Task 16: Same Difference

The secret of successful writing is invariably not WHAT you write about (i.e. the CONTENT) but HOW you write about it (i.e. STYLE).

This week's task is a challenge in style - and, unlike other weeks, you will HAVE to read other people's attempts before you do your own. You are all going to write about the same content; but you must write about it in a different style to everybody else. In that sense, the sooner you post, the easier it will be. Those of you leaving it until the last minute will have the hardest job of all - because most of the good ideas will already be taken...

The piece of GCSE English coursework you will all complete in due course is described, in the syllabus, as ORIGINAL WRITING. And this is no accident. The way to impress the examiner the most is by making sure your writing is ORIGINAL; or, in other words, unique to you. And this week's task will help you.

Those of you familiar with the wiki may have seen a presentation of mine on the Explore, Imagine, Entertain page entitled 'Getting Started'. Here you will see five different attempts at beginning the same story - in that case, a story about a girl getting bullied. I suggest you visit the page, download the presentation, and study carefully how each opening is very different. This will help you tremendously with this week's task.

So how can you make your writing different? It is all to do with risk taking; experimentation: try playing around with some of the following:

• Tense: why not try the present tense? Or even the future? Either can be used to very good effect.
  
• Mood: most writing is Declarative (i.e. it is just a series of statements). Why not use the Conditional mood (e.g. he would); the Imperative (i.e. commands); or the Interrogative (i.e. questions)?
  
• Genre: Try exploring atypical/non-standard non-fiction genres for your narrative fiction. Anyone who has read Laura Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate will know how the cookery recipe format can make for fascinating fiction. Or how about the school text book? Or a set of map directions? Or a news report? Subverting (i.e. twisting) non-fiction genres for fiction can be very effective.
  
• Narrator: 3rd person narratives are commonplace. How about using a 1st person narrative (i.e. I/me); or even a 1st person plural (we/us)? And what about the underused 2nd person narrative (you)? And who will be the narrator? Will it be the main protagonist? Or an onlooker? Or maybe there will be several?
  
• Fragments: Sometimes, full sentences are essential and de rigeur (i.e. necessary). However, it can be fun playing around with what Microsoft Word would call 'fragments'. Individual words and phrases which exist apart from any sentence. This can be very effective at times.
• Time: a linear narrative is easy to follow; but a narrative which starts at the end and works backwards can be much more fun. And what about parallel narratives (i.e. two thread which flit back and forth between each other)?
• Subverted stereotypes: try tricking us into assuming characters will behave a certain way and then showing them behave anything but...
• Setting: Try focusing on seemingly random objects or aspects of setting. Use them to explore emotions within the characters themselves. An ashtray, perhaps. A doorknob. The way the curtains never quite meet in the middle etc...
  

And these are just a few ideas.

A word of warning: different does not necessarily mean better. Indeed, you could use any or all of the devices above and your writing could fall flat on its face. But unless you experiment in the first place, you will never know what works and what doesn't; and, even worse than that, your writing could end up just ORDINARY. And WHO in their right mind would want to be ORDINARY???

So the only RULES this week are that there are NO RULES.

I am going to give you a simple plot synopsis. And then each of you need to tell the same story, but in a different style. Your own, original style. Your own ORIGINAL writing.

No need to write too much, by the way. It is definitely QUALITY over quantity I am looking for this week. It is fine only to begin the story, and to leave it unresolved - as long as your writing stands intact in its own right.

PLOT SYNOPSIS: Family conflict. Evening. Young children listen as parents argue. At end of argument, one parent leaves.

Deadline: Midnight on Saturday 22nd December (N.B. This is the deadline for ALL overdue tasks too.)