Discovery: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing

[studybuddy7777]

Wow! Thankyou elyse this is amazing!! Just one quick question. Should the essay and creative writing be the same length and if not which one should be longer? And besides a short story, what text type do you recommend people to do, or what did you do?
(Sorry, that was more than 1 question)

Thanks and keep being awesome  

[jamonwindeyer]

Wow! Thankyou elyse this is amazing!! Just one quick question. Should the essay and creative writing be the same length and if not which one should be longer? And besides a short story, what text type do you recommend people to do, or what did you do?
(Sorry, that was more than 1 question)

Thanks and keep being awesome

Hey!! I think the essay should be longer, you can get away with a shorter creative most of the time, I usually spent only about half an hour on it compared to 45 minutes for the essay. That's a bit extreme, but I think the creative should be a tad shorter 

I personally stuck with a short story, but I know Elyse experimented with others, so I'll let her answer your second question 

Oh, and never too many questions! 

[elysepopplewell]

Wow! Thankyou elyse this is amazing!! Just one quick question. Should the essay and creative writing be the same length and if not which one should be longer? And besides a short story, what text type do you recommend people to do, or what did you do?
(Sorry, that was more than 1 question)

Thanks and keep being awesome

As always, Jamon is spot on. The exam paper recommends you give equal time to both, but if you know your creative really well and can buy time for an essay, then why not? If you aren't making both equal in length, I'd tend to privilege the essay. That being said, my creative was a tiny tiny bit longer than my essay, because I used the same creative for Extension One, where the creative needs to be longer.

As for types of text types, you can absolutely dive into something other than a short story. I went for a speech. Speeches are cool because they work for naturally creative people and also for the more analytical people. You just need to work to your strengths. Otherwise, letters, feature articles, monologues, scripts, etc. You can also combine these together (for example, write a short story with a letter in it). The opportunities are endless!

[dreamdog10]

Hey! Quick question, if in direct speech you want someone to say something really long as in like "Heeeeey," is that like grammatically correct or is there a fancy way to do it? xx

[mfaith99]

Hi there! I was just wondering how you would write your creative as a letter? I have a plan for the creative I want to write but I realyl want to execute it well for the upcoming trials! How would I be able to date and mark the letter if I don't want to have a date or will I just start with addressing who I'm writing to and go from there? thank you so much in advance! 

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey! Quick question, if in direct speech you want someone to say something really long as in like "Heeeeey," is that like grammatically correct or is there a fancy way to do it? xx

Hey dream dog! Wow, can't believe I missed this, sorry!! It's appropriate provided that it suits the dialogue, and you must have a reason for doing it. Don't just do it everywhere because it will become annoying for someone reading, but if you really want to accentuate a particular bit of dialogue, then that is fine! 

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi there! I was just wondering how you would write your creative as a letter? I have a plan for the creative I want to write but I realyl want to execute it well for the upcoming trials! How would I be able to date and mark the letter if I don't want to have a date or will I just start with addressing who I'm writing to and go from there? thank you so much in advance! 

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! Happy to have you around, let me know if you need any help finding things 

In terms of meeting the letter format, adding a date in the top right of the first page would definitely be effective!! It isn't mandatory I don't think, but it's a nice touch to show you've considered the style you are writing in!

To do it, I'd put a date and address in the top right corner of your first page. Then leave some blank lines, then write Dear _______, then continue as appropriate  keep in mind I've never done a letter for creative, but this is how I would approach it  hope this helps!

[kmorritt]

Hi Elysse for a creative writting, do you suggest we can do a speech? I'm not very good at writting a whole story in the short time frame

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi Elysse for a creative writting, do you suggest we can do a speech? I'm not very good at writting a whole story in the short time frame

Hey kmorritt! Elyse massively recommends a speech, in fact she used one for the HSC! Hers is free for download here as inspiration

[sammicallef07]

Hi there! c:

My question is more of a practicality thing than anything else. I have a couple of creatives prepared for the trial, and one of them contains a letter: it alternates between the text of the letter and the perspective of the person reading it throughout the story. How do I indicate which parts are the letter and which parts are the person reading it? When I typed it up, I used italics for the letter, but obviously that's not practical for the exam. I use single quotation marks for thoughts, because I usually type those in italics, too, but would that also work for chunks of the letter, or is there a better way to do it?

Thank you! x

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi there! c:

My question is more of a practicality thing than anything else. I have a couple of creatives prepared for the trial, and one of them contains a letter: it alternates between the text of the letter and the perspective of the person reading it throughout the story. How do I indicate which parts are the letter and which parts are the person reading it? When I typed it up, I used italics for the letter, but obviously that's not practical for the exam. I use single quotation marks for thoughts, because I usually type those in italics, too, but would that also work for chunks of the letter, or is there a better way to do it?

Thank you! x

Hey Sami! Welcome to the forums! Let me know if you need help finding anything  be sure to stop by our New User's Lounge if you haven't already 

Hmm, that's a tough one actually! I'd definitely be splitting it into chunks as a bare minimum. If you adjust your writing style for the letter paragraphs then the marker should pick up what is happening. You may also wish to do things like, "....., as I read on:" Add cues before you start reading again. Doing this frequently would get old fast though I think.

Perhaps indent every letter section by a significant amount? Enough to notice? If you do this when you first start reading the "Dear ______," (or equivalent), the marker will associate the indent with the letter. That should do it! 

[sammicallef07]

Hey Sami! Welcome to the forums! Let me know if you need help finding anything  be sure to stop by our New User's Lounge if you haven't already 

Hmm, that's a tough one actually! I'd definitely be splitting it into chunks as a bare minimum. If you adjust your writing style for the letter paragraphs then the marker should pick up what is happening. You may also wish to do things like, "....., as I read on:" Add cues before you start reading again. Doing this frequently would get old fast though I think.

Perhaps indent every letter section by a significant amount? Enough to notice? If you do this when you first start reading the "Dear ______," (or equivalent), the marker will associate the indent with the letter. That should do it! 

I'll give the indenting a go, thanks!

[ssarahj]

Perhaps indent every letter section by a significant amount? Enough to notice? If you do this when you first start reading the "Dear ______," (or equivalent), the marker will associate the indent with the letter. That should do it! 

i agree with Jamon here, i've done a few creatives with letters in them in the past and i just left a few lines and indented it to make it really obvious that it's a change in text type 

[ktleeeee]

This guide is incredible!

Although, do you have any tips to help make the ending really pack a punch. My teacher's feedback is always that my endings are weak and don't give any impact that makes them memorable. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[jamonwindeyer]

This guide is incredible!

Although, do you have any tips to help make the ending really pack a punch. My teacher's feedback is always that my endings are weak and don't give any impact that makes them memorable. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cliffhangers can be helpful there! End on the Climax (sort of) and remove the Resolution entirely, if you end at the point of highest impact then you have less risk of a "weak ending"

I always like playing with sentence structure too. If you build long sentences, build up what you want to say, make it seem like everything is unravelling and the story is coming to a close. Build up a crescendo, kind of like the big finish to a symphonic piece, when the audience knows that the end is near and the big bang is coming and they are just waiting and waiting for that massive crash at the end, the exclamation point, that final emphatic conclusion that has been building and building and building...

Then done. Just like that.

See what I did there? playing with sentence structure can be really powerful, especially towards the end