this is going to be word soup im sorry
creative:
if you aren't a strong writer, i'd say memorise a generic one with basic ideas, or at least if you write a practice one - memorise descriptive paragraphs and good phrases from your practice response (so if you're making an imaginative up on the spot at least you have some good stuff to put in). have a basic idea, you're not a renowned english author, you don't need anything super amazing (i'd suggest smth like connection, power of stories and words). if you read a lot of books (not just your mod c texts and/or your mod a/b texts but including them), try and emulate their style in your pre-prepared mod c thing. steal a word or nice phrase or two.
you should try to introduce character and setting at the beginning of your piece. to make it easier for you, a good tip (you don't have to) is to write it as historical fiction. it gives you a pre-established setting that doesn't feel clunky and you don't need to make up at the top of your head, you can integrate it in. i'd suggest veering away from writing action stuff like in war or something, though - it's often not done well and it's easy to get carried away. for example, maybe you could write about the atmosphere of a place post-war.
another thing that's good to introduce character and setting is to shape your characters to be sad, i'm not kidding. i suggest having one character (anything more than 2 is already bad cos you just don't have the time to develop them in an exam) with a sad sob story or an unfulfilled motivation or something and you can describe with imagery and description just how visceral their emotions are. when i write my imaginatives i like to have one character and he's moping about being separated from someone else (or this someone else was someone who died), because it gives me some time to just write about them sulking and being sad and hopeless that he can't do anything about it
have an extended metaphor that centres around your entire creative so that you can tick off structural devices for your reflection / device you need to use as being inspired by mod c. using something from the setting makes it easier since you're introducing the setting at the start and makes it easier for you to integrate it as the story progresses
discursive:
if you're not a strong writer and struggle to make up imaginatives on the spot (as someone who did this in the trial it was so stressful omg) and they give you a choice do a discursive (i personally hate discursives and avoid them like the plague if i can tho). start with one personal anecdote (make it up if you have to just don't make it sound outrageously cringe, personally ordinary experiences have done the trick for me) and have an overarching extended metaphor - i'd say introduce it as an ordinary object or idea in your anecdote so you can easily introduce and interweave it. believe it or not, there's a structure for discursives; my school gave us one and i've been religiously following it (i ended up getting a 9/10 for a discursive i made up on the spot during one of my tasks). whether you memorise a discursive or make it up on the spot, memorise the personal anecdote + extended metaphor, it makes your life so much easier, to formulate a basic idea to take into the exam.
(don't be cliche with your extended metaphors though - mazes and puzzles etc etc are boring - try to be original)
do 3 paragraphs exploring different viewpoints. like it's a debate and you look at the good and bad points. as carrots said it's so much easier if it's something you're passionate about (which in turn makes it easier to create a natural personal voice). continuously weave in your extended metaphor (and optional: personal anecdote) - i suggest adding it as you close off your paragraph so it makes sure that no matter how off tangent you can get you hook yourself back to where you started and what's relevant to the q.
extra tip: memorise and have a quote from a famous person. the english teachers like it if it's like a renowned literary figure like classic authors / philosophers. for example in my discursive i used a quote from ernest hemingway. interweave it into one of your body paragraphs - i prefer doing it in the third.
reflection:
you can either memorise a reflection or just a scaffold. do three different quotes/examples (if there is a stimulus in the q then you could do two but just in case do three). one of your quotes / examples should be a structural device (eg. if you are doing father and child by gwen harwood, you could write your piece as a diptych and use the diptych as an example, or use the change in tenses as one instead). make sure at least one of your quotes can 'overlap' imo, just in case they try to throw you off (eg. this year in my trials, i prepared a reflection statement but they asked a 5 marker to analyse a device used in one mod c text - so i used one quote i had memorised for this one technique and then just twisted another quote i had for another technique to fit).
reflection should be the easiest thing to do -> start off with an intro, throw in an 'effectively' or 'masterfully' here and there. start by stating the purpose of your piece, then in the 2nd sentence say 'to do this, i was inspired by _____'. then the next three paragraphs should basically be [MOD C TEXT AUTHOR] did [TECHNIQUE] in [mod c quote] to [your purpose]. Similarly, I was inspired by [this], [insert quote from your piece], [STATE YOUR PURPOSE].' rinse and repeat. then do a one-sentence conclusion.
just remember tho they might not ask for a reflection so try and practise for that by looking at other trial papers (eg. the hsc did a 5 marker last year i think, so make sure you're prepared to adapt whatever you have to fit it).
ik this was a lot and a bit rambly cos i thought up of all this at the top of my head but i have a few mod c resources i can send if i remember where they are
