Using stimulus non-literally in reative writing

[ssien]

How do you incorporate the stimulus metaphorically so that the examiner knows you used the stimulus?

[EmileeSmith]

i need to know the answer to this aswell

[ssarahj]

How do you incorporate the stimulus metaphorically so that the examiner knows you used the stimulus?

i need to know the answer to this aswell

Awesome question!

So obviously if you're wanting to metaphorically incorporate the stimulus you'll be looking at making the stimulus into a metaphor for your story. This means that you need to identify a possible interpretation of the picture or quote that you're given, so that you can refer to it in a symbolic way. This will be most easily explained in an example...

Say this was your stimulus:


Here's some things that you might draw out from a 30 second brainstorm:
- The curtains being drawn back could represent opening up to the world/letting something in/being open to discovery
- But one of the curtains isn't drawn back which might represent having apprehensions about the future/being guarded towards discovery
- The blue colour could represent sadness/depression/resentment [ha I'm totally copying that meme]

Spoiler

So from that quick brainstorm (which you would do in your head in an exam) provides a bit of a direction for how you could use the stimulus in the story:
If you took the top two ideas above and wrote about a character who was anxious about a discovery, you could use the curtains as a specific metaphor perhaps all throughout your story. The metaphorical incorporation of the stimulus will be obvious to the marker if you repeat it more than once throughout your story. This is very important. You don't want them to miss your cool metaphor when you've spent effort thinking about the most insightful way to use it!

e.g. She was a set of freshly pressed curtains hanging patiently around her grandmother's window. It was as though Rick had come along and opened one side of the curtain, giving her a taste of what it could be. But the other side of her still draped down, grazing the wooden floor. Waiting. 

Obviously this is a weird example that I just made up in the past 7 minutes, but I hope this helps you both out a little bit. Post back if you need me to clarify anything 

[ssien]

Awesome question!

So obviously if you're wanting to metaphorically incorporate the stimulus you'll be looking at making the stimulus into a metaphor for your story. This means that you need to identify a possible interpretation of the picture or quote that you're given, so that you can refer to it in a symbolic way. This will be most easily explained in an example...

Say this was your stimulus:
(Image removed from quote.)

Here's some things that you might draw out from a 30 second brainstorm:
- The curtains being drawn back could represent opening up to the world/letting something in/being open to discovery
- But one of the curtains isn't drawn back which might represent having apprehensions about the future/being guarded towards discovery
- The blue colour could represent sadness/depression/resentment [ha I'm totally copying that meme]

Spoiler

So from that quick brainstorm (which you would do in your head in an exam) provides a bit of a direction for how you could use the stimulus in the story:
If you took the top two ideas above and wrote about a character who was anxious about a discovery, you could use the curtains as a specific metaphor perhaps all throughout your story. The metaphorical incorporation of the stimulus will be obvious to the marker if you repeat it more than once throughout your story. This is very important. You don't want them to miss your cool metaphor when you've spent effort thinking about the most insightful way to use it!

e.g. She was a set of freshly pressed curtains hanging patiently around her grandmother's window. It was as though Rick had come along and opened one side of the curtain, giving her a taste of what it could be. But the other side of her still draped down, grazing the wooden floor. Waiting. 

Obviously this is a weird example that I just made up in the past 7 minutes, but I hope this helps you both out a little bit. Post back if you need me to clarify anything 

Thanks for the detailed reply

Since I must mention the stimulus several times in my creative, is a few lines of imagery/metaphor etc enough for each mention?

Also, if I was just given a quote as a stimulus, how should I go about using it in my creative because I feel like images have more flexibility with interpretation (I may be wrong haha)

[elysepopplewell]

Thanks for the detailed reply

Since I must mention the stimulus several times in my creative, is a few lines of imagery/metaphor etc enough for each mention?

Also, if I was just given a quote as a stimulus, how should I go about using it in my creative because I feel like images have more flexibility with interpretation (I may be wrong haha)

Often, they ask for quotes to feature as the opening sentence, or closing sentence, or something direct like that. If they ask for it to be a "central element" then it needs to be placed at some kind of defining moment, or the quote and it's surrounding actions should become a catalyst. If it doesn't specify the prevalence you need to give the stimulus, then you have flexibility. However, you should never ignore the creative question in itself, where it identifies a type of discovery. That needs to be suppppppeeeer central and relevant!

[cherryred]

Hey,

Are students allowed to change just one word of a quote that BOSTES tells us to begin our story with...? For example: "She looked outside the window." Can I change it to "he" for example since the protagonist of my story is a male and my story wouldn't work easily if the character was a female...

Thank you

[jakesilove]

Hey,

Are students allowed to change just one word of a quote that BOSTES tells us to begin our story with...? For example: "She looked outside the window." Can I change it to "he" for example since the protagonist of my story is a male and my story wouldn't work easily if the character was a female...

Thank you

Generally, the markers won't care about something like that (particularly when it is just changing the gender etc.). However, if you do receive a quote to use etc. do you absolute best to use it word for work in the way they have given it to you!

[ssarahj]

So basically we can make a metaphorical meaning from the stimulus?

If the stimulus is an image: Yes definitely!

If the stimulus is a quote: You definitely can take a metaphorical meaning from it and incorporate this within your piece but make sure you directly reference it somewhere in the piece as well to make it super obvious to the marker

[Emerald99]

Are we allowed to change the tense of the quote?

[jamonwindeyer]

Are we allowed to change the tense of the quote?

I would argue that yes, you are, but I am happy to be corrected there because I am not 100% sure

[Lottie99]

Easiest way to address the stimulus is in your title if its the curtains just call it something like "Pulling away the curtain"

[ssarahj]

Are we allowed to change the tense of the quote?

I would argue that yes, you are, but I am happy to be corrected there because I am not 100% sure

Pretty sure you can, I don't see a problem as long as it doesn't drastically change meaning of the quote

[edmododragon]

To what extent can you take the stimulus metaphorically? Would you have to refer to it directly in your writing as an actual metaphor to ensure the markers don't miss it? And what are some ways to make it blatantly obvious that you're incorporating the stimulus metaphorically if you don't actually write about it?
Also, in the case that there are multiple stimuli, do you notate which one you used?

Moderator Edit: Posts merged, use the Modify function to avoid double posting

[jamonwindeyer]

To what extent can you take the stimulus metaphorically? Would you have to refer to it directly in your writing as an actual metaphor to ensure the markers don't miss it? And what are some ways to make it blatantly obvious that you're incorporating the stimulus metaphorically if you don't actually write about it?
Also, in the case that there are multiple stimuli, do you notate which one you used?

If you incorporate the stimulus metaphorically as has been discussed above, you don't have to refer to it as a metaphor directly. EG, if the image is of a curtain being drawn, a creative that references seeing new things/removing barriers would suit you. The markers know the stimulus, they will be looking for it, so to speak!

And that links to your next question; it should be obvious which you used. If there are multiple, I should be able to say, "Oh, they used Stimulus two." So no, you don't have to note which stimulus you used!

[jakesilove]

If you incorporate the stimulus metaphorically as has been discussed above, you don't have to refer to it as a metaphor directly. EG, if the image is of a curtain being drawn, a creative that references seeing new things/removing barriers would suit you. The markers know the stimulus, they will be looking for it, so to speak!

And that links to your next question; it should be obvious which you used. If there are multiple, I should be able to say, "Oh, they used Stimulus two." So no, you don't have to note which stimulus you used!

Just as a quick addition, whenever I used the stimulus directly, I underlined it (to help out the exhausted marker). Additionally, and I might be a dick for doing this, but I generally used multiple stimulus where I could (which is usually pretty easy).