🚨 PIECES THAT GOT ME AN A*🚨
This is a compilation of descriptive pieces that I wrote during my GCSE course, including loads of great tips for creative writing.
Maybe you won't enjoy reading these pieces as much as I enjoyed writing them. But if...
A chapter that serves as a guide for creative writing in GCSEs but many of the tips can be used in general creative writing too.
A lot of these tips are from my personal process and may not fit with your individual writing style, but I hope you can find at least something useful here.
I wrote a little more than I intended so I'll just tell you that the most important tips for GCSE are Preparation.3 , Preparation.4 and Structure.1
PREPARATION
1. Practice During my course, my teacher would set us a random creative writing task every two weeks. Writing just a few descriptive paragraphs every so often and learning how to respond to questions can be very impactful on your result.
2. Choice In the exam, you will have a choice between describing a picture that they give you, or writing a piece with a title or sentence that they give you. Practise writing from a picture or a word.
3. Prepare This next tip is how I aced my exam without even writing a new piece.
Closer to the exam go over all the creative pieces you have written as practise. Pick out the best ones, highlight and refine them. You need about three strong pieces, about very different subjects. Make sure you know all the key phrases of imagery.
Now in the exam, whatever the picture or title is, you have a whole catalogue of imagery and ideas that you can simply reproduce. In some cases, you can basically copy down one of your pre-written pieces from memory and change it a little to fit the question.
Eg. One of my practise pieces was about a child hiding in a wardrobe, and was full of imagery about darkness and the hoard of coats. My exam question was to write a piece with the title 'Abandoned'. I wrote down all the parts of the wardrobe piece that I could remember, and simply changed the plot so that the child was abandoned in a cloakroom by his father. That is how 'The Symbol' was born.
4. Recycling Imagery You can simplify the previous tip by just having a list of great words and imagery that you can use in different contexts. You can pick the ones that work with the exam task and implement them into your piece. The list that I wrote is below (my handwriting wasn't great back then haha)
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I used about fifteen of the above in my exam. This trick means you don't have to waste time thinking of new imagery.
TECHNIQUES
1. Imagery Starting with the basics, I can't stress enough how important imagery is. The easiest way to get points is to have beautiful descriptions littered in your writing.
2. Metaphors, Similies & Personification These are your life source. See what I did there? That metaphor made the sentence instantly more dramatic and engaging. In creative writing, they not only paint a picture but go beyond that to bring the picture to life.
Eg. I watch the sky crying shattered tears. It's sobs explode in the night, resembling dandelions in the wind as sparks float to the ground.
This is a lot more effective than: The fireworks exploded into the sky.
3. Realistic Context This tip isn't mandatory but it's clever if you're stuck for a plot. Historical value can be very effective and quickly increases character, setting, and plot development without you doing any work.
eg. In 'The Cell', I started writing about a prison, which was the task, but then I revealed my character was a Protestant victim of Queen Mary. Within a sentence, the examiner can know my character's circumstance, background and beliefs. This saves time and makes your piece believable, but don't force it if it doesn't work for you.
4. Punctuation and grammar These are included in the 16 marks you can gain for technical accuracy. This is a basic knowledge thing so learn how to use it correctly.
In particular, using colons, semi-colons and dashes accurately is great for impressing examiners.
5. Perspective If you're writing in third person, just try to avoid using a name. Referring to your character exclusively as 'she' or 'he' is a lot more mysterious than calling them 'Emily' or 'Jake'.
STRUCTURE
1. Moment in time This is the most important tip I can give you. It is one that I apply every single time.
A lot of people try to write a whole story within half an hour, but picking a moment in time is ten times more powerful, saves you time and allows you to fit in the imagery.
That's the tip in a nutshell. If you can do it, then do.
Now, this is the tip in a lot more depth, and is just one example of how you can use the Moment in Time method effectively:
Let's say you want to write about a girl who is stood up for a date.
You could write the entire plot in perfect chronological order, from them being asked on the date, then getting ready, then arriving and waiting, then realising they are alone.
Or you could try this:
-Pick a moment from the story: the most effective is usually the penultimate event. In this case, that is our girl waiting for the date.
-Spend time describing the setting and narrator's emotions but don't reveal the reasons behind either of these things.
-Place some small flashbacks or references to the past within the character's mind. This uncovers some of the mystery.
-End the piece with the final event. In our case, this is our girl realising she has been stood up. You can use this as the punchline, the plot twist.
Please, don't try to fit a whole day of events and dialogue into a few pages. The content, the imagery, and the range of techniques is a thousand times more important than a long complex plot.
2. Sentence and paragraph types Vary your sentence types and paragraph size. Know your sentence types well and how to use them effectively.
3. Introductions Getting started can be the hardest part. I personally dive straight into a descriptive paragraph of setting as shown in the Moment in Time Structure. Don't tell the reader any facts, just reveal the setting and details through description.
eg. I watched quietly as crowds of buildings jostled for space on the New York skyline and shudders of worry rippled uncomfortably through my body.
This is a more effective opening than: I was in New York at the time and I was very nervous.
——————————————————————— That's it for the guide :)
I hope I was some help and if there is anything at all you want to ask, don't hesitate to drop a comment :)
If you find some of these tips are difficult to fit into the piece you are writing, DON'T FORCE IT. Your piece doesn't have to use my structure or be inspired by a practise piece. This is just what I have personally learned can be effective.
Also please keep giving me feedback on my chapters so I know what kind of things you think are the most helpful <3
