Online Reporter
REPETITION is done for emphasis. Makes the reader feel the main idea is important. Today we repeat the familiar answer to the question, what is a short story? One assertion given by an expert is that a short story usually takes no more than a few hours to read so that the author has to pack a lot into a short space.
So the story has to get going quickly, with an intriguing opening. It has to keep the reader guessing, to give them the urge to carry on. It can only afford to have a few characters — no more than 2 or 3. It does not have lengthy developments of characters.
It has to suggest the setting in a few vivid and well-chosen words. It needs intense, suggestive language because there is no time for lengthy descriptions and explanations. It develops just one central incident or idea, and begins close to the climax. It is powered along by a strong, assured narrator.
It has a punchy, satisfying and even unexpected ending. Is master composition writing a good topic? It is only appropriate as a book title, course name, or study guide. For practice though, the public examination board will not give you that topic in Paper 1 for instance.
Paper 1 gives you specific titles like: A horrific accident which is equal to descriptive. The day I lost everything = Narrative. Honesty is the best policy = Discursive/Argumentative. For examination practice, we will still use real public examination public examination style titles.
We can build master composition writing under 4 weapons. For instance, we just did A horrific accident + The Market. Narrative —The day I lost everything. Discursive/ Argumentative — Should students use phones in class? Expository — How photosynthesis works. Master all these 4 and Paper1 becomes easy.
Suggestions for your topic: Keep master composition writing as your main goal. But for daily practice, use this format. Master composition writing: Day 3-Narrative climax practice. That way you are working toward your big goal, but still training with examination style questions.
Back to “The day I lost everything.” Remember the formula of writing this story. Action —what your hand or boy does. Senses — what you see/feel/hear. Emotion — show it, do not name it. Here is quick example refresher:
“My fingers dug into my pocket and met only air. The lining had a thin cut, jagged like a smile. The market noise faded and all I could hear was my own breathing.”
Read the following paragraph from, “The day I lost everything.”
Consider the following key points noted by examiners: content, senses and language.
“I woke up with a fright, but did not understand the reason for that. It was fine and quiet I remembered I
had been assigned to tidy the yard. There was a lot of grass outside since it was winter. Having removed the grass, it was next to burn it. At the beginning all was still, no threatening wind.
However, when I lit the fire all hell broke loose. The fire took the direction of my bedroom. Everything in that direction was being consumed. I tried to run for water in the kitchen. The buckets usually filled with water were empty, meanwhile the fire was spreading as if directed, got into the bedroom where paraffin was stored.
The bed was the first to get alight, the mattress quickly caught fire and the conflagration quickly burnt the house. All books caught fire, clothes got burnt. Clear analysis of this shows there is more of rising action, climax and falling action for “The Day I Lost Everything”
This is powerful because it showed loss, did not just say, “I lost things”. Let us show how it is marked in the public examination so we see what works and what to tighten. What is working really well? It is 15/20 already. Clear loss: Books, clothes, documents, bed, mattress, paraffin. That is everything. Examiners love specific details.
Tension builds: All was still — No wing – all hell broke loose. This is perfect rising action. Senses: Fire took direction, buckets empty, conflagration quickly burnt. We can see and feel the panic. To get 20/20 you can make these 3 quick fixes. Structure: Right now this is 3 parts mixed together. Split it for marks.
Exposition: All was fine and quiet . . . assigned to tidy the yard. Climax: When I lit the fire all hell broke loose . . . paraffin was stored . . . this is the peak, one moment. Falling action: The bed was first . . . All documents were consumed . . . aftermath. Right now the climax is hiding inside two paragraphs.
Climax needs to zoom in. The moment you realise you have lost everything, fix it. The flames kissed the paraffin tin. Blue fire exploded. In three seconds my mattress, my books, my birth certificate — all of it became smoke. That is the peak. Everything after is falling action.
We will pick it up from here next time. This is an example of one type of essay set for public examinations. Just read and learn from it. Do not copy but pick good examples from to be used in other pieces of work.
For views link with [email protected] or sms to 0772113207
