Creative Writing - Advice from a Cambridge Uni Student

[ssarahj]

Hey,

My story is kinda long and covers many aspects of discovery including its negative and positive nature. However due to the stress that I am feeling due to the many words, I am thinking of taking out the positive nature of discovery which is conveyed through a reflection in my story. However, I am kinda worried about doing that. I am scared that it will decrease the fact that my story has many layers... Any tips...?

Thank you

Hey cherryred! How many words is your creative at the moment, or rather how long does it take you to write it? Since the "positive nature" you speak of is written as a reflection, does the story still make sense without it?
If yes, then you could go into the exam expecting to write all of it, and then make a decision during the exam as to whether you have enough time to get it out. If you're prepared to be flexible and feel like you know your story inside out, then hopefully you won't feel as stressed 

[asd987]

Hi, I have to compose a short creative writing piece about a personal discovery and how its impacted me. I don't know what to write about so can i get some ideas? ty

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi, I have to compose a short creative writing piece about a personal discovery and how its impacted me. I don't know what to write about so can i get some ideas? ty

Hey asd! You can check out our Creative Marking Thread to have a read of some other creatives. Don't plagiarise (obviously), but use it as motivation/inspiration as to some things you could talk about in your Creative! Ultimately though, if it is a personal discovery, the idea by definition needs to come from you

[cherryred]

Hey,

I have been adapting my story to many different pieces of stimulus/questions. However, I got stuck when I came to this one because my story has no dialogue.../ I don't really see how I can link the 'opinion' part of the question to my story:

Write an imaginative piece of writing where discovery features as being transformative of opinions. Advice please

THANK YOU

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey,

I have been adapting my story to many different pieces of stimulus/questions. However, I got stuck when I came to this one because my story has no dialogue.../ I don't really see how I can link the 'opinion' part of the question to my story:

Write an imaginative piece of writing where discovery features as being transformative of opinions. Advice please

THANK YOU

You might wish to do a bit of a reflection piece by one of your characters!! Have them analyse what is happening as a stream of thought to portray their opinion, if you don't want to include dialogue?

Ultimately, you are going to have to be ready to adapt your creative, perhaps significantly, to do well tomorrow. I hope you get lucky, but you need to be ready to change your creative however is necessary to get the job done!

[olr1999]

The narrative that I am writing for an assessment task at the moment does not have a climax. Does it matter if our creative writing doesn't follow narrative structure even though it is supposed to be a narrative? Thanks!

[elysepopplewell]

The narrative that I am writing for an assessment task at the moment does not have a climax. Does it matter if our creative writing doesn't follow narrative structure even though it is supposed to be a narrative? Thanks!

Hey! Typically, a climax may manifest as just a circumstance in the plot that adds a complication - it may not be a moment of grand climactic suspense. Can you tell me a bit about your story? The risky aspect of not having a climax is that the story is either unengaging, or not revealing of discovery enough. I'm sure your story is engaging, you know the structure well! But, if you'd like a second opinion, happy to give my thoughts

[jamonwindeyer]

The narrative that I am writing for an assessment task at the moment does not have a climax. Does it matter if our creative writing doesn't follow narrative structure even though it is supposed to be a narrative? Thanks!

Hey! For short stories in the HSC, you definitely don't need to follow a typical narrative structure. You can finish at the climax, you can do a full resolution, you can do JUST the resolution, etc etc. That said, you need to make sure the story has a purpose, and a big part of that for most stories is some sort of climax!

So, I'd say it's all good, if:

1- Your marking criteria doesn't specify use of the typical narrative structure, or something worded similar to that. In that case you would need to. If in doubt, check with your teacher!
2- The absence of the conclusion has a purpose and your story still carries a sense of impact; it has a reason for being written!

[RuiAce]

Hey! For short stories in the HSC, you definitely don't need to follow a typical narrative structure. You can finish at the climax, you can do a full resolution, you can do JUST the resolution, etc etc. That said, you need to make sure the story has a purpose, and a big part of that for most stories is some sort of climax!

