I’m constantly encouraging my readers to improve their writing in order to improve their blogging, and this provides the perfect fuel for accomplishing that task. Chris Searchable says: at 3:26 am. The most effective way to take notes while reading is to follow this simple three step process that I've tested and honed on over one thousand books. I put the book on my desk and I won’t touch it for anywhere from a few days to a week. This is very important. Step 3 (optional but highly effective). Paper 1 – Writing Cambridge O Level English Language 1123 17 Section 2: Creative Writing In this section there are fi ve topics to choose from, each of which comes under one of three essay types: narrative (3 and 5), discursive (2) and descriptive (1) 4 can be interpreted in any way candidates choose. Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.
proper writing format
2. 3rd person
The 3rd person present tense
character is “narating” the story as it is happening.
Eg. “MARK PICKS UP THE GUN AND HOLDS IT IN HIS HAND. IT BEGINS TO TREMBLE AS IF ALIVE.”
Commonly used in – screenplays. thriller & suspense genres
The story/film is unfolding as we read it
Faster a more urgent and immediate feel feel to the story
Passive voice
tells what’s happening in the character head
Active voice
shows the action
conveys the story
FFOR EG
passive; The sky was blue with a lot of white clouds
active; Fluffy white clouds driftnlike white cottton in the ocean blue sky
passive; Mark was angry with Jane for tricking him into helping
active; Mark slams the door and stalks across the chamber. He shouts “bitch”
everyone NOT HAVE PROBLEMS coming up with a list or excuses for procrastination
if you have a work in progress, NEVER stop for the night if you’re stuck
alwayssolve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water. Agood night’s sleep is important. Sleeping on problems is a myth.
if you can’t get started on a project, start writing anyways. To do this you need to have some words to type.
it does nnot matter what you write, you’ll soon begin to think and move on in your own rhythm / pace
Story Telling proper writing format 1. Present Tense2. 3rd person3. visual voice The 3rd person present tense character is “narating” the story as it is happening. Eg. “MARK PICKS UP THE GUN AND HOLDS IT IN HIS HAND. IT BEGINS TO TREMBLE AS IF ALIVE.” Commonly used in – screenplays. thriller & suspense genres Screenplays The story/film is unfolding as we read itFaster a more urgent and immediate feel feel to the story Passsive VS Active voice Passive voice Uses weak verbs tells what’s happening in the character head Distances the reader from the story Active voice uses strong action verbs shows the action uses an immediate sentence structure conveys the story in a lively manner FFOR EG passive; The sky was blue with a lot of white clouds active; Fluffy white clouds driftnlike white cottton in the ocean blue sky passive; Mark was angry with Jane for tricking him into helping active; Mark slams the door and stalks across the chamber. He shouts “bitch”
TIPS FOR WRITING everyone NOT HAVE PROBLEMS coming up with a list or excuses for procrastination THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS IS GETTING STARTED. if you have a work in progress, NEVER stop for the night if you’re stuck alwayssolve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water. Agood night’s sleep is important. Sleeping on problems is a myth. if you can’t get started on a project, start writing anyways. To do this you need to have some words to type. it does nnot matter what you write, you’ll soon begin to think and move on in your own rhythm / pace
NOTE DOWN QUESTIONS YOU WERE ASKING YOURSELF AS YOU WROTE IT.
whose story am i telling??
how can i engage the attention of the audience?
what is the point of this story?
EXERCISE 1A : OPENERS
Wearing sponge bob Squarepants boxer shorts, Caleb walks towards the np bus stop …
He stops to explain himself to the people at the bus stop.
Still trying to catch his breath, he explains ” I just ran out from NP’s school of FMS. My class mate Makoto spilled water onto his laptop & it exploded. The entire block caught fire & so did his shirt, hence I had to remove it leaving only the last piece of clothing on.”
EXERCISE 1B : OPENERS
Examples:
Sally keeps glancing at her watch…
Joe opens the bottle and tales a whiff…
may closes her eyes and jumps off…
James paces around the hallway…
Mel opens the envelope. Her hand shakes.
In the dark ominous sky, a bolt of lightning flashes down and hits a tree, striking it down to the floor. A clap of thunder spreads throughout the city. John trembles under his blanket and his face turns white. He believed that he is facing God’s wrath. Tears starts rolling down his cheeks as guilt overwhelms him. He begins to recall what happened three days ago….
