1

Module C Statement from the NESA Stage 6 English Prescriptions

Use the breakdown presented in the Powerpoint to colour code this copy of the module statement
according to each component. You will need five colours. Create a key below.

Purpose of the Content in the Learning Process of writing Deliverable

module module processes

In this module, students strengthen and extend their knowledge,

skills and confidence as accomplished writers. Students write for
a range of audiences and purposes using language to convey
ideas and emotions with power and precision.

Students appreciate, examine and analyse at least two short

prescribed texts as well as texts from their own wide reading, as
models and stimulus for the development of their own complex
ideas and written expression. They evaluate how writers use
language creatively and imaginatively for a range of purposes; to
express insights, evoke emotion, describe the wonder of the
natural world, shape a perspective or to share an aesthetic vision.

Through the study of enduring, quality texts of the past as well as

recognised contemporary works, students appreciate, analyse
and evaluate the versatility, power and aesthetics of language.
Through considered appraisal and imaginative engagement with
texts, students reflect on the complex and recursive processes of
writing to further develop their self-expression and apply their
knowledge of textual forms and features in their own sustained
and cohesive compositions.

During the pre-writing stage, students generate and explore

various concepts through discussion and speculation.
Throughout the stages of drafting and revising students
experiment with various figurative, rhetorical and linguistic
devices, for example allusion, imagery, narrative voice,
characterisation, and tone. Students consider purpose, audience
and context to deliberately shape meaning. During the editing
stages students apply the conventions of syntax, spelling,
punctuation and grammar appropriately and effectively for
publication.

Students have opportunities to work independently and

collaboratively to reflect, refine and strengthen their own skills in
producing highly crafted imaginative, discursive, persuasive and
informative texts.

Note: Students may revisit prescribed texts from other modules

to enhance their experiences of quality writing.

2
 Module Statement Vocabulary

The Module Statement includes a number of key terms that you will need to understand for your Module
C exam. Write definitions and examine text types as you listen to the presentation and instructions.

Concept or phrase Definition Types of texts

Imaginative text

Informative text

Persuasive text

Discursive text

3
 The HSC Written Examination

Examination Information – What We Know

ü There will be one question which may contain up to two parts.
ü One part will require an imaginative, discursive, persuasive or informative response. This
may be nominated or you may be abl to choose which purpose you will undertake in your
response.
ü If the question has two parts, the other part will entail a reflection. This may be about the
reading process. The Writing process, the composing process or a combination of these.
ü The question may contain stimulus or a quote.
ü The question may ask you to write about or draw inspiration from one of the Module C texts
you studied. Or, you may be asked to draw on and/or reflect on one or more of your
prescribed texts in the Modules.
ü This section will be marked out of 20.

Assessment/ Examination Rubric

The sample examination on the NESA website offers this

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

- craft language to address the demands of the question
- use language appropriate to audience, purpose and context to deliberately shape meaning

Marking Guidelines
The HSC marking guidelines are adjusted each year to suit the question: for example if the question
includes an extract, the guidelines might state something like: refers to extract with insight.

The general guidelines provided thus far by NESA do offer some guidance in understanding how the
response will be marked.

NESA Sample Questions

The following questions are samples provided by NESA to indicate the possible types of questions you
will encounter.
- Questions A has stimulus, requires one part of writing and allows students to choose the purpose
of their writing
- Question B is specific to a text and allows students to write about a specific aspect within a text
or to go beyond it and choose an idea.
- Question C includes a stimulus quote, two equally valued parts and multiple explicit instructions.
NESA adds an additional advice that you may be asked to reflect on one or more texts.

Question Focus

Example A (20 marks)

Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care,
for speech is but the dealer of thoughts, and
every fool can plainly read in your words what is
the hour of your thoughts. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

4
Use this warning as a stimulus for a piece of
persuasive, discursive or imaginative writing that
expresses your perspective about a significant
concern or idea that you have engaged with in
ONE of your prescribed texts from Module A, B or
C.

Example B
a) Choose a character, persona or speaker from
ONE prescribed text that you have studied in
Module C. Express the thought processes of this
character, persona or speaker by exploring a
moment of tension in the text from an alternative
point of view. (12 marks)
b) Justify the creative decisions that you have
made in your writing in part (a). (8 marks)

Example C
a) Then, although it was still the end of the story,
I put it at the beginning of the novel, as if I
needed to tell the end first in order to go on
and tell the rest. Lydia davis, The End of the
Story: A Novel Collected Stories by Lydia
Davis © Lydia Davis (Penguin, London) (10
marks)

Use this sentence as a stimulus for the opening

of an imaginative, discursive or persuasive piece
of writing that begins with the end. In your
response, you must include at least ONE literary
device or stylistic feature that you have explored
during your study of a prescribed text in Module
C.

b) Explain how at least ONE of your prescribed

texts from Module C has influenced your writing
style in part (a). In your response, focus on ONE
literary device or stylistic feature that you have
used in part (a). 10 marks

Working in pairs, brainstorm these questions. What is the focus? How should the response be
structured? Which examples from your paired texts address the question?

5
 2019 HSC Advanced Examination

The following is the NESA HSC examination for 2019. Consider the sample questions provided by NESA
above, and the actual exam below, and then have a go at answering!

