This section focuses on the ‘Reading and Creating’ assessment, and it is divided into sections below:
What is the task?
The creative task, more formally called “Reading and Creating texts”, is where you read a selected author’s text and use it as inspiration in creating your own short story. Here is a short introductory video covering the following:
- What is it?
- How much is it worth?
- What is it testing?
Where to start?
Now that you have a basic understanding of the task, let’s see how we begin drafting our response.
Since this task requires us to draw upon our author’s text, its common to do the following in your own creative response
– Fill in a gap in the author’s stories
– Describe what happens before or after the author’s story
– Use the author’s writing style (themes, ideas, motifs or literary techniques) to generate a new piece
And of course there are many more options, and you can also combine many options together. You may find it helpful to draft the basic storyline of your piece by thinking of the themes and ideas that you want to express. Then after you have the main outline done, it will be much easier to then add in the stylistic features and other elements.
Need inspiration? Here are some high-scoring sample responses
Below are two sample responses for two different texts, however the techniques and ideas covered in these videos can be applied to any text response.
The first sample essay + statement of intention is for ‘Nine Days’
The next sample is for ‘Like a House on Fire’
Still stuck or not sure how to make your piece better?
Here are 3 tips and tricks + a free online resource to help you maximise your marks. All the best with your writing!