belonging: short story writing activities

12
Area of Study: Belonging Section 2: Writing Task

Upload: into-english

Post on 22-Mar-2016

253 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

DESCRIPTION

A collection of creative writing activities for HSC English students.

TRANSCRIPT

Area of Study: Belonging

Section 2: Writing Task

Part One: Getting Started

The Ten Minute Spill

1. Choose one of the following common proverbs:

a. A cat belonging to the house is not chased away. b. There's no place like home. c. Good fences make good neighbours.

2. Write for ten minutes, incorporating your chosen proverb (you may change it in some way),

as well as FIVE of the following words:

Cliff Blackberry Needle Cloud Voice Mother Whir Lick

Don’t worry about creating a story at this stage. Just focus on writing a small scene, using the above parameters, for ten minutes.

Reflection & Evaluation

1. How did this exercise make you feel?

2. Read back over your scene. What do you like about it?

3. If you were to re-write the scene, what would you change? Why?

4. Explain how you would develop your scene into a story about ‘belonging’:

Part Two: Working with Stimulus

To develop a successful creative writing piece for Belonging, you need to be able to effectively integrate the stimulus material you have been given. A high-range response to any creative writing task will be derived solely and exclusively from the stimulus material. This means that the examiner can easily see that your characters, setting, plot and themes are a direct result of deconstructing the stimulus. Therefore, it is not enough to simply give the stimulus ‘lip-service’ by referring to it once or twice throughout your piece. Rather, the entire premise for your response must be derived from the material you are given. The stimulus you are given may be either visual or written. In either case, all stimulus material both gives and denies choices. It is important for you to recognise the limitations the stimulus places on your story, as well as the choices it is giving you. The collection of visual and written stimulus in Part Three of this guide will help you to successfully deconstruct stimulus, thus enabling you to write an engaging and imaginative creative response about Belonging. To begin, here is a sample deconstruction of a question and stimulus:

Analysis & Deconstruction

Setting: garden, backyard.

Characters: old man, young girl –

contrast. Neighbours.

Actions: exchanging a pot plant – who

is giving/who is receiving?

Character motives: why is one giving a

pot plant to another?

Back-story: how do these people know

each other? How did they meet? How

long have they been neighbours?

Symbols/motifs: pot plant could

symbolise growth and development as

fulfilling consequences for characters

belonging to this relationship – may

also symbolise change – plant grows as

the characters grow older, paralleling a

change in the nature of their

relationship.

Relationship to belonging: conveys

friendship/relationships, notions of

sharing, belonging to

community/neighbourhood.

Sample Question:

Ten Minute Spill

Now it’s your turn! Perform the same ‘ten minute spill’ exercise from Part One of this guide. In this

case, write for ten minutes using the illustration above.

Again, you are not writing a whole story, just sketching a small scene.

This tells you the text type

you need to write in. In

this case, it is a narrative.

Always be conscious of all

the information present in

the question. The stimulus

being an illustration may

be useful for a plot-line.

For instance, your main

character could stumble

upon this

illustration/artwork at an

exhibition.

This tells you that your

main character needs to

make an important

(possibly live-changing)

discovery about

themselves. This is the

end result of either

‘belonging’ or ‘not

belonging’.

Use this illustration as the basis for a short story about belonging leading to self-discovery.

Part Three: Writing Activities

1. Who is your main character? Describe him/her in detail.

Stimulus One

This is a place I am still in the habit of calling ‘home’…

Incorporate the above stimulus into a creative piece about belonging.

2. What is the name of the ‘place’ your character calls ‘home’? Where is it? Describe this place in detail.

3. Describe your character as they will appear at the beginning of your story. Do they feel a sense of belonging or do they feel isolated/disconnected/alienated?

4. How will you shift your character from ‘not belonging’ to ‘belonging’ or vice versa? What or who will be the catalyst for this shift?

5. What is the message you intend to convey to readers of your story about the significance of belonging to place? Outline how you will achieve this through language and narrative devices: