• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

English Paper 1 & Paper 2 STRESS (1 Viewer)

manutd12

New Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
26
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
Im doing Standard English, and Iv completed 1/4 essays, and my creative writing. (Trials are next week). Today I went to see my English teacher and she tore my creative piece to shreds saying that its not detailed enough, for god sakes its 3.5 pages of awesome writing but she wants background knowledge of my characters, and she thinks its to fantasy.
I shall post my story here, and Id LOVE Opinions.

I am outside the door of my childhood home, looking through the fly screen, it’s not the same view as I got as an abused and tormented 16 year old, but it still flashes distinct images of my past, the flashes represent the haunting vocal abuse which decayed my emotional wellbeing, and the scarring physical abuse which left permanent markings on my body.
Let me give you an insight into my tumultuous Life, I grew up in the city of Glasgow in Scotland, this city like my family home was infiltrated by sectarian divide.
My father Jonathon was a devout Catholic, while mother Catherine was a practicing protestant, followed by six siblings, consisting of four brothers and two sisters.

Because I was the youngest in the family my mother decided against my fathers will, to raise me as a protestant because all her other children were raised as Catholics. Since my mother made that decision my father has never let her or I live it down. Jonathon hated the fact that his youngest boy was practicing the opposed religion, that his own blood was following a path that he believed would lead to hell fire. To my father, I was not his son, but just some scrawny lad who would never belong to his humble divide unless I changed my beliefs.

My father practiced several forms of abuse upon me and my mother, it was his way of showing his disgust in my mothers action, what confuses me still to this day, was hat he married my mother knowing her practicing religion and was Ok with that, he probably thought he could somehow change her mind of thought, and bring her over to his side of the fence, but anyway back to the abuse. His physical abuse to my mother was profound; he did not let her live one day without telling her what an “unholy bitch” she was. Everyday after school we would come back to a shaken mother who had blotches of blue spots on her arms and inner thighs, my father acted like he did nothing wrong, my mum followed his actions so she doesn’t disturb the functioning of our home.

When he wasn’t killing my mother slowly, he was lashing out his disgust on me. I was a promising footballer, playing out the weekends as a Rangers School boy, but the emotional and physical abuse I received from my father was enough to derail my footballing abilities. Jonathon would pound me to the floor on a daily basis, either by using his own bodily force or hard stone objects that he would find nearby, after the physical bashing he would then scream words to me that would make me feel shit about myself, telling me “you’re a bloody worthless scrawny kid, you think your going to make it as a footballer, you’ll be lucky to get a job as a rubbish collector, I don’t know why god wasted space by creating you, your nothing but an unholy retard who is on the thoroughfare to hell”. His words would forever leave my thoughts, at 16 it would slowly kill every bit of confidence and personality in me, but now those words only motivate me to achieve further greatness in my life.

They say home is where the heart was, but not in my home, our home was where the pain and suffering was. My father turned my siblings against me, and made them disgusted of their mother. I asked myself everyday how one human being can treat another like that, but I realized my father was not the man of god he thought he was, but rather he was an absolute monster, an antichrist so to call him.

My mother and I kept quiet of our disastrous situation, in fear of creating a bigger monster of im. And besides back in my youth the Scotland Yard were not too concerned with domestic violence cases, they to were biased pricks and if you got the wrong police officer further implications would occur. But as I turned eighteen I felt a sense of guilt as I was sculling Whiskey down my throat, with my closest lads at the pub, I just knew my mother would be at home suffering at the hand of a catholic monster. So as I downed my last pint of whiskey, I confessed to the lads and they were horrified, one of the boys Chris whose father was a police officer, had directed me to his father and I confessed everything showing him the bruises and scars on my body, but in order to prove my statement he had to see for himself. So I took him to my place, were my father was pounding down on my mother, the police took charge of the situation and arrested my father.


A couple of months down the track, they sentenced my father to 35 years imprisonment in one of Scotland’s highest and hardest security prison. Catherine and I could finally rejoice in the freedom we’ve been longing for. I got my footballing career back on track, when my former club found out about my situation, two years after I started to play with the big boys, I got a high paying senior contract at Rangers Football club and made my debut in the Champions League against Manchester United. The money I earnt on a weekly basis was enough to get my mother out of her ‘prison cell’ and into a new apartment in the centre of Glasgow, I got myself a new pad, with my girlfriend Stacey, life was on the up for me. My mother was finally happy, she had got herself a new job, was attending regular counseling sessions and was reconnected with the activities she loved doing, my six other sibling reconciled with my mother and I , and were devastated when they found out the true details of our abusive suffering.

