All About English Creative Writing

[jeestan]

The Alternative Story:

Hi jeestan,

This piece of work is good The child's vocabulary is quite wide
and there is a flow to the story.

However, here are some pointers as to how he or she can improve:

1) Make the story flow more logical:

- When a burning paper touches a cupboard, it is not likely that
the whole cupboard can erupt in flames so quickly.

What the child could have written:

- I struck a match and threw it on some paper.
The paper began to burn merrily. Suddenly, the wind blew the
paper against some curtains. The curtains began to catch fire.
Horrified, I stood watching as the hungry flames leapt from the
curtains to the sofa. Soon, the sofa was on fire as well.

2) Vary the sentence structure:

- The child's sentences mostly start with a pronoun like 'we', 'I'
or a noun like 'The flames'. To make the story sound more
'natural' it will be good if she or he can vary the sentence
structure.

Example:

- Huge flames roared towards us. Trembling,
my brother and I stood in one corner, watching the flames
eat up everything in its path.Wham! The cupboard fell over
as the flames now engulfed the furniture.

\"Run!\" my brother hollered above the roar of the fire.

Here, you vary the sentence structure with a) 'ing' sentence
b) sound effect c) speech

3) Describe the 'fear' in increasing intensity

-My brother and I trembled with fear and we were white with
apprehension

This sentence sounds a bit repetitive. When you want to elaborate on
the fear, you should do it in increasing intensity. Here, both
the 'trembling' and the 'white with apprehension' are about of the
same intensity.

Example:

- Trembling with fear, I held onto my brother.
Whoosh! The flames came closer and closer. Tears ran unchecked
down my face and I curled up in a ball at the corner of the room,
unable to move. Sobbing, I could only think of one thing- I was going
to die.

\"Run!\" my brother hollered and pulled me to my feet.

Here, you can see that the character gets more and more afraid,
first she trembles, then she cries and starts to sob. She is
unable to do anything, she is too frightened, she simply
hides in one corner, waiting for the inevitable, which is her
death, until her brother's cry galvanizes her to action.

Hope this helps.

TAS

Thank you for your help. It is my nephew's work, he does well for his compo but somehow he can't get above 16/20.

[The Alternative Story]

quirkymum:

Hi TAS,


Sorry but I am quite new here, have been following you for a while-erm your threads, not you in person and I was wondering where I can get more information on your classes.

Hi quirkymum,

You can get the information here:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7586&start=140

There is information on our holiday classes, the creative writing book
(that you asked us under the Creative Writing book by TAS thread),
and our 2011 classes at Bukit Timah and the East at the above link.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

looneytunezz:

THANK YOU TAS!! :thankyou:

No problem! All the best for your Maths tomorrow!

[The Alternative Story]

jeestan:

Thank you for your help. It is my nephew's work, he does well for his compo but somehow he can't get above 16/20.

No problem jeestan, hope these tips will help him

[The Alternative Story]

jasmineong:

Thanks TAS, yeah, more good stuff!

Will update more links when we have time to go through the other
threads

[quirkymum]

The Alternative Story:

Hi quirkymum,

You can get the information here:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7586&start=140

There is information on our holiday classes, the creative writing book
(that you asked us under the Creative Writing book by TAS thread),
and our 2011 classes at Bukit Timah and the East at the above link.

TAS

Thanks TAS, I am interested in the holiday programmes, I will contact you about that. Is there any discount by the way, if we sign up for both the
crash course and holiday programme?

[vonneee86]

jasmineong:

The Alternative Story:

[quote=\"jasmineong\"]TAS, I went to look for your other posts at other threads and found these postings by you that are commonly asked and commonly confusing to us parents..I post them here so it is easy reference for other parents and me to look through when we are in doubt, thanks for taking the time to post all these tips! :celebrate: I have categorized them, hope I have done it correctly.


-an, a (when 'an' should not be used even when the first letter is a vowel)
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=540

-\texamples of flashbacks
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=530

-\tLie, lay, lain, laid (when to use what)
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=520


-\tdiff between past tense and past continuous tense
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=500

-\twhom, who (when to use what)
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11809&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

- past tense, past perfect tense
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11809&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

Hi Jasmine,

Thanks for compiling this, it is certainly very helpful We will
add in more here:

Diff between 'The majority of pupils' and 'The majority'
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2074&start=340

Synthesis qn: No sooner..
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&start=630

Diff between present perfect tense and present perfect
progressive tense
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2074&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=250

Some general synthesis questions
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2074&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=200

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2074&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=170

TAS

Thanks TAS, yeah, more good stuff! :D[/quote]Thanks for categorising all your tips TAS, it helps a lot so that I do not have to read through many pages of get to the tips.If you have any more, could you do the same thank YOU!

[The Alternative Story]

Hi everyone,


These are some more tips that we posted in the past. We have
categorized them for easier reference:

Synthesis - unlike
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=430

Synthesis- reported speech
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=440

Cloze passage tips
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=420

Vocab- mnemonics
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=380

When the ‘past perfect tense’ is not used even when there are
2 actions (verbs) taking place in the past
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=360

Examples of gerunds
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=350

How to use ‘regardless’
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=320

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

quirkymum:

Thanks TAS, I am interested in the holiday programmes, I will contact you about that. Is there any discount by the way, if we sign up for both the
crash course and holiday programme?

Hi quirkymum,

The crash course already has a 40% discount so there is no additional
discount We will reply you soon

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

vonneee86:

Thanks for categorising all your tips TAS, it helps a lot so that I do not have to read through many pages of get to the tips.If you have any more, could you do the same thank YOU!

No problem