How to Ace HSC Creative Writing

The creative form is an undoubtedly ambiguous and intimidating medium. However many students mistakenly believe that one's skills in creative writing are a fixed thing, and that one cannot achieve drastic improvements in this form of writing. Often this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because students don't practice enough and don't receive continuous feedback and guidance on how to exactly elevate their stories.To score a full mark creative in the HSC, it boils down to a very simply formula which when used in the correct manner, will enable you to confidently and seamlessly craft powerful and effective narratives.

Full mark creatives comprise three things:

1. An idea (a sophisticated idea that provides insight into the human experience)

2. Narrative (the effective combination of literary elements like plot, style, setting, characters etc. to achieve a coherent representation)

3. Language forms & features (literary techniques that deliberately and intentionally shape the representation of meaning)

Having an idea that is sophisticated and which provides audiences with an insight into what it means to be ‘human’ is key to a successful imaginative piece. Though you‘re not expected or required to have an overly complex concept, you should try and develop a meaningful idea throughout your story so audiences can take something away from your story.

After you’ve settled on an idea, you need to think about how you go about representing it in the form of a narrative. This means considering the characters you want to include in your piece, the setting and plot. Each of these narrative elements should have a meaningful and significant role in the representation of meaning. For instance, you may decide to set your story in a particular location as a means of portraying a character’s state of mind.

Once the macro elements of your work have been decided, you’ll need to start writing your first draft. During the synthesis process, you’ll need to decide on what specific language devices to use and consider the intended effect behind their use as well. It may be useful to reflect on the language forms and features of other texts you’ve studied and how they may be used purposefully inside your own work. You may want to think about incorporating techniques like motif, symbolism or extended metaphors.

If this blog post helped you or if you are interested in enrolling in HSC English classes, contact us at insightenglishtutoring@gmail.com