Creative Writing Point of view

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Tools for working on short stories

• Plot structure
• Character 
• Narration (point of view)
  
• Setting
  
• Symbolism
  
• Flashbacks / Foreshadowing

Narration or Point of view

• The narrator is the person or other character who is telling us the story 
• Usually it is clear who the narrator is
• you can choose between first, third, or omniscient  point of view

First person or I-narrative

• Uses pronouns I, me, my, or we
  
• The narrator character retells the events of the story
  
• Readers know what the narrator is thinking and feeling
  
• The reader does not know the thoughts or feelings of other characters

First person or I-narrative

• “I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”  ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Third Person Point of View: 

The ‘He Said, She Said’ 

• Third person pronouns (they,  their, he, she) 
• Usually narrated by an outsider, someone who doesn't appear in the story
• Writers can zoom in on individual characters using third person limited, or zoom out and tell the story in third person omniscient, where the narrator is an all-knowing figure. 

A third person limited perspective 

means that we are limited (get it?) to a single character at a time. So, it’s like the first person perspective, 

but rather than a character speaking directly to us, the narrator is telling us what the character is doing, thinking and feeling.

example of a third person limited perspective:

“For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.”

― Lois Lowry, The Giver

All-knowing or omnicient

All-knowing or omnicient

• You’re the reader, and the narrator is God. They can give you access to every character’s thoughts and feelings, at the same time.
  
•  The narrator  has no preference for any single character. 
• They are aware of all events- past, present, and future
• The speaker will also know secret events or things that are hidden from the characters 

All-knowing or omnicient

• “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.”   Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

“The Dursleys hadn’t even remembered that today happened to be Harry’s twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn’t been high; they’d never given him a real present, let alone a cake – but to ignore it completely…”

1. First person
2. Third person limited
3. Third person Omniscient

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

1. First person
2. Third Person limited
3. Third person Omniscient

Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain. Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and loved to be woken up for mango ice cream … Elizabeth, or Beth, as everyone called her, was a rosy, bright-eyed girl of thirteen, with a shy manner, a timid voice, and a peaceful expression, which was seldom disturbed … “

1. First person
2. Third person limited
3. Third person Omniscient

Setting

• Time and place
• Examples for place: country, house, room
• Examples for time: specific year or era, war time, future, seasons
• References do not have to be direct. For example when you talk about kangaroos and platypus, it is clear it is set in Australia
• Metaphors and similes can be used to give an indirect image of what a place looks like or when it is set. Think about the senses (Imagery)
• Do tasks p.72-73 workbook. Go to next slide when finished

Importance of setting

Can have a huge effect on plot & characters

It can establish mood & atmosphere

It can add realism to the narrative

It can be symbolic

It can help the reader to engage imaginatively with characters & plot

Ask yourself - where is the story taking place?  Is this important?  And how will you use language to create a setting?

In three sentences, how would you describe the setting in this picture? Use adjectives, similes and/or metaphors

Symbolism

• A symbol stands for something else, bigger, universal
• It is a literary technique that adds meaning to a short story by using an event or object as a symbol to represent something else
• For example, a gravestone may be a symbol of death since gravestones are associated with death
• Many authors use symbolism to subtly allude to the meaning of something without being obvious

When using symbolism, what would the following stand for?
Black

When using symbolism, what would the following stand for?
Butterfly

Flashback

• The author jumps back in time
•  it oftens contradicts or proves something in the present
• For example: From Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone:  When Aunt Petunia remembered making Harry get a haircut, he then woke up the next morning to find his hair has grown back to where it was. Rowling uses these flashbacks to foreshadow what we soon find out—  that Harry has inherited wizarding powers from his parents

Foreshadowing

•  is a literary device that writers utilize as a means to indicate or hint to readers something that is to follow or appear later in a story.
•   is an excellent device in terms of creating suspense and dramatic tension for readers.
• For example: In Game of Thrones: "Winter Is Coming"

Practice

Now do task on page 74 workbook and try to implement what we discussed.

Recap Grammar

Take notes!

You need them for an assignment later

Also called reported speech used in newspaper articles.

narrative tenses 

Write your story in the past tense, using:

Past simple  (he walked, they ate)

Past continuous (he was walking, they were eating)

Past perfect (he had walked, they had eaten)

NB: Present tense can only be used in direct speech!

We are going to practice!

    

 Choose a starter

Creative writing instructions

1. Choose ONE of the following starters to write a creative story - write between 200 and 250 words.

Task criteria

Read the short story

Link is on the next slide. It is a good example of a short story, using many of the components discussed to date.

www.classicshorts.com

Creative writing starter 1 

Outside the abandoned house the wind was howling, the rain swept against the windows. Teddy looked over her painful shoulder. They knew that the doors were firmly bolted and the windows locked but they had no choice ....

Creative writing starter 2

Jim decided not to go to school. He was likely to have a hard day there and didn’t feel like that at all. So he left home, too late as usual, his schoolbag slung across his shoulder and he ran through the squeaky snow into Sonsbeek Park when he suddenly saw ……

Creative writing  starter 3 

She looked puzzled, alarmed even. His sudden behaviour was telling and she didn’t know if she should tell her mother … 

Word

Open WORD

Put your name at the top of the document and write your story

Remember

Your story should cover the 4 different stages of a story:

1)  Setting the scene 

2) First event that triggers the action

3) Climax

4) Final resolution or outcome

Homework 24/01/2023

• Write story in word and upload in next slide
  
• Make sure you have a printed / written copy available for peer review in class
  

Upload your word document and send it here.