” How could you do this to me.” Jake exclaimed in a soft voice.
ELEMENT OF DIALOGUE
Dialogue reveals character.
– Acharacter will talk about himself and other people will talk about him.
Dialogue establishes relationships between characters.
– Once you have establish your main character’s POV, you can use dialogue with other character to show that they have other attitudes, creating opp/alt POVs.
– this helps to create and sustain the element of conflict between conflict between characters.
Good effective dialogue will move the story forward.
Dialogue communicates faces and information to the audience
– It conveys essential exposition.
Dialogue ties the script together
– It is one of the devices that you as a writer can use to expand and enlarge your enlarge your characters.
” If you can see it, or hear it, don’t write it.” – Nevile Smith
Dialogue should be be use sparingly
Never tell the audience what they can see for themselves.
Dialogue is no substitude for action.
In Hollywood when they look at a page at it’s got too much black ink on the paper, they say, ” SHIT IT”S FREEZE THE CAMERA TIME!”
COMMON MISTAKES
– Students sometimes never acheive a level of competence as they tend to reproduce conventional spoken language, long statements of real ” TALKING”, and defend their decision by telling us that.
“It’s how the character speaks.”
GOOD DIALOGUE is not somebody’s ability to write authentic speech as heard in real.
-If that was all there us to it, you can just push a button on the tape recorder and then go collect your Oscar.
GOOD DIALOGUE is the illusion of reality.
– You’ve got to know how to edit ehat people say without losing any of the spirit.
– Students tend to create radio shows with images.
Husband : Hi honey, I’m home.
Wife : Don’t you hi honey me. What time is it?
Husband : It’s 1am?
Wife : You were suppose to be back home to have dinner with me at 730pm!!!!!
Husband : Oh come on, I had a rough time at work and had a couple of drinks to loosen up before heading home.
Wife : Why can’t you just be home and share your day with me? It’s been the 3rd time this month you come home late! Are you seeing some one else.
Husband : Geez God! You’re being ridiculous!
Wife : OHH. So I’m ridiculous now…. Who the FUCK is the one who didn’t come home for dinner? Who the FUCK is the one coming home at 1am in the morning. And who the FUCK is fucking this place up with alcohol stench??!! AND I”M BEING RIDICULOUS?!?!
Husband : GIVE ME A BREAK BITCH. I HAD A LONG DAY AND I DON’T NEED THIS SHIT.
Dad : Stop talking so loud laaaaa. Talk softly. Why need to shout one. Every day scold your children not sian one meh. I hear until sian already.
Mom : So late already they haven even eat. What time already. The maid need to eat also leh.
Dad : They hungry they will crawl down to eat if they have to. Don’t need to shout & shout & shout.
ATORY TELLING TOOL 1
adopt a keen eye.
Develop a natural sense of security.
An observed event, when subject to simple questions, can set up a sequence of possibiltyies that will dvelop into a story worth telling.
WHOM AN I WRITING ABOUT
WHO IS MY CHARACTER
WHAT IS HE/SHE / IT LIKE
WHAT DOES HE/SHE/IT DO
HWAT HAPPENS TO HIM/HER/IT IN THE STORY
OBSERVE in a conscious way
DEVELOP the ability to SEE and RECORD people:
– Their MOVEMENTS
-THEIR PHYSICAL characteristics
EXERCISE PEOPLE WATCH
1.Walk into the canteen/library, etc and watch people pass by.
2.Eventually one will catch ur battention.
3.Write down as many details as possible throuhg observation.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for a second character.
5.Transcribe these details into the ” PEOPLE-WATCH” page that u will create on your blog.
Week 3
A story starts with a character
A character is the heart and soul and nervous system of your screen play.
It is through your character that views experience emotion
Characters should have a 3 Dimentional structure
Physiology
Sex
Age
Height, weight
Colour of hair,eyes skin
Posture
Appearance
Defects, abnormalities, deformities, birth marks diseases.
Socialogy
Class (lower, middle, upper)
Occupation: type of work , hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude towards organisation,suitability for work.
Education: amount, kind of school, marks, favourite subjects, attitudes.
What is the deep and personal secret this character has which he is desperate to protect / hide?