That same year, four years after my fathers imprisonment we were all having Christmas dinner, at my mother’s apartment, were a phone call came through telling us my father had been killed in prison by his cell inmate. It came as a shock, but I wasn’t upset because I had suffered too much pain at the hands of this antichrist, no one shed a tear for his passing, it was all just a relief for us.

My mother and I rejoiced in freedom 10 years ago, now as I stand outside my childhood home as a 26 year old professional footballer, fathering two beautiful daughters. I see my family, in my newly renovated childhood home. Stacey’s who is now my wife, is cooking up in the kitchen, while my mother is reading a story to my daughter’s Elizabeth and McCarthy, this image is a very opposing image to the one I got 10 years ago. I didn’t belong to old childhood home, but a little renovation and love can make someone finally believe that home was were the heart is.
 
K

khorne

Guest
I've crapped out better things after a night drinking and kebabs. 0 for flair.
 

Skyzor

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
163
Location
In your mind and heart
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
I'll be honest with you, i could barely be f*cked enough to read mine let alone some one else's.

However, a quick glimpse and im seeing way to many 'years this, years that'. Make it simple, my creative writing piece only had two scenes in it separated by those five asterisk thingymabobs, dont linger around a dead point...
 

maths94

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
448
Gender
Male
HSC
1998
The story wasn't good it was to much of a cliche. Domestic abuse...then somehow the family/kid finds a happy ending and everything seems okay and the guy who abused them got so many years in jail. Can't you see its a cliche, as in most ppl will write about that. Go to a library and go to random book sections and read the back of the book for ideas which arean't cliche and just build on that.
 

pony_magician

townie for worst user
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
1,044
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
It reads more like a factual account of events that have actually happened? It's very "this happened, then this happened and this happened."

I think your characterisation gets lost in all the words, and it seems so small in contrast to the rest of the story. I think it should span over a shorter time period.

BOS eats up metaphors, similes, personification, so just throw in some creative/literary devices.

The plot itself is a little too cliche I think.
A tough social issue =/= a good story

If you're struggling with other plot ideas, here's a few sort of bases:
http://www.rpglibrary.org/articles/storytelling/36plots.php
 
Last edited:

Skyzor

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
163
Location
In your mind and heart
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
The story wasn't good it was to much of a cliche. Domestic abuse...then somehow the family/kid finds a happy ending and everything seems okay and the guy who abused them got so many years in jail. Can't you see its a cliche, as in most ppl will write about that. Go to a library and go to random book sections and read the back of the book for ideas which arean't cliche and just build on that.
That is another crucial point. Remember your teacher will be sitting down at a desk for hours on end marking repetitive essays of how farmer Bob was abducted by aliens and struggled to fit :cry: awww... its bullshit, those strories start from -10 and work their way up.

Give them something refreshing and unique that will score you points for originality.
 

pony_magician

townie for worst user
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
1,044
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
That is another crucial point. Remember your teacher will be sitting down at a desk for hours on end marking repetitive essays of how farmer Bob was abducted by aliens and struggled to fit :cry: awww... its bullshit, those strories start from -10 and work their way up.

Give them something refreshing and unique that will score you points for originality.
This is a very valid point. You and a couple other tens of thousands will all be writing based on the same stimulus.
You need to be able to differentiate yourself.

The story doesn't have to try to be deep. It could be a comedy.

This sort of story, you'd really have to nail in the flair and structure to get a high mark.
 

SpreadTheWord

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
349
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Dude good effort, just try to take on the constructive criticism. Personally, im shocking at creative writing, it can be hard to evade the cliche crap. Tbh, i wish they would scrap this part, it's practically pointless.