Just building on this

I usually left my creatives on a cliffhanger

[olr1999]

Hey! Typically, a climax may manifest as just a circumstance in the plot that adds a complication - it may not be a moment of grand climactic suspense. Can you tell me a bit about your story? The risky aspect of not having a climax is that the story is either unengaging, or not revealing of discovery enough. I'm sure your story is engaging, you know the structure well! But, if you'd like a second opinion, happy to give my thoughts

My story is about a girl with anxiety who has to send a message to say she can't work on the weekend and that's very difficult for her to do. Once she finds that it's all good, she feels inadequate for taking so long to send the message. Then as she is off drowning in her "perpetually paralysing scenarios" she unconsciously says something that her sister overhears and after confrontation with her sister, she finds that she 'has new eyes' (part of the prompt) because what was all in her head now felt validated as she had spoken to someone about it. There's no real climax in it I guess! I would upload it to get marked but I haven't made enough posts yet!    Thankyou!

[olr1999]

Hey! For short stories in the HSC, you definitely don't need to follow a typical narrative structure. You can finish at the climax, you can do a full resolution, you can do JUST the resolution, etc etc. That said, you need to make sure the story has a purpose, and a big part of that for most stories is some sort of climax!

So, I'd say it's all good, if:

1- Your marking criteria doesn't specify use of the typical narrative structure, or something worded similar to that. In that case you would need to. If in doubt, check with your teacher!
2- The absence of the conclusion has a purpose and your story still carries a sense of impact; it has a reason for being written!

Thanks a bunch!   

[elysepopplewell]

My story is about a girl with anxiety who has to send a message to say she can't work on the weekend and that's very difficult for her to do. Once she finds that it's all good, she feels inadequate for taking so long to send the message. Then as she is off drowning in her "perpetually paralysing scenarios" she unconsciously says something that her sister overhears and after confrontation with her sister, she finds that she 'has new eyes' (part of the prompt) because what was all in her head now felt validated as she had spoken to someone about it. There's no real climax in it I guess! I would upload it to get marked but I haven't made enough posts yet!    Thankyou!

I think if you had to identify a climax in there - you could. Even several climaxes. The climax isn't always the most intense point of action like we learn on storyboards. Climaxes might just be a series of heightened tension in the plot. Your story sounds really awesome!

[olr1999]

I think if you had to identify a climax in there - you could. Even several climaxes. The climax isn't always the most intense point of action like we learn on storyboards. Climaxes might just be a series of heightened tension in the plot. Your story sounds really awesome!

Awesome, thanks heaps! 

[ChocolateWaffle]

Hi ~
The writer's block problem has been keeping me from writing for a long time, and now that I've ended up writing a creative it's...incredibly specific, and I think in ways shows that it was inspired by something very specific. I know that some markers appreciate this; my teacher certainly did, but the problem seems to be that it's not very adaptable. It's a particular story about a particular person's experience, and the feedback I've received was, essentially, 'give your story some sort of resolution so you can answer better to the rubric/question'. Which makes a lot of sense, and would help me adapt the story more, except it would either require cutting out details to preserve the word count - which would make things even more obscure than they already are, or to lengthen the story to like...1 800 words. That would work for Extension, but even 1 500 words is stretching it for 40 minutes imo. Advice, please?

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi ~
The writer's block problem has been keeping me from writing for a long time, and now that I've ended up writing a creative it's...incredibly specific, and I think in ways shows that it was inspired by something very specific. I know that some markers appreciate this; my teacher certainly did, but the problem seems to be that it's not very adaptable. It's a particular story about a particular person's experience, and the feedback I've received was, essentially, 'give your story some sort of resolution so you can answer better to the rubric/question'. Which makes a lot of sense, and would help me adapt the story more, except it would either require cutting out details to preserve the word count - which would make things even more obscure than they already are, or to lengthen the story to like...1 800 words. That would work for Extension, but even 1 500 words is stretching it for 40 minutes imo. Advice, please?

Hey ChocolateWaffle! I agree, 1500 is definitely pushing it for 40 minutes imo mine were always comfortably under 1000, but then I didn't rote learn mine, so that's a disadvantage on my end

It sounds like you've got a few conflicting ideas about where to move with your Creative. To cut details, to add some, etc etc. I think the best thing for you right now (especially heading into a holiday) is to just do some experimenting. Write some random paragraphs, cut some stuff, add it; keeping every version of course. Read over everything; see what works and what doesn't.

Sorry if it seems like I'm not giving the best advice, but I genuinely think some experimenting and cut/paste would be good for you to get a better feel about what your Creative needs! For what it is worth, if you want to prepare your Creative, it should be able to be applied to a whole variety of situations. Some obscurity can be useful there best of luck!