How do you study for an english creative? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter eyeseeyou
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ml125
Well-Known Member
I have one core document for my creative piece. This is the one I go to for any major edits, like minor changes in plot or specific detail. I write my creative out under exam conditions to a specific question. Afterwards I will quickly type it up and compare to core document - edit and refine using anything I might have naturally changed when adapting such as expressions etc. that would make my piece better. Repeat.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
LOL but isn't the creative question more than likely not be a question related to what you've practiced?
Would you just adapt one of your creatives to the stimulus?
Say you write about astronauts in space discovering a massive rock but your stimulus is a wave coming into you, how would you adapt it on the spot?
I believe you are generally allowed to interpret things metaphorically.
ml125
Well-Known Member
The limits of the question lie within the rubric, so as long as you do enough practice you should be able to form a creative piece that encompasses all the possible things you could be asked. With how I study, I aim to efficiently increase the quality of my responses + develop an ability to adapt my creative to various stimuli etc.
With something like this, as InteGrand stated, you would have to interpret the stimulus metaphorically. The idea of a wave could be used as an epiphany - the character being overwhelmed by their discovery, or something along the lines of this.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
TBH I don't feel practice is enough bc in a creative, the direction you head in is not really linear in that sense like an essay
What other interpretations of a wave is there with discovery with story about an astronaut discovering a rock in space
ml125
Well-Known Member
The wave could be an obstacle, so if you were to approach the event as a planned discovery you could talk about the struggle to achieve this objective - so the astronaut having to actively try to find something. It could also be interpreted as I said earlier, the character being overwhelmed by it, however looking more so at the ramifications of the discovery - there could be something significant about this rock that they may feel the need to hide out of fear or that they personally connect with. You could potentially use this as a trigger for a flashback of a past experience - to include a 'rediscovery.'
There are definitely more ways you could interpret this, but this is all I can think of on top of my head lol. It honestly depends on the nature of your piece and what you want to show, so you can try to morph the stimulus to portray whatever you feel are the most important parts of it.
strawberrye
Premium Member
The thing is the basic story shouldn't even be about an astronaut discovering a rock in space-->that sort of plot is very hard to be relatable by the ordinary teacher who probably don't even know astronaut as an actual occupation very well -->which means to write a realistic story of that sort, you have to be really good at research and a pinch of imagination too. The basis of any good creative, GENERALLY, should be on daily themes like friendship, family, cultural identity that sort of thing-->with those relatable stories, it will be much much easier to adapt to any stimulus. In short, the more peculiar your story to start with, the more difficult it will be to adapt to a range of other contexts and for the teacher to be immersed into your story.
KingOfActing
lukewarm mess
I would say to write one really good story - don't even make it answer a question, just have it incorporate some themes that are derived from the discovery syllabus.
Then try to adapt it to various questions and stimuli from past exams/trial papers - make sure you respect the integrity of the story you have already written. Make additions, change paragraphs, maybe even change tense.
My personal tip is to keep certain details of your story undisclosed, so that if you need to you can fill them in using the stimulus later.
Then try to adapt it to various questions and stimuli from past exams/trial papers - make sure you respect the integrity of the story you have already written. Make additions, change paragraphs, maybe even change tense.
My personal tip is to keep certain details of your story undisclosed, so that if you need to you can fill them in using the stimulus later.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
ONE??? That would mean that you have to have one story which fits the whole rubric, perfectlyI would say to write one really good story - don't even make it answer a question, just have it incorporate some themes that are derived from the discovery syllabus.
Then try to adapt it to various questions and stimuli from past exams/trial papers - make sure you respect the integrity of the story you have already written. Make additions, change paragraphs, maybe even change tense.
My personal tip is to keep certain details of your story undisclosed, so that if you need to you can fill them in using the stimulus later.
What would an example of a creative be which fits the whole rubric perfectly?
KingOfActing
lukewarm mess
I'd strongly recommend to not do that. Derivative works are a complex legal blah blah and that's not something you want to risk in the HSC. It's really not too hard to make up a 800-1000 word story.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
I have no creativity. If we were allowed to adopt an idea already used, I'd probably do that
KingOfActing
lukewarm mess
I've done something similar - you don't need to get ALL the concepts of discovery, just one or two, and be able to adapt them.
If you have a story about a child running away from home and finding his "tree house" sort of place, then you can change the wording of the story from something "exciting and unexpected" to something he's been planning on doing for a long time. The main skill you need for creatives is the ability to adapt your writing.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
Huh?
KingOfActing
lukewarm mess
You change the details of the story to fit the question.
eyeseeyou
Well-Known Member
How much of it though?
KingOfActing
lukewarm mess
As much as you feel is necessary such that your story sufficiently answers the questions
In half yearlies I needed to change the entire motive behind my story and my character's super objective, in the trial I didn't need to change anything.
Tim_Monash
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I think the key to building this skill is to do so through practise plans, rather than practise essays. That way you can address a greater volume of questions within the same study time as it would take to write one practise essay. Obviously, writing practise essays are essential, however they should be complemented with a lot of practise plans.
And by practise plans, I mean detailed practise plans. This means methodically stepping out the way your response will progress in dot-point format. I think the key focus of this is to define the question in a way that allows you to relate it to your essay. I also think that the more creative your definition/interpretation of the prompt is, the more creative your piece will be overall.
A very basic example of this would be if your "pre-prepared" response is on an astronaut and the focus of the prompt was love, you should define the prompt liberally. You could interpret "love" as something that is not exclusively felt from human to human; it could also extend to love for a particular feeling, object or experience. For instance, with an astronaut, the love of the unknown or the love of adventure. If you consistently evoke themes of love in this manner, you should be able to use most of your pre-prepared response as a skeleton for your answer.
Personally, this is the skill that I would recommend practising the most.
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Tim
ATAR- 99.20 (VCE)
English Tutor - English (48), Literature (47), Australian History (47), Economics (45), Legal Studies (38), Maths Methods (31)
Get more answers for your questions as well as weekly tips and blog posts, from my friends and I at:
HSC - http://bit.ly/HSChelp
VCE - http://bit.ly/VCEhelp
And by practise plans, I mean detailed practise plans. This means methodically stepping out the way your response will progress in dot-point format. I think the key focus of this is to define the question in a way that allows you to relate it to your essay. I also think that the more creative your definition/interpretation of the prompt is, the more creative your piece will be overall.
A very basic example of this would be if your "pre-prepared" response is on an astronaut and the focus of the prompt was love, you should define the prompt liberally. You could interpret "love" as something that is not exclusively felt from human to human; it could also extend to love for a particular feeling, object or experience. For instance, with an astronaut, the love of the unknown or the love of adventure. If you consistently evoke themes of love in this manner, you should be able to use most of your pre-prepared response as a skeleton for your answer.
Personally, this is the skill that I would recommend practising the most.
-----
Tim
ATAR- 99.20 (VCE)
English Tutor - English (48), Literature (47), Australian History (47), Economics (45), Legal Studies (38), Maths Methods (31)
Get more answers for your questions as well as weekly tips and blog posts, from my friends and I at:
HSC - http://bit.ly/HSChelp
VCE - http://bit.ly/VCEhelp