of the HSC:

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

express understanding of discovery in the context of your studies
organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose and context


So, your response should express an understanding of discovery, and it should use language appropriately. It should definitely do both of these things. However, this is very broad, and so what Alex means (I think) is that you should keep the rubric in mind, but more important is responding effectively to the question and/or stimulus (and I agree  ;D)

WLalex

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #26 on: July 14, 2016, 02:36:09 pm »
+1
The rubric for the Creative section of the HSC:

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

express understanding of discovery in the context of your studies
organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose and context


So, your response should express an understanding of discovery, and it should use language appropriately. It should definitely do both of these things. However, this is very broad, and so what Alex means (I think) is that you should keep the rubric in mind, but more important is responding effectively to the question and/or stimulus (and I agree  ;D)

Precisely, anyway most of the time every story has some link to the rubric (because it is so broad) - so more focus should be put into the stimulus/quote given
"You don't want to look back and know you could have done better"

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Jemimared

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #27 on: July 15, 2016, 07:12:36 pm »
+1
This is so helpful. Thank you so much  :) :)
How would you suggest trying to remember our creative writing pieces?
Thanks

jamonwindeyer

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #28 on: July 15, 2016, 07:42:00 pm »
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This is so helpful. Thank you so much  :) :)
How would you suggest trying to remember our creative writing pieces?
Thanks

I had a piece that I didn't memorise per say, but I did use it repeatedly from my half yearly onwards. I remembered lots of key phrases and the basic story arc very quickly though, purely because I re-wrote it so often.

Try writing your piece for a bunch of past papers!! That will sink it in real quick, or at least it did for me. Mine varied every time with the stimulus, but I started remembering powerful key phrases to include, and specific bits of dialogue, etc.

Beyond this, record yourself speaking the creative like you are reading it to a sibling. I did this for an essay I needed to memorise, and it worked well when I did, I imagine it would work even better for a creative!!  ;D

elysepopplewell

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Re: Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing
« Reply #29 on: July 16, 2016, 09:43:26 am »
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This is so helpful. Thank you so much  :) :)
How would you suggest trying to remember our creative writing pieces?
Thanks

Like Jamon, I also remembered mine through re-using it at different times of the year, re-writing it, etc. But, if you are going to say it out loud to memorise it, I highly recommend you say it in some kind of rhythm. By this I mean, put on an accent, or a certain voice, and present it very dramatically. I did this (it worked extra well because I was writing a speech for my creative) and it flowed really well in my head. When I was in the exam, it was like I was listening to a recording of my work through my earphone, except, it was actually the voice in my head. I was so familiar with the funny voices, accents, and sing-song tune, I could have it play to me in an exam through the little voice in my head :)
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