20 marks - Attempt Question 9 - Allow about 40 minutes for this section Focus
Your answer will be assessed on how well you:
• Craft language to address the demands of the question
• Use language appropriate to audience, purpose and form to
deliberately shape meaning

Twice before, a book had turned him inside out and altered who he was, had
blasted apart his assumptions about the world and thrust him onto a new
ground where everything in the world suddenly looked different – and would
remain different for the rest of time, for as long as he himself went on living in
time and occupied space in the world.
- Paul Auster, 4 3 2 1

a) Continue this extract as a piece of imaginative, discursive or

persuasive writing that evokes a particular emotional response in the
reader.
Note: You are NOT required to write out the extract as part of your
response. (10 marks)

b) Compare how you have used language in part (a) to evoke emotion
with the way writing has been crafted in at least ONE prescribed text
from Module C. (10 marks)

Working in pairs, brainstorm these questions. What is the focus? How should the response be
structured?

6
 Reflective Writing
The Module Statement indicates that students are required to reflect on their own writing. While the
NESA K-12 English Glossary does not define reflective texts, it does define reflection as follows:

The thought process by which students develop an understanding and appreciation of their own
learning. This process draws on both cognitive and affective experience.

The NESA guidelines also offer guidelines for Reflective writing, suggesting that it may include some of
the following features:

• Use of first person to express self-assessment

• Use of evaluative language
• Considered use of examples
• Use of anecdotal references, imagery or metaphor
• Explanation, description or justification of the use of specific language or stylistic devices
• Connections between what students learn about writing and the writing that they craft
• Self-awareness of the learning process
• May be objective and/or subjective

The sample exam questions provided by NESA also demonstrate the fact that students may be asked
to reflect on one or more of their prescribed texts for Module C. This means that students may be
required to explain what they have learned about a particular aspect of language or stylistic device that
they have used in their own writing and how this influenced their creative choices. Whether or not
students are asked to write about their prescribed texts in the exam, there is a clear expectation that
students may be required to demonstrate how they have crafted language in their responses, for
example by explaining or justifying aspects of their writing.

NESA identifies two words linked to reflection: cognitive, and affective. After listening to this
section of the presentation, define these two words below.

Cognitive Experience Affective Experience

7
Writing personal reflections during the responding and composing stages of learning ensures
you remain aware of the affective and cognitive processes you have engaged with. As Year 12
commences, write a personal reflection about your experiences as a reader.

8
 Writing a Reflection

It is sometimes helpful to break down the different elements of a piece of writing before you even begin,
rather than charging straight in and making a muddle of the whole affair. The following questions have
been adapted from the Super Six Comprehension Strategies, a set of strategies which assist readers in
understanding challenging books or passages. Because they rely on the personal responses and
interpretations of the reader in understanding what they have read, the Super Six strategies are
particularly useful for us! Ask yourself the following questions to kick-start your personal reflection about
a particular text.

ü Predicting – what did you expect to learn from the book

ü Summarising – what is the text about for you?
ü Making Connections – could you connect with the ideas/characters in the text because you’ve had
a similar experience or episodes/characters reminded you of something?
ü Questioning – Did the text position you to ask probing questions about a particular idea or context?
ü Monitoring – do you feel compelled to extend your engagement with the text, so that you may have
the opportunity to rethink key ideas
ü Visualising – does the text allow you to create distinctive images in your head? Can you engage
(all) your senses as you read the text.

You do not have to include all these aspects. You do not have to write about these aspects in this order.
These are suggestions for what to write about if you are asked to reflect on your reading. However, it
is most likely that you will need to include a summary, make connections, question some ideas in the
text and monitor your personal response when you are reflecting on your reading. Another important
point to understand is that you are not writing a review of the book. The most significant difference is
that a review’s purpose is evaluate the novel’s literary worth or to persuade us to read (or not) using
your personal judgement of the text. A reflection on reading does not include an evaluation and should
focus on sharing your reading experience.

Sample Reflection
This reflection, about reading the novel ‘Clay’ by Melissa Harrison was published at
https://afictionhabit.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/clay-melissa-harrison/.

It is recognised as using the above mentioned aspects of reading reflection, but may not have been
composed with this intention or structure in mind. Nonetheless, as I always say, “the author is dead”
and we have the power to make this what we will! ;)

The Structural component has been annotated for you. Your task is to identify the language features
used to develop this reflection.

9
 Features of Writing
Super Six Sample Reflection

Clever title,
summarising the
We are the clay that grew tall
text.

When I was younger, my Dad taught me how to read an OS

Paragraph 1:
map. Not just what the symbols in the legend mean, but how
making
to read the landscape and compare it to the features on the
connections
map so you can easily find your way. We would stand on top
between past
of a hill, holding the map, looking at geography like valleys,
experiences and
rivers, villages, roads, fields and woods, then look at the map
the subject of the
to see how these features are represented. He must have
book.
taught me well, as recently while out walking with some friends
and paying little attention to where we were (because we were
chatting) we realised we were slightly lost. I took the map and
had a look around. It wasn’t long before I saw where we were
by finding the field sloping away in front of us, the copse
behind us and the fork in the path ahead. I think he started
me off with my obsession of “checking the map”. I don’t own
a SatNav, I like ticking off the towns and villages as we travel,
I like to know where we are in relation to somewhere else (Mr
FH will be sniggering at this as he thinks I am bad with
directions, but that it different to being able to read a map). It
is knowledge that had become part of me, it is some of the “old
way” passed on. When my son’s school is closed for council
elections soon, Dad is taking us both out for more map reading
skills and therefore handing down the knowledge to another
generation.

