In Paper 1, you will be required to write a creative text that shows evidence of your engagement with the concept of Discovery by responding to a visual or verbal stimulus. Creative writing is often something that students struggle the most with. Therefore, this page will help you develop your creative writing skills!
Task: You are required to write a 500-word short story that focuses on a facet of discovery (E.g. self-discovery). You must also refer to ONE of the verbal/visual stimuli below. You are to write, then upload your story using the Google Drive link below. You must also write a short 100-word commentary on one of your peer's writing.
Creative Writing Tips
Prompts
Select one of the verbal or visual prompts below as the basis of your creative writing:
Creative Writing Tips
- Avoid having too many characters - It is best to have one central character that can be easily distinguished from the supporting characters. The main character needs to be developed and influenced by the events in the story, and this should be evident by the conclusion. Supporting characters should contribute to the plot or main character development in a significant way.
- Develop a character before the plot - While it is common to reflect on the plot during the planning stage of creative writing, it may be better to develop the main character and reflect on their purpose (and how this relates to discovery), and use this to develop the plot.
- Techniques - Use techniques such as personification, imagery, symbolism, and metaphors to enhance the description of the setting and characters. However, avoid using techniques without a meaningful purpose, or overusing techniques in general.
- Avoid using clichés - Do not draw on ideas that have been commonly used in other texts. For example, do not end your creative writing with, "It was all just a dream...". Try to make your writing as original and well-developed as possible with a unique idea.
- Stimuli - Ensure that you make reference to your stimuli throughout your creative writing, rather than a brief reference at the beginning. This demonstrates how your writing strongly relates to the concept of Discovery.
- Resolution - If writing a narrative or short story, a resolution must be included at the end of the story. While it is common for the resolution to be a positive ending, this does not always have to be the case. Some resolutions can have a dark ending. This is something that would assist in making your writing stand out from what other students have created.
Prompts
Select one of the verbal or visual prompts below as the basis of your creative writing:
- The box. The door. The crumbling brick. It begged me to enter...
- My little world started to reveal itself to me...
- Sometimes at dusk we would see him come out from the hidden interior of his island. For years we had no idea who he was or what he did, until...
- If I had known then what I know now, I never would have...
Submission page:
Click here to access our class Google Drive folder.
Remember to follow Netiquette protocols when sharing files and interacting with your peers.
Click here to access our class Google Drive folder.
Remember to follow Netiquette protocols when sharing files and interacting with your peers.