Creative - can we write the beginning of a story? (1 Viewer)

[bEAbEA]

Hi for the creative part, if we are asked to write a story, what does everyone think of just writing the beginning of one. WOuld that give me good marks? Or is it not a good idea?
What should i include in the beginning, ie how much of a story?
Thanks

 

[jmac101]

60 minutes worth

 

[tomcats 72]

I only do cf but yes it is fine to use a part of the story as long as it makes sense. With any piece of creative writing the examiners won't to be able to see that you have some knowledge of the genre, so as long as you include some conventions and issues of the genre then I'm sure u will be fine.
hope that helps....

 

[millad]

you could probably do that, but you would have to be a really strong writer to be able to hold the use of conventions in only the beginning of a story. i normally go for a general cf story cos its easier to use all the conventions, but thats me. like i said, it depends on how well you write.

 

[TheHeretic]

you could probably do that, but you would have to be a really strong writer to be able to hold the use of conventions in only the beginning of a story. i normally go for a general cf story cos its easier to use all the conventions, but thats me. like i said, it depends on how well you write.

Its hardly about "using all the conventions". You are merely setting yourself up for a cliche if that is your line of thinking.

 

[kami]

Hi for the creative part, if we are asked to write a story, what does everyone think of just writing the beginning of one. WOuld that give me good marks? Or is it not a good idea?
What should i include in the beginning, ie how much of a story?
Thanks

Hmm...this is something that was discussed in my class, and we even analysed a piece that achieved quite high marks doing what you did, however I think you are better off writing something which is whole in of its self, otherwise you run the risk giving the marker the idea you were incapable of planning your story in accordance with the time limit. So yes it can give good marks(keeping in mind the example I read seemed to be of the level of an ee2 major work - though an unfinished one), but you need to be aware there is an element of risk if it is not something specified in the question.

 

[millad]

in the creativce writing, they are looking into how well we can incorprate what we've learnt in terms of genre and crime fiction. whats the point of writing a brilliant story if it doesnt even use the conventions. its not a cliche, they is still ways u can manipulate the conventions and subvert them to your own creative writing as long as the conventions are in there.

 

[TheHeretic]

in the creativce writing, they are looking into how well we can incorprate what we've learnt in terms of genre and crime fiction. whats the point of writing a brilliant story if it doesnt even use the conventions. its not a cliche, they is still ways u can manipulate the conventions and subvert them to your own creative writing as long as the conventions are in there.

Then how would you define "crime fiction" and what are its conventions?

 

[tomcats 72]

Not meaning to be rude but if you have been studying cf for a year then you prob should already know it's conventions. conventions include;
-Mystery and it's solution through the accretion of evidence
-Denuoement (hope i spelt that right lol)
-Clues and red herrings
- And of course a crime
-sleuth/investigator

One of the major issues/ideas of crime fiction is what is moral and eithical; the difference between good and evil.

 

[TheHeretic]

Not meaning to be rude but if you have been studying cf for a year then you prob should already know it's conventions. conventions include;
-Mystery and it's solution through the accretion of evidence
-Denuoement (hope i spelt that right lol)
-Clues and red herrings
- And of course a crime
-sleuth/investigator

One of the major issues/ideas of crime fiction is what is moral and eithical; the difference between good and evil.

Well actually those would be the conventions of detective fiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_fiction , which are the ones we more or less use for the module because it is so tangible. Crime fiction (from which detective fiction stems) is extremely diverse and almost impossible to define: which I believe was part of the point of studying "genre" in the first place.

Wikipedia:

When trying to pigeonhole fiction, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell where crime fiction starts and where it ends. This is largely attributed to the fact that love, danger and death are central motifs in fiction. A less obvious reason is that the classification of a work may very well be related to the author's reputation.

 

[millad]

the defenitionim gonna use is
in crime fiction we as the audience are asked, invited and compelled to move through the case with our private eye. through a variety of stylistic devices we are given the same clues and shown the same evidence as the private eye and thus the text demands our active participation.
some of the conventions are
crime, investigatipon, restoration of order, voilence, mystery
- hard-boiled
- cosy school:
-secluded isolation
-victim/detective/criminal are all within the same group as well as all the suspects
- detective as a lone hero

 

[millad]

Well actually those would be the conventions of detective fiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_fiction , which are the ones we more or less use for the module because it is so tangible. Crime fiction (from which detective fiction stems) is extremely diverse and almost impossible to define: which I believe was part of the point of studying "genre" in the first place.