Melissa Harrison’s book, Clay, is not about maps, but in a

Paragraph 2: similar way to my map story, it is about knowledge concerning
Summarises the our natural world passed down through generations. It is
text, with a clear about noticing what surrounds us and being aware of natural
focus on the idea habitats and the seasons that dictate the lives of plants and
of navigation animals. Her story of TC, a boy from an inner city estate and
(makes the largely ignored by his mother, Jozef a lonely immigrant worker,
connection to Sophia an elderly woman protective of the triangle of park
past memory in outside her flat and Daisy her precocious granddaughter, is
paragraph 1 beautifully woven with the changing seasons in the park and
appropriate) on the common. She integrates the changes in the seasons,
the movement of animals through the urban landscape with
changes in the characters’ lives as some struggle to survive,
others struggle to understand or be accepted.
Paragraph 3: I’ve lived in a city and can imagine the pathetic strip of grass
Blends a and trees complete with graffitied benches and overflowing
connection and bins used mainly as a thoroughfare from one road to another,
extends with desire paths weaving across the turf. I’ve lived in a place
further summary where you recognise the faces of those regularly coming and
going, not knowing who they are, but assuming things about
their lives based on what you see and who you see them
with. Jozef and Sophia both notice TC wandering the park
and common on his own, often late at night. Daisy notices him
playing and wants to join in. Jozef notices Sophia shuffling
along the high street, she notices him sitting alone on the

10
Paragraph 4: benches. Their lives are linked by their proximity but they all
The writer have their own struggles.
monitors her own
The main thrust of the story is inter-generational friendship
response to the
and how it can help ease the loneliness the sometimes comes
novel and adds from living in a city. Jozef knows a lot about the land, he lost
realisations his farm in Poland but cannot forget what he knows. He
made about befriends TC who finds solace in the park and common after
particular his father leaves. It is a very sweet friendship based on
characters in knowledge. TC wants to learn, Jozef has knowledge to
hindsight of the offer. This boosts his confidence having felt useless ever
since arriving in the UK. Naturally, such a relationship is
reading process
suspicious to some. Similarly, Sophia has knowledge she is
willing to share with her granddaughter, but it is not as willingly
accepted or wanted. TC, Jozef and Sophia combat their
loneliness by focusing on the changes in the landscape, how
the trees change with the seasons, how the birds’ activities are
Paragraph 5: dependent on the time of year and how the animal’s resident
in the park strive to complete their circle of life.
Brief reference to
prediction (or It is the beautifully described passages on nature that make
inability to do so) this book a pleasure and easy to read. I wasn’t sure where
the story was leading, but it didn’t really matter, I enjoyed
Again in walking through the seasons with the characters. I have to
hindsight, the admit to not being completely convinced that TC would have
reader questions gone almost completely unnoticed by his mother, social
services and his school for the best part of a year. I was
some of the plot
surprised that TCs father showed up out of nowhere and
developments bemused at Daisy and her mother’s change of heart about
Sophia. I felt Jozef and TCs story was more believable and
These questions engaging on the whole. But these are small quibbles because
allow her to Melissa’s writing is lyrical and absorbing, she has told this
imagine beyond story from a unique perspective and done a good job. Her
love of nature and landscape comes through in her writing
the scope of the
without being too preachy. It has made me think about my
text green space. Despite being always on the lookout for my
garden birds I am being more observant of the changes in my
garden and how the inhabitants use it. I’ve even downloaded
Paragraph 7 a birdsong app to my phone!
Again,
connections to I am hoping to meet Melissa Harrison this evening at a World
Book Night event at Guildford Library. I look forward to
the reader’s
chatting to her about Clay and seeing what exciting things she
world are drawn brings along for her show and tell.
on.
Side note: I think I was even more engaged with this story as
the names Sophia and Daisy feature in my close family.

11
 Reflecting on What You Compose

If you are asked to write a reflection it will most likely be about your own composing processes. Despite
the personal, subjective elements, it must maintain an academic voice and form. The NESA glossary
defines the term as “The thought process by which students develop an understanding and appreciation
of their own learning. This process draws on both cognitive and affective experience.”
Mel Dixon, in mETAphor, provides this definition: “Learning through reflection – defined by Boud, Keogh
and Walker as ‘those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their
experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations’ – is a widely accepted practice
in educational circles. It is about ‘visible thinking’ and developing ‘habits of mind’. Being conscious of
what you do, why you do it and how you do it improves learning.”
Other information from various NESA documents available to us include these guidelines:
• an explanation of the intended audience and purposes for which it was composed
• an analysis of the relationships between concept, structure, technical and language features
• an evaluation of the writing process and the realisation of the concept in the composition.

Structure of a Reflection
If we focus on the underlined descriptors, your reflection will include explanation and analysis.
• Explanation of your intention (product)
• Explanation of what you did (process)
• Explanation of what influenced how you did what you did
• Analysis of how your own writing is an effective representation
• Analysis of how your reading is shaping your writing.
These aspects can be woven together or addressed in a more methodical way. What’s important is that
you develop a conceptual argument.

Cognitive and Affective Experiences

These terms are used in both the NESA and the Mel Dixon definition (mETAphor, Issue 3, 2018).
• Cognitive – relating to cognition – refers to the process we undertake to learn information. This
process includes experiencing something and responding to it, with our senses engaged.
• Affective - a psychological phrase referring to emotions and mood. The feelings that we
experience through the cognitive.
Language of a Reflection
• First person
• Retrospective
• Voice should be authentic but maintain an academic quality
Types of Reflections
• Personal Reflection
• Critical Reflection

Extension Task: Write a personal reflection about how your attitude to literature has evolved. Use one
of the following quotes, from “What Makes Literature Powerful” as stimulus for this task.
Literature is about finding one’s identity.
OR
Literature is torture because these stories aren’t accessible and relatable.

