Creative writing –narrative and descriptive

NOW that schools have closed for the year, it would be unfair for us to expect learners to be sweating it out as if examinations are close by. Learners need to relax when given the chance. However, that does not totally stop them from reading.

Reading can continue without any pressure form the threat of examinations. Read for general knowledge.
Having said that we continue to give advice to all learners as the beginning of the year is coming quicker than the closing date. For example, this instalment will try to look at the skills required to write creatively and with accuracy. The beginning of a new academic term means more work and less relaxation. It is possible that in your study of O-level English Language you will have to complete various pieces of writing like narrative writing, descriptive writing or short stories.
Descriptive means that you must focus on a scene or a person; narrative requires you to tell a short story. At times you may be asked to produce one piece of first person writing or a piece of third person writing.

First person mainly uses “I” third person writing mainly uses “he” or “she”. You should learn how to use your imagination to write creatively. Write a controlled sentence with attention to punctuation.

Choose your words carefully to express your meaning. Write a focused piece of descriptive writing. Write a sensible piece of narrative writing. Write from a first person and third person perspective.

At O-level you need to be serious about your writing. Being serious means you have to avoid childish imaginative stories about monsters, outer space about saving the world from evil, daring your best friend to go into the haunted house at the end of your street at night.

That piece of writing has been done time and time again and done badly. Write mature stories like a 16+-year-old. However, you are not to write about yourself to be successful. You can write realistically about fictional places and fictional events. In other words, you can make things up that can still be believable. Write a story in such a manner that if given the chance it can live.

The best approach is to write about pieces and events that are reasonably close to your own experience and knowledge of the world. When writing a piece of descriptive the key word to remember is focus; this means making sure you meet the requirements of the task. Do not set out to write a story.

Your description needs to be engaging and believable. You need to create a proper sense of place.
Begin by forming a picture in your head and then try to put this into words. Often, it is the little details, such as people and movement in the scene, which can help bring your writing to life. It is also important not to overdo the description — senses, adjectives, similes and metaphors are useful, but not as important as sentence control and clear punctuation.

Your writing is guaranteed to make a better impression on the examiner if it is constructed out of clear controlled sentences with accurate punctuation.

You can also make your writing more interesting by varying your sentences. Make use of the following suggestions: Stop at the end of sentences — with full stops, question marks or exclamation marks. Slow the pace of sentences — with commas, semi-colons, brackets and dashes.

Choose your words carefully. Choosing the right words can make all the difference in a piece of descriptive writing. Words have the power to convert a plain page of text into a vivid scene in the mind of the reader. When putting together a piece of descriptive writing, avoid using slang. For example, “We was late.” “I got beat”. “Pass then socks”. Forget your text messaging and forget habits of speech. Try to select words that enable you to put your ideas across precisely.

Make sure you spell your words correctly. Good spelling is a case of checking your work and making an effort to learn how to spell words that you often get wrong.

You need to make sure that you have simple words sorted. This includes words such as where/wear/were, here/hear and there/their. Make sure you know what these words mean and when it is correct to use each one. Learn the patterns in regular words.

Know when to use double consonants and where silent letters appear. Make sure you use the correct vowels in words and also the correct order of vowels.

For example: beautiful, business and receive. When writing and checking your work, avoid silly errors with apostrophes. For example, apostrophes should not be used to show that a noun is plural. For example: egg becomes eggs not egg’s.
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