ATAR Notes: Forum
HSC Stuff => HSC Subjects + Help => HSC English Stuff => Topic started by: lunaaaaaal on July 19, 2018, 08:57:48 pm
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I got feedback from a couple of teachers about my creative for Discovery. I was told it was too cliche, yet my writing was excellent and to the Advanced standard.
The concept was about a teenager/adult losing their mother and finally coming to terms with her mother's death and attending the funeral (the conclusion).
For the Trial and HSC exams, will I be marked down if my idea is considered 'cliche'?
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Honestly, it depends on the way you've written it - nothing can really be 100% original if you think about it. My creative isn't the same as yours, but it has a similar theme: resignation to obligation. It's about a sick father dying of cancer, which is definitely nothing new, but I got 14/15 for it and the mark I lost had nothing to do with it being cliched. However, I was also very conscious of falling into a cliche, so I included motifs of birds and a piano to add some nuance to the story, extending it beyond the cliche. I also deviated away from the typical emancipatory experience - the persona never experiences any transcendence and is basically left in a state of existential paralysis at the end. So, adding slight adjustments like these, should be taken into consideration if you're really worried about the cliched aspects! My teacher - who taught a student who recently came first in the state for English Adv - actually promotes writing creatives that you have personally experienced so that the creative flourishes on an authentic voice. I literally read an exemplar about someone cooking which got 15, so don't think that the idea has to be extraordinarily unique or anything in order to reach the top band - it really is up to how you execute your ideas, ultimately!!
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It does sound a bit cliche and I do know a few people who had a similar storyline about death and realisation about how much they have lost. However, I do know someone who stuck with this storyline but it was really well-written and ended up doing well in Discovery English. I think that if your writing is really strong, that is your point of uniqueness, rather than relying on a unique storyline. You can do really well with a cliche story if it happens to be well-written.