12
 Critical Reflection Exemplar

In a critical reflection you will write about writing and reading with an evaluative purpose.

The following excerpt is from a 1500 word reflection composed by Amanda Ha, for the English Extension
2 Major Work, at Sefton High School in 2017. She achieved full marks for Ext 2 for the HSC examination,
hence a 10/10 for the reflection from which this excerpt is drawn.

Examine the structure (annotated for you). Annotate the language choices made (started for you).
Structure and
Writing Sample Reflection
components
Mechanics
Overview of
Rich “Was what you wrapped around you. narrative idea
intertextuality Blood-red. Was it blood?”
• Ted Hughes, ‘Red’

Emotive Forgotten Lotuses examines the conditioned feminine

language experience through the debilitating practice of foot binding,
where the deliberate modification of physicality embodies the
subordinate position of females in the traditional Chinese Purpose
Repetition of ‘to
familial and social stratum. … Forgotten Lotuses seeks to give
give’ creates
voice narrative voice to this closed moment of history; to give shape
and dimension to the shame of the forgotten women of
Imperial China.
Terminology
reflecting the …Although the exploration of the feminine identity is a
Purpose
theoretical recurrent trope across all forms of literature, women still elaborated
underpinnings in
the narrative maintain this position of subservient inferiority ‘in a world Dominant audience
authored by men. Therefore, it is imperative that the advocacy
of the treatment of women remains in social consciousness
and discourse. The conceptual underpinning of the female
Intended Audience
Chinese identity instinctually assigns the predominant portion
of my audience to be women and those of Chinese descent.
Although this would be the anticipated outcome, the short
story form allows for a wide variety of readers to understand,
interpret and appreciate my work. Forgotten Lotuses targets
Elaboration on
an informed, culturally-astute audience as I divulge the
audience
implications of the status of women in a patriarchal system.
However, it is not only restricted to the erudite as my adoption
of the simplistic but forthright Chinese writing style ensures a Overview of key
broad readership to appreciate my work for its narrative features of a
features. A distant and unfamiliar Chinese setting and narrative: setting
characters can be either alienating or captivating to a Western
Key aspects of the
audience. Despite either response, when unpicking the core rubric addressed:
values of Forgotten Lotuses, the unnerving similarity between context and values
the brutal tradition of foot binding in Chinese culture and the
strive for disfigured standards of beauty in Western Culture is
revealed.

13
The purpose of fiction is to create a “mirror” (Borge) through Theoretical
which responders are provided with an opportunity for self- underpinnings
reflection. Therefore, to consolidate my short story form, I
Cognitive
studied Australian authors such as David Malouf and Cate
experiences
Kennedy who master the focused, precise and powerful (Literary
nature of short stories to convey their concepts of the inspiration)
heightened sense of spatial relations and the inextricable
connection between mother and daughter, respectively. To
further authenticate the intrinsic familial bond between
grandmother and granddaughter in Forgotten Lotuses “the
Affective
young girl was both her daughter and not her daughter.”,
experiences
independent of my own experiences as both a daughter and Cognitive
granddaughter of Chinese descent, I consulted the oeuvre of experience (by
Chinese-American novelist Amy Tan, particularly The Joy extension)
Luck Club, which explores the hybridisation of cultural identity
when confronted by shifting social mores. Furthermore, to
establish a deep and meaningful relationship between author
Cognitive
and responder, I consulted Kate Grenville’s The Writing Book: experience
A Workbook for fiction writers. Drawing from her crafting of
characterisation “Characters have to have motivation.
Characters in fiction don’t have to work as people: they only Evaluative
have to work as characters in fiction”, I was able to strengthen comment about
own writing and the
character dimensionality. By doing this, I successfully
growth she made
achieved my purpose of suturing my audience into the
experiences of my characters through the discomfort of my
narrative; whether it be when Mei Ying has her feet bound,
when Tze Lung is in prison or when the grandmother is simply
observing her granddaughter.
Affective
experience linked
The poignancy of Forgotten Lotuses lies in my semi-
into evaluative
autobiographical re-imagining of the life of my great- stance on own
grandmother who had to endure the adversity and hardship work
experienced by women during the transitionary period from Wide scope
Imperial to Communist China. This revision of the female references to
Chinese identity is a purposeful adoption of the stylistic literature that is
relevant to her
tendency to recreate and narratively revision history in
subject
tenderness as seen in the likes of Jane Austen and Ted
Hughes. …

Studying Melissa Harrison’s multi-gaze novel Clay in Focus on how a

Advanced English has also shaped the writing style of particular writers
Forgotten Lotuses as I drew inspiration from her pastoral style was emulated
evocations and lyrical landscape writing, as evidenced in my
own work “Chrysanthemum florets flecked the meadows”. To
intensify the coda of each of my episodes such as when I refer
to the ‘suffocating lotus flower’ I use pathetic fallacy to
symbolise the claustrophobic environment for women in
China. Leads into more
critical evaluation
…
of own creative
writing

14
 Further, the camera-stylo imagery of these cutaways appeal
to a 20th-21st century “visual audience” as I telescope from a
panorama of rural Chinese landscape “the rice paddies were More about how
the writer studied
filled with streams of water, demarcating the contours of each
influenced her
crop.” … writing

… Furthermore, my abandonment of traditional speech marks,

influenced by John Steinbeck’s writing style and instead using
hyphens to demarcate dialogue, punctuates and emphasises
the short, sharp sentences that governs Chinese impartiality. Influence of writers
on her own
…
composition

When I was a child, I witnessed a cockfight. Experiences such

as these coupled with my Chinese heritage allowed me to
effectively and authentically reimagine a world of merciless
ferocity that governed the lives of women with bound feet experience in a
during the transitionary period between Imperial and retrospective voice
Communist China as I re-imagine the trials and tribulations of linked to the
my great-grandmother. cognitive

“You revelled in red.

