Subject Matter for Creative Writing (1 Viewer)

[housemouse]

Let's just say that I am given an assignment to complete and out of every idea that I can think of, I choose to write about Australia turning into a Communist country.

Would this be frowned upon????

 

[live.fast]

They can't mark ya down for it. Do what ya like.

 

[live.fast]

hey btw can ya tell me what the actual assignment's meant to be? Liek the assignment question? Just outta curiousity. =)

 

[P_Dilemma]

Put yourself in ur teacher's shoes; what DON'T you want to read?

The old folks apparently don't like teen angst, so scratch that...

 

[passion89]

Yeah never, EVER do teen angst...Apparently it's too much of a whinge-session and all too common for year 12 creative writing.

 

[housemouse]

My assignment sort of goes into Powerplay.

Yeah teen angst, going to school and love stories are all apparently done so much teachers dont like them.

 

[Tulipa]

Yeah never, EVER do teen angst...Apparently it's too much of a whinge-session and all too common for year 12 creative writing.

NEVER do teenage angst EVER unless it's a clever and witty parody (that is obviously a parody)

ALSO NEVER DO POETRY.



an orgininal idea that is creatively written always gets marks, also my english teachers would mark higher for a "creative format". for example, i did two letters responding to each other that was marked really well.

 

[Bobness]

i did a love story and scored full marks. LOL LOL LOL it was an appropriation of Under Milk Wood though so everyone else did something similar.

i hear teachers are normally left-wing post-modernists so communism would be right down their track unless of course they're disparaging towards radical views in which case be careful.

i would think a dystopian / parody of communism might work bettter. good luck

 

[nwatts]

NEVER do teenage angst EVER

hahah.. oh.. hahaha..

Yeah you tell 'em. hehehe

To the pinko: if you can do something along those lines within the very short space of time you're given in the hsc then go for it. But i doubt you or anyone else could (except maybe for me). Find something extremely simple and cram in relevant details to get ace marks. All throughout my hsc creative writing I picked ridiculous things and just wrote whatever came in an almost stream-of-consciousness fashion while sticking to the "journey" or "crime" theme. Worked well. One was an entire piece on "nothing" another on a "tree" and my final more serious one was on "rape". Flex your creative muscles- find something inane and recreate it.

 

[P_Dilemma]

how about death and killing? i've written loads about killing people, do teachers like that shit?

 

[Tulipa]

how about death and killing? i've written loads about killing people, do teachers like that shit?

not if the bulk of your story is merely descriptions of gore and action. THAT won't get you any marks, however, if you focus on the character, their motivations and the story behind the killings then perhaps it could work but I still wouldnt advise it.

Particulary so in the short space your given to write in your HSC exam. Like nwatts said; keep it short, relevant and creative.

 

[live.fast]

hey, gore and action caaan work ya noe.

Anything works, as long as you're a good writer.

Otherwise, if it sounds cheap or not well written

THEN, you're McScrewed. =)

 

[Testpilot]

The best advice i can give about creative writing is to stay away from controversial topics.

For example, when the debate about Australia using nuclear power was in the news I had to write a short story, within 1,000 words. So I wrote about a Chernobyl like incident. It wasn't well recieved.

 

[live.fast]

It doesnt matter what topic you choose. As long as you can write good about it. Teachers don't like reading cheesy stuff, they don't like reading stuff that sounds semi-smart. They want to read stuff that seems like a reaal book. Liek a reaaal author would have written. Everything else just gets marked down because it isn't like a real story.

 

[nwatts]

The best advice i can give about creative writing is to stay away from controversial topics.

For example, when the debate about Australia using nuclear power was in the news I had to write a short story, within 1,000 words. So I wrote about a Chernobyl like incident. It wasn't well recieved.

Yeah i'd probably argue the opposite. Grab a controversial topic, put your spin on it, link it in with what you're supposed to be writing about and you've got a piece that'll keep the marker reading.

I doubt it was the subject matter that led your marker off.

 

[Bobness]

what do you mean by 'put your own spin on it'

say the costello-howard furore atm .. how can you link something like that to a journey unless you go behind the scenes and expand on "so 1957 when costello was born .. he was already wondering whether menzies the old duffer was around. look where its taken him now"

sorry that was a pretty sh*t e.g. .. took it from a newspaper editorial

 

[kami]

what do you mean by 'put your own spin on it'

say the costello-howard furore atm .. how can you link something like that to a journey unless you go behind the scenes and expand on "so 1957 when costello was born .. he was already wondering whether menzies the old duffer was around. look where its taken him now"

sorry that was a pretty sh*t e.g. .. took it from a newspaper editorial

Putting your own spin on it can mean a myriad of things as it need not be chained specifically to events. For example you could turn the Howard/Costello things into a tadpole trying to journey up the river to steal the crown of the pond kingdom from a fat toad and make plenty of allusions to modern day politics within your text. Another standpoint would be that of Howards wife who may be ousted from the Lodge because of her husbands dip in popularity now. It can be whatever you want it to be.

 

[Bobness]

lol whoah. that's too far-fetched for my liking.

the concept is quite original though. haha i like mocking critical theories and character(isations) through post-modern deconstruction as opposed to that less direct method (i.e. use of allusions and symbolism).

to every man have his bone. or some random quote like that

 

[glitterfairy]

I'm pretty sure they're lax about "controversial topics". I've heard a large number of HSC markers say "Please just write a good story! And if you can make it entertaining - whilst still insightful of course - even better! Please remember we are going through thousands of these things!"

 

[Bobness]

I'm pretty sure they're lax about "controversial topics". I've heard a large number of HSC markers say "Please just write a good story! And if you can make it entertaining - whilst still insightful of course - even better! Please remember we are going through thousands of these things!"

haha thanks i'll remember that! .. maybe