SEPARATE THE COMPONENTS OF HIS LIFE INTO 2 BASIC CATEGORIES:
Interior
Exterior
Interior: The interior life takes place from birth til story the moment your story begins.
IT is the process that fr=orms character. [when you start formulationg ur character from birth, you see your character build in body and form.]
Exterior: It is the process that reveals the character.
who are they and wad do they they do?
Are they sad or happy with their life?
Do they wish their life was different?Another job? another wife?
You must create your characters in relationship to other people of things
All dramatic characters interact in 3 ways.
They experience conflict in acheiving their dramatic need.
They interact with other characters. [Either in an antagonistic,friendly or indifferent way]
They interact with themselves.
Definition
(opposition of persons of forces)
It is the interaction of opposing ideas, interesting, or wills, and creates the plot.
Conflict is the central feature of the screenplay
– man against man
-man against enironment
– man against self
It’s various of sex, age, religion and culture which provide variety to the conflict.
CONFLICT =CHANGE
change is common to everyone
change is universal
bodies change
seasons change
lives change
relationships change
feelings change
location change
technologies change
As universal as change mayb be, people often resist it for fear of the unknown
plot cannot be constructed without conflict
As your characters attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other
The end of the story nears when the protagonist and antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement
the protagonist and anagonist must be locked together with no possibe compromise between them.
This is done by having characters of strong conviction and urpose who will fight for what they want.
The more evently matched they are, the more stringer the battle will be aroused.
Conflict
Man VS man, self and environment
Desk 3: Writing Blogging And Notes For Wordpress 3 123
REVIEW EXERCISE 3: 50 WORD STORIES
Purpose of the exercise
–Breaks down the myth of handling only 1 idea at a time
–Encourages precise and concise writing
–Teahces basic script editing skills, to focus and reveal the essential elements
–Action encompasses any kind of movement and also between the characters and their surroundings.
–Talking about how one feels is not as powerful as illustrating why one feels the way they do through action
–Action is the manisfestation of behaviour
–The complexity of the human psyche and interaction is better understood when it is possible to watch the actions, nuances and reaction of the characters
–Has the potential to enrich the experience of the audience by heightening the stakes and increasing the tension.
THE POWER OF ANY STORY LIES IN THE NARRATOPS’S ABILITY TO PROJECT A MENTAL PICTURE FOR THE AUDIENCE
Desk 3: Writing Blogging And Notes For Wordpress 3 1st
i
This paper consists of three questions. You are required to answer the first question and then either the second or third question.
In each question, there are two parts. In part (a), you are required to write a commentary based on the passage given. In part (b), you have to produce a piece of directed writing based on the passage.
So, without further ado, let’s go through how to answer a Paper 1 question, step by step.
Part (a)
1. Carefully read the description of the text and the question that follows. This is extremely important because sometimes the question only states ‘Comment on the style and language of the passage’ while other times, it states ‘Comment on the ways in which language and style are used to convey the writer’s feelings/portray a place, person or thing/engage the attention of its audience’ etc.
In the second case, you need to be slightly more focused and only choose literary techniques that will help you explain how ‘language and style are used to convey the writer’s feelings/portray a place’ etc.
2. Read the whole passage once or twice to understand the content and then a couple more times to pick up relevant literary techniques. (Click here for a list of literary techniques!) You may underline them with a pencil if you want but remember to erase all of it in the end.
Also remember to pay as much attention to the ending of the passage as the beginning. There have been many Examiner Reports which have mentioned that candidates spend too much time commenting on the beginning of the text and ignore many effective techniques in the ending. In addition, titles and subtitles should also be taken into account.
Be reminded that you don’t need to talk about EVERY literary technique used; examiners don’t expect you to do so, and you certainly won’t have the time to. So, choose the juiciest, most powerful, most relevant ones.
3. The next step is to choose how you want to approach the commentary. You could either write one paragraph about one language device and the next paragraph about another, and so on, or you could comment about the passage as it progresses – talk about the devices used in the beginning, then the middle and then the end. The second approach is better if the provided text has some sort of ‘development’, e.g., contrasting weather conditions or settings.
4. Now that you have chosen what you want to comment on and how you want to comment on it, make a rough plan. This will help you to structure your commentary and you will be less likely to get ‘stuck’ in the middle, wondering what to write about.