I felt it raw – like crisp gauze edges
Of a stiffening wound.”
Ted Hughes, ‘Red’

NOTE: In Module C you could be asked to write any one of these reflection types.

NOW … ONTO WRITING

15
The Craft of Writing module asks you to consider your writing and the writing of others carefully in order
to become a more thoughtful and sophisticated author. If you have never imagined yourself as someone
“thoughtful” or “sophisticated” – you’re in luck! That’s the point: this module was developed just for you
to learn how to write good!

You may think that writing is a mysterious process … how do people do it? Do they commune in the
woods on a moonless night or something? Look, I would love for the answer to be yes – but sadly, just
as your piano teacher says, the solution is pretty plain Jane:

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

Shakespeares, Tolstoys, Austen… are not born, they are made. I’ve broken the process of writing down
into a few steps for you, included below. The steps discuss some common problems, and some tips
from famous authors, writing coaches and English teachers. Whenever you come across a stumbling
block in your writing, come back to these steps – which one of them applies to you? Read the associated
passage and tips and have another crack at it. The tools below are geared towards any kind of writing
– imaginative, discursive, persuasive, the list goes on!

Turn the page for a how-to guide to writing good – and good luck!

16
Step One: GETTING AN IDEA

You’ve got your writing book open, you’ve got your pen in your hand,
the clock is ticking … and your mind is blank. It’s like you’ve tripped
over your shoelaces before you’ve even started the race. Your very
first challenge has appeared: you don’t know what to write about.

So, how do you get a story idea?

Here’s the good news: ideas are everywhere. Chances are, you
have about five ideas for a story already without even realising it.
The author Stephen King is big on this. He says:
Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump,
no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from
nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and
make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognise them when they
show up.
- From On Writing, by Stephen King

Now that’s not very practical advice if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t believe in magic. So here’s
some pragmatic advice from Roy Peter Clark with a few different methods of getting ideas that will work
on even the stubbornest blank minds:
Go to the café: For the price of a cup of coffee, you can listen in on the morning’s conversations about
news and current events. When people eat, they also laugh, argue, canoodle, whisper, check each other
out, check you out, or talk too loud. Keep your mobile in your pocket and focus your attention on what
is going on around you. Francis X. Clines, one of the finest writers in the history of the New York Times,
once said that he knew he could find a good story if he could just get out of the office. Any café is a story
idea machine.

Keep a little notebook to compile story ideas: Ideas can be elusive – like fireflies at dusk. You will
need a dozen story ideas for every one you eventually execute, and a place to store them – your
notebook. Capture snippets of overheard conversations, funny jokes, interesting facts, and fleeting
observations – any unusual or attention-grabbing thing you see around the place. By doing this, you are
recording the seeds of story ideas, most of which will die out. A few will bear fruit.

Watch people in their natural habitats: Ride the bus. Take the train. Even when you are stuck inside
that human sardine can we call an airplane, take in the setting. Imagine that a scene will play out there.
Watch people’s reaction upon takeoff, or when the first bump of turbulence strikes. Could you write a
play from the dialogue between characters on that plane – or a novel? Your body may just be hanging
out in all those places, but your mind is on fire with curiosity, imagining character, dialogue, narrative
tension, points of view, a sequence of scenes – all the building blocks of story construction.
- From Help! For Writers, by Roy Peter Clark

17
Activity: So let’s give that a go: use the following to kick-start your notebook.

Here, record interesting dialogue or scribble notes based on a conversation you overhear on the train,
bus or in a café:

Here, record some observations you make during the course of one day. What caught your eye today?
This could be as simple as the colour of a leaf fallen on the footpath.

Here, record a memorable story someone older told you about their childhood – a grandmother or father
perhaps. This might be the seed of a great story idea!

18
Step Two: GETTING INTO THE WRITING HEADSPACE

Is it better to devote yourself wholly to a project or to set aside a small portion of time each day? Is it
possible to “work smarter, not harder” in English without sacrificing quality? Or is it a curse of being a
writer that you must suffer self-doubt, crises of confidence, wasted time and procrastination, torturous
writing blocks and dry spells?

See, the thing with writing is, it takes so long, we have deadlines, other assignments and homework, we
feel like we don’t know what we’re talking about, we haven’t researched enough, we’ll look ridiculous,
and even while we’re writing about whether we’re phrasing something correctly or if that’s what we really
mean. You know that your teacher will be reading your writing and writing all over it, or giving our
precious writing a mark. Any of these things can make us feel small or like our writing is worthless.

Somehow we need to overcome all these fears, anxieties and stresses related to writing and just write.
Yes, easier said than done. So how do you rein that panic in and set it to work for you, allow you to write
your story? Mark Tredinnick advises:

The best thing to do is the most important step of all – start writing, uncomfortable though it may feel at
first, as though you were talking. Don’t think of it as writing at all … Once you’ve stopped thinking about
it as writing, you’ll be surprised how much more easily writing comes to you, and how much better it
works.
- From The Little Red Writing Book by Mark Tredinnick

The writing coach Julia Cameron has two tools up her sleeve that she promises work for any writer, no
matter how old, or slow, or incapable of ideas, or uncreative. She even promises that these tools work
even if you are the kind of person who needs to wait for inspiration to strike before you can put pen to
paper. As we all know – waiting for inspiration is a long and uncertain process. Is there a way, as she
says, that being creative can just happen? When you show up to write, all the stuff you need to write
can just flow out freely on the paper with very little effort? Well, I’ll share her tips with you and you can
decide for yourself. Why not?

