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March 29, 2024, 02:55:26 am

Author Topic: Creative writing: Focus on development of character or plot?  (Read 1430 times)

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vincentso69

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Creative writing: Focus on development of character or plot?
« on: October 09, 2016, 01:02:53 am »
0
I asked different teacher, and they had contrasting ideas.

Should i focus on character dev. to show that discoveries has changed and impacted them?
Or
Should I focus on the plot, to make it interesting?

I got a feeling i should do both, but learning more towards the character side...
Any thoughts?

jamonwindeyer

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Re: Creative writing: Focus on development of character or plot?
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2016, 01:35:10 am »
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I asked different teacher, and they had contrasting ideas.

Should i focus on character dev. to show that discoveries has changed and impacted them?
Or
Should I focus on the plot, to make it interesting?

I got a feeling i should do both, but learning more towards the character side...
Any thoughts?

I would agree 100% with your statement at the end:

I got a feeling i should do both, but learning more towards the character side.

In my opinion, character development is where the concepts come through. You can't convey Discovery as effectively through plot, mostly because it takes longer. That said, you do still need a good plot as a vehicle for your ideas :)


studybuddy7777

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Re: Creative writing: Focus on development of character or plot?
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2016, 09:20:22 am »
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I asked different teacher, and they had contrasting ideas.

Should i focus on character dev. to show that discoveries has changed and impacted them?
Or
Should I focus on the plot, to make it interesting?

I got a feeling i should do both, but learning more towards the character side...
Any thoughts?

Hey vincent!

Unmemorised: you dont have nearly enough time (plan for 10, write for 30) to make it focussed around the plot. Not only does that take longer to set up, its also harder to set up.

Memorised: you could do either (in 35 mins, 5 for working with stimulus) but i agree with you when you said do character. While a good plot is interesting and a great read at the end of the day, this is a discovery piece.

I suggest you should look through the AoS Rubric- see how much of your story (if memorised, but you should be at least going in there with a concept) relates to the rubric. Just in dot points eg
- Discoveries can be fresh or intensely meaningful (Yes/No)
- Discoveries are sudden and unexpected, or can be the process of careful and deliberate planning (Yes/No)
- Discoveries have the power to transform and enrich individual lives. (Yes/No)

(Yes, thats the only parts of the rubric I know)

For a 15/15 in creative, aim to tick as many boxes of these as you can with discoveries throughout the text (not an aha moment at the end- "I discovered the treasure chest or I was adopted" is looked very poorly on by markers)

Hope i havent put you to sleep with all my rambling and if you can endure more rambling you can ask me any thing you are unsure of or pm me.

elysepopplewell

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Re: Creative writing: Focus on development of character or plot?
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2016, 09:27:56 am »
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I asked different teacher, and they had contrasting ideas.

Should i focus on character dev. to show that discoveries has changed and impacted them?
Or
Should I focus on the plot, to make it interesting?

I got a feeling i should do both, but learning more towards the character side...
Any thoughts?

Character driven stories are probably the most popular way to drive a discovery in a piece. In saying that, plot driven stories, particularly if written in the third person omniscient narrator, have the ability to kind of describe a sequence of events from birds eye view, which can also be very powerful in detailing discoveries on relationships and societies. Character driven definitely is the most common way of going about this - but that doesn't make it unoriginal by any means :)
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