Overall it's a good plot, but try and include a twist at the end, possibly capture a moment with 2 characters and a couple scenes max. Try to include senses, feelings, a lot more, this will help the reader to establish a connection with the story. A bit more emotive language or more effective language - but don't over do it.
 

jnney

lemon
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
1,437
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
I don't know about the 'fantasy' bit but I think your teacher is right on everything else. Your piece is not very descriptive. Your characters lack dimension. It's not very interesting either - there is no climax no nothing to look forward to in your story. Also, you need a variation between short and long sentences. For example your first sentence is way too long.
 

Roley

New Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
3
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Hi teachers talk a lot about "show don't tell". by that they mean you progress the story as if it were a series of scenes, where there is conversation and action between the characters. Think about this - if you were to turn your story into a film, how would you do it? your story has sophisticated language but it "tells" it doesn't show.
 

Roley

New Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
3
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
example: this is telling the reader: My father practiced several forms of abuse upon me and my mother, it was his way of showing his disgust in my mothers action, what confuses me still to this day, was that he married my mother knowing her practicing religion and was Ok with that, he probably thought he could somehow change her mind of thought, and bring her over to his side of the fence, but anyway back to the abuse.

I haven't written the following paragraph well, but this is an example of turning "telling" into "showing": I flung open the door and dumped my football gear on the floor. (btw, your first paragraph - do they have flyscreens in Glasgow?). There was an eerie silence. "Mum? where are you?" She was huddled in the corner of the kitchen, her face carefully turned from me, her arms protecting her chest, and I swore loudly. "Let me see," I said harshly. Gently, I turned her to face the light. Her left eye was half-closed, her cheek bleeding profuesly, and I knew from the way she was standing he had probably broken one of her ribs. "Don't swear, son," she reprimanded me. "You know he doesn't like you taking the Lord's name in vain."
 

Portrayal

New Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
26
Gender
Female
HSC
1998
Im doing Standard English, and Iv completed 1/4 essays, and my creative writing. (Trials are next week). Today I went to see my English teacher and she tore my creative piece to shreds saying that its not detailed enough, for god sakes its 3.5 pages of awesome writing but she wants background knowledge of my characters, and she thinks its to fantasy.
I shall post my story here, and Id LOVE Opinions.

I am outside the door of my childhood home, looking through the fly screen, it’s not the same view as I got as an abused and tormented 16 year old, but it still flashes distinct images of my past, the flashes represent the haunting vocal abuse which decayed my emotional wellbeing, and the scarring physical abuse which left permanent markings on my body.
Let me give you an insight into my tumultuous Life, I grew up in the city of Glasgow in Scotland, this city like my family home was infiltrated by sectarian divide.
My father Jonathon was a devout Catholic, while mother Catherine was a practicing protestant, followed by six siblings, consisting of four brothers and two sisters.

Because I was the youngest in the family my mother decided against my fathers will, to raise me as a protestant because all her other children were raised as Catholics. Since my mother made that decision my father has never let her or I live it down. Jonathon hated the fact that his youngest boy was practicing the opposed religion, that his own blood was following a path that he believed would lead to hell fire. To my father, I was not his son, but just some scrawny lad who would never belong to his humble divide unless I changed my beliefs.

My father practiced several forms of abuse upon me and my mother, it was his way of showing his disgust in my mothers action, what confuses me still to this day, was hat he married my mother knowing her practicing religion and was Ok with that, he probably thought he could somehow change her mind of thought, and bring her over to his side of the fence, but anyway back to the abuse. His physical abuse to my mother was profound; he did not let her live one day without telling her what an “unholy bitch” she was. Everyday after school we would come back to a shaken mother who had blotches of blue spots on her arms and inner thighs, my father acted like he did nothing wrong, my mum followed his actions so she doesn’t disturb the functioning of our home.

When he wasn’t killing my mother slowly, he was lashing out his disgust on me. I was a promising footballer, playing out the weekends as a Rangers School boy, but the emotional and physical abuse I received from my father was enough to derail my footballing abilities. Jonathon would pound me to the floor on a daily basis, either by using his own bodily force or hard stone objects that he would find nearby, after the physical bashing he would then scream words to me that would make me feel shit about myself, telling me “you’re a bloody worthless scrawny kid, you think your going to make it as a footballer, you’ll be lucky to get a job as a rubbish collector, I don’t know why god wasted space by creating you, your nothing but an unholy retard who is on the thoroughfare to hell”. His words would forever leave my thoughts, at 16 it would slowly kill every bit of confidence and personality in me, but now those words only motivate me to achieve further greatness in my life.