First: The Morning Pages. Put simply, the morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly
stream-of-consciousness. They might also, more ingloriously, be called brain drain, since that is one of
their main functions. Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn’t really matter. They will teach
you to stop judging and let yourself write. Morning pages get us to other side of our fear, negativity and
moods … so you’ll see that your other writing seems to suddenly be far more free and expansive and
somehow easy to do ... In short, no matter what your reservations are, morning pages will work for you.

Second: The Artist Date. This is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and
committed to nurturing your inner artist. A long country walk, a solitary expedition to the beach for a
sunrise or sunset, a sortie out to a strange church to hear gospel music, to an ethnic neighbourhood to
taste foreign sights and sounds – your artist might enjoy any of these. During your artist date, you are
receiving – opening yourself to insight, inspiration and guidance.
- From The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

As Carl Jung, famous psychoanalyst of the 30s declared, “The creation of something new is not
accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind
plays with the objects it loves.”

19
What are some ‘Artist Dates’ that would refresh your creativity? Brainstorm some options here,
e.g. “going to the art gallery always inspires me with new ideas.”

Author Toni Morrison was inspired to write her

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo only ever wrote in the books because of the experiences of her friends and
bath. Where’s your writing space? family. What inspires you?

20
Step Three: WHERE TO START?

There are so many ways to begin a good story, and different authors have different pieces of advice for
you. It all depends on your story. Author Michael Oondatje’s advice applies to everyone, no matter what
part of your story you want to start with – the first sentence of your novel should tell the reader: “Trust
me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.” Make sure the first part of your
story is meaningful – avoid waffle at all costs! As Hilary Mantel says, “First paragraphs can often be
struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet?” Here are some ways you could start
your story if you’re stuck:

Start with a title: It helps you know what the most important thing about this story is!

Start with a hook. Your reader can’t start off the story bored, they must be engaged. Paul Davies’ advice
is to “Grab the reader instantly. Avoid preamble or exposition. Begin in the middle of a crisis, a situation
or a problem. It can be an action, dialogue or image, anything as long as it is arresting, unusual and
compelling.”

Start with character. If you’re going to do this, ensure your reader falls in love with your characters
quickly – or learns to hate them quickly. F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the great writers of the 20th century
said “Character is plot, plot is character.” Your characters must move the story along by charging ahead,
making decisions, making mistakes, making judgements about others. Any character except the
protagonist can be passive, but do not make that mistake with the lead character of your story! This will
result in dull writing.

Start with setting. If you’re going to do this, it must be because the setting is hugely important to the
story. Don’t just describe a beach because you think your English teacher wants it. As Hilary Mantel
says, “Description must work for its place. It can't be simply ornamental. It usually works best if it has a
human element; it is more effective if it comes from an implied viewpoint, rather than from the eye of
God. If description is coloured by the viewpoint of the character who is doing the noticing, it becomes,
in effect, part of character definition and part of the action.”

Start with an inciting incident. This is the event that sets the story in motion. Joseph Campbell, the man
who studied great myths and legends across all the cultures of earth, identified an ‘inciting incident’ in
every single ancient story he read. He renamed it ‘the call to adventure.’ What is it that starts your
protagonist on this physical/mental/emotional journey?

Start with dialogue. As Peter Carey says, “The declared meaning of a spoken sentence is only its
overcoat, and the real meaning lies underneath its scarves and buttons.” Colum McCann’s dialogue
advice is to make each character distinct: “… never forget that people talk away from what they really
mean. Lies are very interesting when they emerge in speech. Make action occur within the conversation.
Seldom begin in the beginning: catch the dialogue halfway through. No need for hellos or howareyous.
No need for goodbyes either. Jump out from the conversation long before it truly finishes.”

Start in the middle: You might not know how your characters get to this point, but you don’t need to
know. Kick-start the engine by writing something that you know isn’t the start – and you may find that it
works!
And finally, some smashing first sentences of stories, articles and novels to inspire you. Notice how
these first sentences intrigue, captivate and engage – for different reasons:

• The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. (The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley)

21
• It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. (Nineteen-Eighty-Four –
George Orwell)
• Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. (Waiting – Ha Jin)
• Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that
distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel
Garcia Marquez)
• “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” (Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White)
• Governments are always on the lookout for new and nefarious ways to keep the public in the dark
about what they’re doing. (‘Shush’ is not open government – Mark Mahoney)
• Eva York died in a bathtub in 1896 at the Oregon Asylum for the Insane. (A room stacked with the
unclaimed remains of patients symbolizes what’s wrong with the Oregon State Hospital – Rick Attig,
Doug Bates)
• Our minds don’t work like video recorders, and yet the moment we put an eyewitness to a crime on
the stand suddenly we treat his memory like truth from the mountaintop. (When believing isn’t seeing
– Cornelia Grumman)
• When a man of 91 is downright cantankerous and has been on his land longer than most everyone
else has been alive, he wastes no time speaking his mind. (Central Valley neighbours try to prosper
in the drought – Diana Marcum)
• Riotous waves pummel José Arias. (The Wreck of the Lady Mary – Amy Ellis Nutt)
• He emerged from the metro at the L’Enfant Plaza station and positioned himself against a wall
beside a trash basket. (Pearls before Breakfast – Gene Weingarten)
• In a damp fourteen-by-twenty-foot laboratory in Boston on a December morning in 1947, a man
named Sidney Farber waited impatiently for the arrival of a parcel from New York. (The Emperor of
all Maladies – Siddhartha Mukherjee)