Your plan could go something like this:
1. Intro: a few sentences to describe the overall text
2. Para 1: imagery
3. Para 2: tone
and so on.
(Steps 1-4 can take upto 15 minutes, but don’t worry – if you perform these little tasks well, you can still write an excellent commentary in the remaining time.) Mountain duck sync.
5. It’s time to begin writing your commentary!
First of all, you need an introduction. This should be brief and give only an overview of the text you’re reviewing. Reeder 4 4 1 2. You shouldn’t start analysing just yet.
Also, don’t waste time talking about the genre and audience (unless this is absolutely crucial to explaining the effects of language or if the question asks for the effect on the audience, for example).
In addition, make sure to use modal verbs (could, might, should, would) and phrases like ‘appears’ or ‘seems to be’. For instance, you could say ‘The writer appears to be describing the difficulties he faced during his childhood which might have helped shape him into the person he is today.’ This is because we are only trying to interpret what the writer is saying; we do not know EXACTLY what he or she has in mind and, therefore, we do not want to sound conclusive.
(Other phrases you could use are: ‘paints a picture’, ‘implies’, ‘conjures up a sense of’, ‘reflects’, ‘portrays’, ‘conveys’, ‘indicates’, ‘suggests’ etc.)
6. Next, you need to begin explaining the effects of your chosen literary techniques. For this, you need to first make a statement, support it with a quote and then comment on why the author may have used a particular technique. (If you find this hard to remember, The Cambridge AS and A Level English Language Coursebook calls this the ‘PQC structure’, or the Point, Quote, Comment structure). For example, “The author seems to paint a rather frightening picture of Ms. Johnson: ‘Her wild, orange hair framed her face like a lion’s mane.’ Use of the phrases ‘wild’ and ‘lion’s mane’ may create a sense of fear and danger in the reader’s mind.”
Now, all you need to do is follow the same PQC stucture for the rest of your chosen techniques. However, there is the possibility that this will make your writing seem very mechanical and, frankly, boring. Therefore, to change it up a little bit, you could switch around the ‘P’, ‘Q’ and ‘C’, i.e. mention the quote first, then make a point and finally produce an explanatory comment.
A second solution would be to use a variety of conjunctive devices. A useful mnemonic for this is ‘FANBOYS’ – ‘For’, ‘And’, ‘Nor’, ‘But’, ‘Or’, ‘Yet’, and ‘So’. You can also include words such as, but not limited to, ‘moreover’, ‘furthermore’, ‘however’, ‘despite’, ‘in addition’ etc. These will help provide a ‘flow’ to your writing.
Finally, here are some rules to remember while explaining the effects of language devices:
Embed quotations in your analysis but don’t use them in place of your own words. Take this sentence as an example: “The young girl is ‘beautifully petite’ and ‘is dressed impeccably’ which shows that…” Here, I’m using the writer’s words (the ones between inverted commas) in place of my own which gives the impression that I’m summarising or paraphrasing rather than analysing. Instead, you could write this: ‘The writer seems to be attracted to the young girl which is suggested in his description of her appearance – ‘beautifully petite’.’
Only comment on a language technique if it has a significant effect. Do not identify a simile simply to show that you know it is a simile.
Once you have talked about a certain technique, you don’t have to mention it again when it comes up in another area of the text (unless it produces a different effect in which case you definitely must talk about it!)
Don’t use vague, generalised comments such as ‘This makes the reader want to read more of the text.’ This is because it can be applied to almost any passage!
7. And, that’s it! You don’t necessarily need a conclusion in your commentary if your final paragraph sounds, well, final.
8. Make sure to read and review your commentary when you’re done!
Part (b)
In this part, you are required to either continue the original passage or write another piece that is similiar to it. Your work should be about 120-150 words.
1. Look at some of the literary techniques used in the passage and choose a few that you want to include in your writing.
2. Make a plan. You know why.
3. Get writing!
Make sure that you:
use the language (not the exact words but ones with a similar ‘feel’) and style of the passage.
do NOT lift directly from the text.
use proper and consistent tense (another area where candidates need improvement, according to many Examiner Reports).
read it to yourself (especially if you’re asked to continue a passage, reading your work as a continuation of the original text will help you determine whether your writing style and language mimic those of the author).