Up Close and Personal AS

Fiction reduced to 7 tales  Rags to Riches  Story of an ordinary person who finds a second, more exceptional, self within  Cinderella, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, My Fair Lady  The Quest  A long, hazardous journey to reach a priceless goal far away  The Odyssey, Around the World in Eight Days, Raiders of the Lost Ark

 Voyage and Return  Story in which some event propels the hero or heroine out of their familiar surroundings into a disconcerting and abnormal world  Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe, The Ancient Mariner, The Time Machine  Comedy  An identifiable form of plot which follows its own rules  The Importance of Being Earnest, Fawlty Towers, Some like it Hot

 Tragedy  An archetypal plot, with a five-stage structure culminating in destruction and death. The main character is overcome by a desire for power/passion, which destroys them or they become monstrous.  Macbeth, Dr Faustus, Lolita, King Lear  Rebirth  Someone falls under a dark power or spell that traps him or her in a state of living death. A miraculous act of redemption takes place and the victim is released and brought into the light.  Sleeping Beauty, A Christmas Carol

 Overcoming the monster  A hero or heroine confronts a monster, defeats it against all odds and wins treasure or a loved one’s hand  David and Goliath, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dracula, James Bond, Jaws

Up Close and Personal  This assessment requires you to develop a piece of creative writing, which focuses on the personal experiences of one character.  Your story should be at least 350 words.  Read the exemplars in the task handout.

Structure  Setting and main character – where? When? Who?  Problem – usually a problem arises for the main character  Response – what happens with regards to the problem? How does the character respond?  Outcome – the resolution of the story.

 The problem and response elements are usually repeated several times in one story.  One problem-response element is not always enough.

Narration  First person I am Woman, hear me roar. First person means the reader is inside the character’s skin and experiences everything as though the reader were the character. This mode is easily identified by the use of ‘I’ and ‘me’ when talking about the main character.

Narration  Third person She is Woman, hear her roar. This means that the reader is not the character, but experiences the story as an unseen observer. This mode is distinguished by the use of ‘he’ and ‘she’ when talking about the main character.

Narration  Second person You are Woman, hear you roar. Almost never used in fiction. It is awkward as the character is described as ‘you’ throughout the story.

Where to look…  The Press  Newspaper archives  - oddspot  Women’s mags eg That’s life  Songs 

Planning  Which perspective? - characters  Method of narration  Basic plot outline  Setting  outcome  Important words and images, descriptions