Activity: Now it’s your turn. In the space below, brainstorm three different story openings. I’ve given you
a challenge – one opening that is beautiful, one that is punchy and one that is completely unique. Let’s
see how you do …

A beautiful story opening:

A punchy story opening:

A completely unique story opening:

22
Step Four: WHAT DO I PUT IN MY STORY?

Think about yourself as a reader. What are your secret wishes for a story when you start reading? You
might want something entertaining, or inspiring, gripping, startling, seductive, or magical … you’re a
pretty picky reader! So what you need to put in your story is something entertaining, inspiring, gripping!
Lucky for you, there’s lots of advice out there about how to do that.

Firstly, there are lots of passive narratives out there. So many stories written by amateurs are
‘nonevents’ – the story doesn’t build up to anything, nothing happens, nothing changes … they’re pretty
boring by the end. Here’s a bit of advice for nonevent stories from Robert McKee’s Story:
“Look closely at the story you’ve written and ask: What big value is at stake in my character’s life at this
moment? Love? Truth? Something else? Remember - the key is it must be ‘big’ - not minor, not
insignificant. Then, go to the end of your story and ask, what is the condition of is this value now? Have
things changed, or stayed the same? If the value-charged condition of the character’s life stays
unchanged from the beginning to the end, then nothing meaningful has happened in the story. The story
may have activity - people talking, or doing things - but if nothing changes in value, it is a nonevent.”

Who are the characters?

Where is the story set and does that present interesting problems or add to its appeal?

23
What are the characters trying to do and why is it worth telling a story about them?

By the end, what has changed and why does that provide a feeling of resolution?

24
Step Five: WHAT GOES WHERE?

Every work of writing has a structure – even if it’s not obvious to the reader. Structure is a container for
the content of your story. The size and appearance of your container dramatically impacts the way a
reader will feel about your content! This does not mean that you should necessarily plan the structure
before you write the story – this may be counterintuitive at the beginning.

A short story must have a beginning, middle and end. A narrative can be a smaller snapshot in the
middle of that short story – a vignette, an episode, something unresolved or quiet or small. An essay
could be moralistic, resolved or unresolved, open. Know what you’re writing first – does it need
structure? The answer, yes. Even Shakespeare was not exempt from the need for structure. But how
do you actually structure a story? Kate Forsyth’s first advice to you is: “to plot is to conceive and arrange
the action and incidents of a story.” Note: this also applies to creative non-fiction and essays – they still
need “storytelling.”

In order to do this, you have to identify the beginning, middle and end. Who are the characters and how
may they change (or not) by the end of the story. What is the major theme of your story and how will
you cloak it in various conflicts/events? You also have to know your word limit – how many characters
or events can you actually fit in this story? Finally, how can you play around with all those things to
create the greatest impact?

So, the basic structure is as Paul Davies says: “A good story is structured like a joke. Set up a problem
that the characters must overcome. Build up the tension by introducing complications and obstacles as
the characters attempt to solve the problem. When the tension has built to a climax deliver the punch
line in the form of an event or realisation to provide a solution.”

But Colum McCann gives us an idea of some different structures you can actually use for your story,
“Ask yourself if it feels right to tell the story in one fell swoop, or if it should be divided into sections, or if
it should have multiple voices, or even multiple styles.” But remember, just because a particular way of
telling the story is new and exciting, it doesn’t mean that it will work for your story.

Pay careful attention to the beginning of the story (we have discussed this already), but also the end.
Gogol once said that the last line of every story is essentially: “And nothing would ever be the same
again.” Don’t force it, don’t tack on a too-neat ending! But you may want to write a couple of alternate
final sentences or even final paragraphs. And, as Colum McCann suggests, “Go with the one you feel
to be true and a little bit mysterious … You want the reader to remember. You want her to be changed.”

Activity: What kind of last line could take your response to the next level? As an example, here’s the last
line of The Great Gatsby, a final sentence endowed with tragic mystery: "So we beat on, boats against
the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald

And when you’re done with that, check out Kurt Vonnegut’s theory which combines geometry with
story plotting! His theory is called …

25
26
Activity: Watch the 5-min clip titled “On the Shapes of Stories” by Kurt Vonnegut on YouTube, and
consider the following questions developed by TED-Ed:

1. Describe the man in a hole story line.

2. Describe the boy gets girl story line.

3. What is the final story Vonnegut is alluding to?

4. What do other kinds of stories look like on this graph?

5. In the space below, develop diagrams for non-linear stories and parallel stories. What do you
notice about trying to develop diagrams for these?

27
Step Six: NOW HOW DO I WRITE IT?

Okay, you might be thinking, I’ve kind of got an idea, I’ve poured myself a Coke Zero and my laptop is
open, but you know what? I still don’t know how to write a good story.

Ah … now we come to the ‘crafting’ bit – otherwise known as ‘style.’ Here, the advice of John Updike
summarises our unit (and your search for creativity) to a tee: “Writing is only reading turned inside out.”
Everything you have read and loved will now help your write your story.

Let’s start with vocab. As PD James says: “Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of
our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are
fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.” Are you using the
exact, precise, accurate word for what you want to say? Or are you fumbling with how to express what
you mean? Take out the dictionary or thesaurus.

