Progress on Creative Essays:
We are currently workshopping three creative essays loosely based on “personal” experience (and the models in your plastic folders!).
We are working on originality, character insights, depth, feelings and authenticity. T
Essay 1:
Focus: sibling rivalry; your relationship with a sibling who has a mild disability. Or write a piece from the perspective of someone who has a (mild) disability. Think of the various individuals we have read as part of our “Two of Us” insights (It might be a person who is blind, but the reader is not aware of this until the end of the article). Make sure you :
- start with an interesting, dramatic, typical and captivating anecdote
- incorporate some dialogue: make sure you say how it is said (tone and manner of speaking as a concise reflection of character). See tone words to explore vocabulary.
- include a dilemma; moment of conflict. For example you go shopping with Ella and she has one of her very unpredictable tantrums over something quite trivial that leads to acute embarrassment.
- include an insight into your thoughts, attitude and behaviour and change.
- conclude with a simple note or message/comment.
Essay 2:
Change the perspectives and write an essay from the voice of one who sees things differently; has an (invisible) disability such as an ear problem, leg stints, lisp or autism.
Or: Write about a child’s difficult relationship with a parent/grandparent; include light and shade, conflicting emotions and enduring legacy/stain.
Or: Try to write an essay that goes against a cliché. For example, it is quite common to write about an incident of bullying or power-abuse from the perspective of the victim. Try writing a piece from the perspective of the bully, or power-abuser. See sample.
Essay 3:
Write about animals as a mirror of human behaviour. See sample: creative essay, difficult/unusual pets
Four – five short paragraphs
- Start with some dialogue /incident; (explain the manner/tone) and relationship
- Explain the incident
- Give some backstory/change/contrast
- End with a moral/statement/insight
Character descriptions: how to improve your depth and insight
- Explore conflicting emotions that lead to growth and insight
- Introduce contrast: (light and dark/shade): if we are happy at the end because Jake got a job – describe his despair and change because he is unemployed; if my uncle is very witty and humorous – explain how sometimes his humour is interpreted as mean and sarcastic: some people are fearful of him because he can also be unpredictable and volatile; if my parents are separating – think of a pleasant, enjoyable memory to increase the poignancy
Read a variety of texts and note the character descriptions. Write out the samples you like. (Also see the anecdotes/character profiles in our plastic folders.)
Also See Writing Themes, People, Creative tasks
For example, read a couple of chapters of A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) and note the descriptions of character and setting.
Persuasive writing: (ban the three-man tackle)
Typical paragraph (first body paragraph):
The three man tackle should be prohibited because it compromises the safety of all rugby players. Many players such as Arthur McKinnon are facing life in a wheelchair through no fault of their own as a consequence of rules that clearly favour the entertainment aspect of the sport. A victim of a capricious head snap, Arthur will have to eat through a tube for the rest of his life. Concerned at the rise in life threatening accidents like McKinnon’s, Dr Yeo, a senior orthopaedic surgeon, now recommends that young adults abstain from playing rugby league because each time they take to the field they are putting their lives at risk. Quite recklessly, the officials see these accidents as inconsequential. Chief executive officer of the NRL, Mr Tim Scott, believes that any rule change will do little to improve the safety of the players. Such an attitude places all players in their care in harm’s way.
Back to scholarship summary page.