Wikipedia:

When trying to pigeonhole fiction, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell where crime fiction starts and where it ends. This is largely attributed to the fact that love, danger and death are central motifs in fiction. A less obvious reason is that the classification of a work may very well be related to the author's reputation.

i think you need to look at it more simply. if you look at it as something that cant be defined, how are you going to assess the conventions. the conventions of crime fiction are its defenitions in some way....thats what ithink anyway

 

[tomcats 72]

ok again not meaning to be rude but mystery is definetley a a convention of cf. Have you ever read a cf text that does not involve some sort of mystery? Well I haven't. All crime fiction texts have some sort of mystery, and they usually have a crime (hence the genre being called crime fiction). These are two constant reltionships between the texts of the genre and also responders of the genre have come to expect these relationships, therefore they are conventions. Well thats what I'm going to argue anyway. There are many ways of looking at genre and depending on how you interpret genre theory the way in which you will define a genre will alter from the way others will.

 

[TheHeretic]

ok again not meaning to be rude but mystery is definetley a a convention of cf. Have you ever read a cf text that does not involve some sort of mystery? Well I haven't. All crime fiction texts have some sort of mystery, and they usually have a crime (hence the genre being called crime fiction). These are two constant reltionships between the texts of the genre and also responders of the genre have come to expect these relationships, therefore they are conventions. Well thats what I'm going to argue anyway. There are many ways of looking at genre and depending on how you interpret genre theory the way in which you will define a genre will alter from the way others will.

I sure have. Many parodies make a specific effort to give away any and all sense of mystery.

Ichi:The Killer demonstrates to the audience first who the killer was. Pulp Fiction works backwards in several parts of the movie. I suppose that depends on your definition of mystery, but I digress ;-P

 

[gorgo31]

I'd suggest some of you read over the syllabus closely in relation to what you think you should put in the Creative responses.

If your responses just illustrate a fundamental understanding of conventions, and simply follow a formula, I think you're not respecting what the Genre study is all about. You are meant to consider the Genre from different angles, perspectives, considering different values and different contextual elements. If your piece reflects a knowledge of a basic "thriller", even if you write it well, it could only appear as elementary in the eyes of a marker.

Take risks, do something different. Or at least consider the diversity of Crime Fiction when composing your piece so that you can try and stand out.

 

[tomcats 72]

ahhh but you see you are wrong again, they are subverting the convention of mystery in order to create humour in order to parody. Is Pulp fiction even crime fiction?

 

[millad]

I'd suggest some of you read over the syllabus closely in relation to what you think you should put in the Creative responses.

If your responses just illustrate a fundamental understanding of conventions, and simply follow a formula, I think you're not respecting what the Genre study is all about. You are meant to consider the Genre from different angles, perspectives, considering different values and different contextual elements. If your piece reflects a knowledge of a basic "thriller", even if you write it well, it could only appear as elementary in the eyes of a marker.

Take risks, do something different. Or at least consider the diversity of Crime Fiction when composing your piece so that you can try and stand out.

but do u agree that in your response the convention of CF have to be obvious (the initial reason why there was n argument)

 

[TheHeretic]

but do u agree that in your response the convention of CF have to be obvious (the initial reason why there was n argument)

Complicated question. My story is obviously hard-boiled, which is a clear pointer of crime fiction. There is no exact definition for crime fiction in itself so it is interesting to see exactly how far you can push the genre. For example, one would argue cinderella was a case of crime fiction if they really wanted to. Personally I feel that writing an old school crime fiction story with a detective, criminal and clues only demonstrates a very limited understanding of what detective fiction is. Should they ask such a broad question as to write a creative story, it seems a no brainer that you would show how broad the genre is as opposed to how narrow it is.

So I suppose my answer is no. The conventions of your story shouldn't be the cliche ones we studied for the essay.

 

[tomcats 72]

I agree that their should be some obvious conventions, that being said however I also believe that the top marks will go to those who compose a text which subverts the conventions or plays with them adding something to the genre rather than writting another 'typical' crime fiction story.

 

[millad]

ok, how about we all juss do what our own defenition is as its true, everyone will have diffo defenitions of it.