Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing

[elysepopplewell]

Is there any way to ensure it doesn't happen?
or give less chance of the markers being able to do that???
I find it so frustrating especially since its already an area i struggle with it makes it just that much worse that marking guidelines are so broad and open to interpretation really. :/

I think that getting feedback from as many people as you can is important to ensuring this kind of thing doesn't happen. Creativity is subjective, but just because it's not someone's "cup of tea" it doesn't mean that you'll be marked down. As English teachers, the markers are open to a range of different texts and can appreciate the way they've been formed, even if it's not their preferred genre or story style. But by getting feedback from multiple people, means that you'll be able to find common threads of "this character isn't relatable" or "this scene let me down because of the verbose imagery" or so on. Ultimately, it's your creative story so you have creative control and are in charge of the decisions, but I don't think it's right to dismiss one person's feedback, just because what that person thinks might also be what another person thinks, so at least considering it is important.

So, to answer your question, I think asking for feedback from multiple people is important. Even asking, "Was there a part where you lost interest?" Or, "Do you understand why this happened?" means that you can notice trends in people's responses and recognise where the faults in your story sit! The subjective difference really isn't great, I can hardly imagine it being more than 2, possibly 3 marks, between markers. In saying this, exceptional grammar, control of syntax, tightly controlled language, and good concepts, are always accepted by the markers. So if you nail those home, you've got some surefire marks!

[liya1234]

I'm having a lot of trouble with creatives this year - i've written two different ones for discovery which I'm not really happy with because they're either not sophisticated enough or they don't explore the concept of discovery enough - i'm having a lot of trouble balancing these two aspects. i've tried to fix up a creative from last year which i got 25/25 for but it was written for a different topic and i can't really get it to show discovery either.

I'm aiming to get a creative which I'm happy with done for trials in a week but I'm struggling to find something to write about. usually my writing errs on the side of vague and ambiguous and for some reason i often like to write in 2nd pov but that doesn't really suit discovery at all. i'm pretty good with the actual writing of the story I just can't seem to find an idea/starting point for a discovery that i really feel excited exploring. i have some ideas in mind of what i'd like to do - i'd love to experiment with a cyclical or parallel structure but i haven't been able to write something where the main theme is discovery.

if anyone had any suggestions as to where to get started with good discovery ideas? i think what is holding me back the most is that i dont really believe in sudden discoveries where people's whole perspectives are changed within a split second because of one event - to me it seems somewhat unrealistic and i dont think i'd be able to write that. gradual discoveries make more sense to me but there are also a lot harder to portray in a creative while still making them seeming meaningful and profound and sophisticated. idk I'm a bit lost any help would really be appreciated

[elysepopplewell]

I'm having a lot of trouble with creatives this year - i've written two different ones for discovery which I'm not really happy with because they're either not sophisticated enough or they don't explore the concept of discovery enough - i'm having a lot of trouble balancing these two aspects. i've tried to fix up a creative from last year which i got 25/25 for but it was written for a different topic and i can't really get it to show discovery either.

I'm aiming to get a creative which I'm happy with done for trials in a week but I'm struggling to find something to write about. usually my writing errs on the side of vague and ambiguous and for some reason i often like to write in 2nd pov but that doesn't really suit discovery at all. i'm pretty good with the actual writing of the story I just can't seem to find an idea/starting point for a discovery that i really feel excited exploring. i have some ideas in mind of what i'd like to do - i'd love to experiment with a cyclical or parallel structure but i haven't been able to write something where the main theme is discovery.

if anyone had any suggestions as to where to get started with good discovery ideas? i think what is holding me back the most is that i dont really believe in sudden discoveries where people's whole perspectives are changed within a split second because of one event - to me it seems somewhat unrealistic and i dont think i'd be able to write that. gradual discoveries make more sense to me but there are also a lot harder to portray in a creative while still making them seeming meaningful and profound and sophisticated. idk I'm a bit lost any help would really be appreciated

Hey there! Have you considered writing in the past tense about a discovery that has already occurred? This way you don't need to go through the process of describing a discovery then instantly looking at the shift in perspective afterwards. To give you an idea, maybe have a look at my creative here. It's a speech, and mainly because I struggled similarly to you. I at first made it a story but I just couldn't connect the discoveries in a believable way. So in this way, it's like I'm talking about a discovery I've made over time, and I'm expressing it to an audience in the hopes they'll too make the discovery. Perhaps look into the hindsight way of viewing discovery?

[caitlinlddouglas]

Hi i was wondering how i could work on making my story flexible enough so i can easily incorporate the stimulus? It feels like some of the stimulus don' relate to well and my incorporation in the story feels a bit forced. THanks!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi i was wondering how i could work on making my story flexible enough so i can easily incorporate the stimulus? It feels like some of the stimulus don' relate to well and my incorporation in the story feels a bit forced. THanks!

Hey Caitlin! Can you tell me a bit about your story?

I suppose the way I prepared was that I had an "alternate ending" kind of planned for mine, that would take the ending in a different way. Although I hoped I wouldn't have to fall onto my plan B, and I didn't, I had it there so that I touched on dramatically different aspects of discovery instead.

Unfortunately it's impossible to equally prepare yourself for every possible stimulus, so part of the preparation is just learning how to be creative in your stimulus incorporation, and other times its about thinking of ways that you could take a completely different path in your story, and learn to become more comfortable with having to take a tangent from your prepared story, in order to get the best results in an exam.

[caitlinlddouglas]

Hey Caitlin! Can you tell me a bit about your story?

I suppose the way I prepared was that I had an "alternate ending" kind of planned for mine, that would take the ending in a different way. Although I hoped I wouldn't have to fall onto my plan B, and I didn't, I had it there so that I touched on dramatically different aspects of discovery instead.

Unfortunately it's impossible to equally prepare yourself for every possible stimulus, so part of the preparation is just learning how to be creative in your stimulus incorporation, and other times its about thinking of ways that you could take a completely different path in your story, and learn to become more comfortable with having to take a tangent from your prepared story, in order to get the best results in an exam.

Hey thanks for that! my story is about an isolated guy with a gambling issue, and he orignally begins the story trying to pull out a rose bush planted by his wife, but after his emotional discovery when he is out gambling he comes back later on and finds that a rose is flowering on the bush. So it has self/emotional discovery adn physical discovery

[elysepopplewell]

Hey thanks for that! my story is about an isolated guy with a gambling issue, and he orignally begins the story trying to pull out a rose bush planted by his wife, but after his emotional discovery when he is out gambling he comes back later on and finds that a rose is flowering on the bush. So it has self/emotional discovery adn physical discovery

Right! So because the flower is such a strong idea in the story, if you wanted to pursue the alternate story route as a back up, consider the middle part, when he's gambling, as the thing that changes.

But like I said, investigating ways to include the stimulus within the story without having to change huge chunks of it is firstly ideal because, obviously, less effort. But then if you find that too often you're getting stuck with incorporating the question or the stimulus, then it's best to consider how to change a bigger part of your story to almost create a second story within!