Writing a creative piece for context?

[littlebecc]

Looking around the site & practice english books i'm starting to feel a bit uneasy about writing a creative piece for context in the english exam. Everyone seems to be doing 'essay' style pieces and i'm afraid examiners won't 'understand' how a creative piece relates to prompt/book as well as an essay style where they clearly point out everything.
I'm getting a tad worried.

Suggestions/past year 12 students who wrote a creative piece?
Taa.

[99.95]

in the VCAA assessment report, they strongly encourage students to write creatively. My teacher said if we can write a decent creative piece, then we would be looking at 9 or 10/10

[Russ]

Expository is just safer. It's harder to write a creative piece that appropriately addresses the themes and prompt, which means that you'll either get a high mark or a low mark...I really can't see a middle ground for a creative piece.

If you want to write one, work out your structure before going into the exam - know whether you're writing a journal entry etc.

I posted a while ago about what I wished I'd written for context...I did whose reality, so I was thinking about writing a dramatic scene from a play that could address various aspects of that

[24lover]

Looking around the site & practice english books i'm starting to feel a bit uneasy about writing a creative piece for context in the english exam. Everyone seems to be doing 'essay' style pieces and i'm afraid examiners won't 'understand' how a creative piece relates to prompt/book as well as an essay style where they clearly point out everything.
I'm getting a tad worried.

Suggestions/past year 12 students who wrote a creative piece?
Taa.

It's apparently 'easier' for you to do well in creative because few people do it and it requires a different train of thought.
Just make sure your ideas are very clear and concise - nothing that will confuse the examiner as to what you're discussing and you should be fine.

[littlebecc]

Few people do it? Wow, i'm pretty sure quite a few do it in my school, but it feels like only my school does it haha.
I did a practice piece in june for context that was marked by an examiner and was 7/10, which was weird because the piece was in my opinion not good at all.
I never knew not many people do it..

Just make sure your ideas are very clear and concise

..yeah i know i definitely need to work on that

[Chavi]

I only write creative. It is such a relief to be able to speak your mind and explore ideas without the horrible boundaries of a set style. This makes context my favourite portion of the English exam - with a creative style, you can write whatever you like, insert an anecdote to emotionally pull the examiner, make some reference to the prompt and link it to an idea in the texts. It works like a charm, and it works [almost][ every time.

Think: Eulogy, reflection, diary entry, court case, advertisements etc. . .

[littlebecc]

I only write creative. It is such a relief to be able to speak your mind and explore ideas without the horrible boundaries of a set style. This makes context my favourite portion of the English exam - with a creative style, you can write whatever you like, insert an anecdote to emotionally pull the examiner, make some reference to the prompt and link it to an idea in the texts. It works like a charm, and it works [almost][ every time.

Oh dude i totally agree. I only write creative too, it's definitely the most fun to write creatively.

[lynt.br]

The advice I generally give is you should only do creative writing for context if you have had previous writing experience (e.g. writing as a hobby) or you are very widely read. The way I see it, you have been 'trained' writing expository pieces for pretty much your entire high school life. Creative writing, on the other hand, is rarely taught throughout high school. Unless you have good reason, I would be hesitant to deviate from the style you are most familiar with.

Personally, I also see creative writing as something that shouldn't be written under time constraints. Creative writing is more than just having a unique idea. You need to also be able to convey that idea in a way that preserves its uniqueness and brilliance. At the start of the year I thought I had stumbled on such an idea. I thought of writing an exam piece which directly addressed the examiner reading it, similar to what Holden does in Catcher in the Rye. When I tried writing it, I realised I as just relying on the novelty of the idea and couldn't write a sustained piece. Creative writing simply wasn't my style and there was no way I could churn out a full blown creative piece in an exam setting.

This raises another danger to be aware of. It is very difficult to objectively judge your own work when you write creatively. Often students believe they have come up with an extremely unique idea when in fact the examiners have seen it done many times before. I'm sure there were hundreds of students who had thought of doing a similar thing to me and I'm glad I quickly scrapped the idea and stuck with what I was most comfortable with.

There is a common misconception that writing creatively is the only way to get a 9-10 or it is somehow easier to get a 9-10 writing creatively. As far as I am aware the examiners are not biased in favour of any particular style. I wrote exclusively in the expository style and was able to achieve consistent 9's and the occasional 10. The best thing for you to do is write in the style you are most familiar with. For most people this will be expository.

I'm not trying to dismiss creative writing or discourage you from writing in that style. Skilled writers who can produce amazing create pieces under pressure will be aptly rewarded. From my personal experience, however, I find creative writing risky and ill-suited to an exam situation.

[iffets12345]

I like want lynt. br said.

The kids who got 46, 47 at my school, they wrote creatively.
But they didn't get those scores because they wrote creatively, it was because they were naturally ingrained with a talent for language.
There MIGHT be a trend in writing creatively, but you need to consider why that is. Many people write creatively because they have a natural talent at English, they do well in the exam not beause writing creatively garners favour but because they are good at what they do and have the self-assurance to select creative writing in context. It is not a formula of people doing it less, hence you score good. And like what lynt.br said, my teacher also said it was risky because of its subjectivity. I think if you guys are good, definately go for it but don't live in a bubble thinking this is a safeguard. .

[EvangelionZeta]

Writing a creative piece is like trying to play an LMusA level piano piece in an under 10s competition.  If done properly, it stands out amazingly, but if you're just not there with it, it's likely to go horribly, horribly wrong.

[crayolé]

Writing a creative piece is like trying to play an LMusA level piano piece in an under 10s competition.  If done properly, it stands out amazingly, but if you're just not there with it, it's likely to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Brilliant Analogy LOL

[littlebecc]

haha, thanks guys, i appreciate all the comments.
I'm going to stick to creative writing as that's what i've done all year, and what i most enjoy.
I'll see how it all pans out...

[UsmanEghani174]

What Exactlt do we write for a creative essay!? Please help, new to vce.