Creative Response on After Darkness

[Omarrr_2163]

HeLLO humans,

In a few weeks is our creative writing SAC and I really want to ace this one. However, creative writing was never my strong suit and I want tips on improving my creative writing before the SAC. If anyone can give me ideas to discuss in relation to After Darkness or send through their essays, that would be deeply appreciated!!!!

[guac]

General tips for creative writing:

- Write your piece out in full before the sac. It's not cheating, and don't feel guilty about memorising it. Creative pieces need time to write and refine.
- Figure out your strengths/what type of creative writing you're comfortable with. Some people are great at writing dialogue, some people are great at writing long, rosy descriptions, some people are great at writing personal reflections. Write what you think you're best at writing - for example, when I write creatives they typically take the form of a 'personal reflection' or some sort of internal monologue because when I write fully fleshed out plot driven stories they are usually cheesy as hell.
- Refine, refine, refine. Your piece probably won't be that great on the first iteration, but that's okay if you refine. Just get the basic draft done first, and then start looking for feedback. You can always post stuff here! When you read over it yourself, read it out loud - this will help you pick up on clumsy wording that you might otherwise miss. It happens to everyone.
- Find a theme from After Darkness that resonates with you, and centre your story around it. Try to add something new with your writing - expand on the author's ideas, or present your own perspective. Whatever you do, make sure that there's something that you want to say with your creative. Give the assessor the sense that your writing has purpose.
- Do not neglect your statement of intention. Your creative SOI is the only time in all of VCE English that you'll have the chance to directly communicate your thinking and intent to the assessor. Sometimes ideas, motifs and themes in creatives can be subtle - make sure you really spell things out and that everything is super clear. You want to come off as thoughtful and engaged.

Sorry that I don't have specific After Darkness advice, hopefully someone else will be able to help you with that. Hope this helps!

[TSEtuition]

Hi Omarrr_2163,

I agree with guac with their tips on the creative response, especially about the SOI! I would also add that you need to approach the creative response with a really clear plan about what themes you want to explore, why you want to explore them, and how you want to explore them - otherwise you end up rambling or writing those dreadful inner monologue pieces that read like an essay written in first person 

I've got some videos on the creative writing response up on my Youtube channel that you may find helpful also. The whole playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKOm-s25Y8DZoRkARmxXJA2XdceJ9SPxR

Hope that helps!

~Shirlaine from TSEtuition