They say home is where the heart was, but not in my home, our home was where the pain and suffering was. My father turned my siblings against me, and made them disgusted of their mother. I asked myself everyday how one human being can treat another like that, but I realized my father was not the man of god he thought he was, but rather he was an absolute monster, an antichrist so to call him.

My mother and I kept quiet of our disastrous situation, in fear of creating a bigger monster of im. And besides back in my youth the Scotland Yard were not too concerned with domestic violence cases, they to were biased pricks and if you got the wrong police officer further implications would occur. But as I turned eighteen I felt a sense of guilt as I was sculling Whiskey down my throat, with my closest lads at the pub, I just knew my mother would be at home suffering at the hand of a catholic monster. So as I downed my last pint of whiskey, I confessed to the lads and they were horrified, one of the boys Chris whose father was a police officer, had directed me to his father and I confessed everything showing him the bruises and scars on my body, but in order to prove my statement he had to see for himself. So I took him to my place, were my father was pounding down on my mother, the police took charge of the situation and arrested my father.


A couple of months down the track, they sentenced my father to 35 years imprisonment in one of Scotland’s highest and hardest security prison. Catherine and I could finally rejoice in the freedom we’ve been longing for. I got my footballing career back on track, when my former club found out about my situation, two years after I started to play with the big boys, I got a high paying senior contract at Rangers Football club and made my debut in the Champions League against Manchester United. The money I earnt on a weekly basis was enough to get my mother out of her ‘prison cell’ and into a new apartment in the centre of Glasgow, I got myself a new pad, with my girlfriend Stacey, life was on the up for me. My mother was finally happy, she had got herself a new job, was attending regular counseling sessions and was reconnected with the activities she loved doing, my six other sibling reconciled with my mother and I , and were devastated when they found out the true details of our abusive suffering.

That same year, four years after my fathers imprisonment we were all having Christmas dinner, at my mother’s apartment, were a phone call came through telling us my father had been killed in prison by his cell inmate. It came as a shock, but I wasn’t upset because I had suffered too much pain at the hands of this antichrist, no one shed a tear for his passing, it was all just a relief for us.

My mother and I rejoiced in freedom 10 years ago, now as I stand outside my childhood home as a 26 year old professional footballer, fathering two beautiful daughters. I see my family, in my newly renovated childhood home. Stacey’s who is now my wife, is cooking up in the kitchen, while my mother is reading a story to my daughter’s Elizabeth and McCarthy, this image is a very opposing image to the one I got 10 years ago. I didn’t belong to old childhood home, but a little renovation and love can make someone finally believe that home was were the heart is.
ur storie is awesome bruh. ur teecher is a hore face. the ones at my school wuld love that shit.
 

elko93

New Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2010
Messages
3
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Try to stay away from these sort of societal issues. Markers expect to see 10's of thousands of these plots and they dread it. So even before your story get's read, you've lost out on marks. Also the first paragraph is lacking "grab", that sort of in your face reading that's makes you want to continue reading. Maybe if you really have a want to write about abuse by family members (which I understand when you like a topic you cant just forget it) maybe start the first paragraph half-way through an attack or something shocking.

Just trying to help out :)
 

iRuler

Premium Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
6,731
Location
3.141592654
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2014
There isn't flow in your story, and you've written it in first person, you should never do that unless you have a really good story and can engage the audience 100%, that story is the typical story people would write, about issues and etc... and you have to make it stand out from the crowd, also not enough detail, bring out some emotion, like in books, they spend a whole paragraph detailing how someone is crying and what's happening... etc.
 

celt

New Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
1
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2012
Story Would have been twice as good if the kid played for Celtic, everyone hates the rangers.
 

maths94

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
448
Gender
Male
HSC
1998
manutd12, dont get angry or beat up because you are getting critiscm...you should be happy as the end result is that you will change your creative writing to increase your mark :D Also nvr give up in english l use to be like you and got 18/20 in an essay and came first
 

kaur154

Member
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
122
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
Try writing in third person and write something that relates to, something you've experienced, like the first time you traveled overseas or something special in your life and try make something creative out of it.
That't what I did, I went from a 7/15 to 12/15 when I wrote about something I had experienced.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top