Alongside James above comes Geoff Dyer’s advice: “Beware of clichés. Not just the clichés that Martin
Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation
and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés
of form which conform to clichés of expectation.” Try to tell a story no one has told before, and in a way
that no one has written before. It’s a challenge – take it.

Even simple elements like grammar make a huge difference to the way a reader engages with your
story. See the visual on the right, and read the advice of Colum McCann below:

“Should a writer know her grammar? Yes, she should. Don’t overuse the semicolon; it is a muscular
comma when used correctly. Parentheses in fiction
draw far too much attention to themselves. Learn how
to use the possessive correctly as in most good
writer’s work. (Oops.) Never finish a sentence with an
at. (Sorry.) Avoid too many ellipses, especially at the
end of a passage, they’re just a little too dramatic …
(See?)”

Activity: Read the first paragraph of your story – and

SLICE it! Chop out ALL the redundant words, yank out
the million and one commas and whittle down your
sentences! Does it feel ‘punchier’ to you?

28
29
Step Seven: MAKING IT BETTER

Now before you start editing, you need to consider how well you handle criticism. There is no doubt that
good editors help writers make the story better. But an author needs to be open to an editor’s
suggestions, be they parent, teacher or friend, since no story is perfect. Here are some general pieces
of advice to fix your writing – but more specific advice needs to come from someone who has read your
story.

Strunk and White’s famous book The Elements of Style has been used by countless authors, including
billionaire writer Stephen King, to make their writing better. They have several rules which I’m going to
give you a list of here:

Omit needless words: Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words,
for the same reason that a machine should have no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer
make all sentences sort, or avoid all detail, but that every word tell. Many expressions in common use
violate this principle. For e.g. “there is no doubt that” can easily be “no doubt” or “doubtless”, or “the fact
that he had not succeeded” could easily be “his failure.”

Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end: The most emphatic word appears at “the end.” Even
Shakespeare used this rule. Look at the moment where a servant comes in to tell Macbeth some bad
news, saying “The Queen, my Lord, is dead.” A reader naturally reads the end of the sentence as
emphatic – so put the appropriate word there, the one you want your reader to notice.

Use the active voice: A great bugbear of English teachers occurs in both non-fiction and fiction narratives
… the dreaded passive voice. This must be quelled at all costs! When you spot the passive voice in
your writing, change it immediately to active voice. The subject of your sentence must be doing
something (active), not having something done to it (passive.) As Stephen King says: “The timid fellow
writes The meeting will be held at seven o’clock because that somehow says to him, “Put it this way
and people will believe you really know.” Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back
your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write The meeting’s at seven.
There, by God! Don’t you feel better?”

Be clear: There are occasions when obscurity serves a literary meaning. But since writing is
communication, clarity can only be a virtue. Clarity, clarity, clarity. When you become hopelessly mired
in a sentence, it is best to start fresh; do not try to fight your way through against the terrible odds of
syntax. Usually what is wrong is that the construction has become too involved at some point; the
sentence needs to be broken apart and replaced by two or more shorter sentences.

Now that you have all those tips, you need to revise your story. A first draft is your story waking up in
the morning. Revision is when your story combs its hair, puts on its clothes and adds a dash of perfume.
Stephen King’s process of revision is to cut the story down by 10% - he believes this makes the writing
punchy. Have a look, then try it yourself.

30
Stephen King’s revisions
ORIGINAL:
“Mr. Enslin … could I speak to you for a moment in
my office?”
So, Mike thought. He wants to try one more time.
In other circumstances he might have been
impatient. Now he was not. It would help the
section on room 1408, offer the proper ominous
tone the readers of his books seemed to crave, it
was to be One Final Warning – but that wasn’t all.
Mike Enslin hadn’t been sure until now, in spite of
all the backing and filling; now he was. Ostermeyer
wasn’t playing a part. Ostermeyer was really afraid
of room 1408, and what might happen to Mike
there tonight.
“Of course, Mr Ostermeyer. Should I leave my bag
at the desk, or bring it?”
“Oh, we’ll bring it along, shall we?” Ostermeyer, the
good host, reached for it. Yes, he still held out
some hope of persuading Mike not to stay in the
room. Otherwise, he would have directed Mike to
the desk … or taken it there himself. “Allow me.”
“I’m fine with it,” Mike said. “Nothing but a change
of clothes and a toothbrush.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Mike said, holding his eyes. “I’m afraid I am.”
For a moment Mike thought Ostermeyer was going
to give up. He sighed, a little round man in a dark
cutaway coat and a neatly knotted tie, and then he
squared his shoulders again. “Very good, Mr.
Enslin. Follow me.”
Activity: Now revise your work! What unnecessary words etc. can you omit?
31
REVISED:
“Mr. Enslin … could I speak to you for a moment in
my office?”
Well, and why not? It would help the section on
room 1408, add to the ominous tone the readers of
his books seemed to crave, and that wasn’t all.
Mike Enslin hadn’t been sure until now, in spite of
all the backing and filling; now he was. Olin wasn’t
playing a part. Olin was really afraid of room 1408,
and what might happen to Mike there tonight.
“Of course, Mr Olin.”
Olin, the good host, reached for Mike’s bag. “Allow
me.”
“I’m fine with it,” Mike said. “Nothing but a change
of clothes and a toothbrush.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Mike said, holding his eyes. “I’m already
wearing my lucky Hawaiian shirt.” He smiled. “It’s
the one with the ghost repellent.”
Olin sighed, a little round man in a dark cutaway
coat and a neatly knotted tie.
“Very good, Mr. Enslin. Follow me.”
32