Checklist for Writing 1127/01 (Section 1)

Checklist for Writing 1127/01 (Section 1) Write about a time when a prank you played backfired.

Identification of Question Requirements • Analysis of key expressions: • a time (once only) • a prank (a trick, especially one which is played on someone to make him/her look silly) • you played (you are the prankster) • backfired (if a plan or action backfires, it has the opposite effect to the one you intended)

One Main Character • Story is seen through the eyes of 1 main character. • Provides a sense of unity: plot evolves around that persona – ‘I’, the writer-cum-narrator.

Details(wide-ranging vocabulary) • Judy was jealous: • academic results • wanted to be first • always ended up behind me • extremely upset

Details(wide-ranging vocabulary) • Judy was working extremely hard: • poring through her books and files

Details(wide-ranging vocabulary) • Cellphone: • sleek • silver white • Sony Ericsson • W850i

Dialogue • Dialogue makes the characters come alive. • Injects a sense of realism. • Provides information from different points of view. • Offers opportunities to show off punctuation skills: “Linda, why did you steal Judy’s cellphone?” demanded Miss Lim, visibly let down by her star pupil.

Ending an essay in a situation contrary to that of the beginning • Narrator wants to set up her enemy • Gets caught in the end – initial intention not met

The Verger (1.0) • The verger loses his job when it is discovered he cannot read or write. • He goes away and learns to read and write. • He returns to the church after years of studying, having become a bishop. • The vicar who dismissed him is still there and amazed to find his former verger in this exalted position.

The Verger (1.1) • The verger loses his job when it is discovered he cannot read or write. • He is so distressed that he loses interest in himself. • The vicar gives a sermon on charity and is confronted at the end of it with the broken and shambling former verger.

Figurative Language(e.g. idioms, similes, metaphors) • Good use of idiom: • ‘ratted’ • ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ • Others: • description of Mr. Slope as someone fastidious • other implication: a joke

Description of Mr. Slope • His hair is lank, and of a dull pale reddish hue. It is always formed into three straight lumpy masses, each brushed with admirable precision, and cemented with much grease; two of them adhere closely to the sides of his face, and the other lies at right angles above them. He wears no whiskers, and is always punctiliously shaven. His forehead is capacious and high, but square and heavy, and unpleasantly shining. His nose, however, is his redeeming feature: it is pronounced, straight and well-formed though I myself should have liked it better did it not possess a somewhat spongy, porous appearance, as though it had been cleverly formed out of a red colored cork.

Fluctuations of Thoughts and Feelings • Injects a sense of realism – nobody remains in the same mood all the time. • Creates believable characters. • Essential that the main character be given in-depth treatment. • Thoughts and feelings give the reader a complete ‘feel’ of the situation.

Fluctuations of Thoughts and Feelings • see words in bold: • comfortable • disappointed • happy-go-lucky • baffled • furious • infernal • revenge etc.

Single Variety of English • Use either British or American English. • Never allow a ‘mix’: color programmes (?) • Local lexis is allowed but need explanation: e.g. I bought a plate of goreng pisang for him because I knew he loved the deep-fried banana fritters.

Appropriate Register • Formal English is the norm. • Informal English is reserved for dialogues only: • guy • gal • kid • cool

Avoiding Loose Ends • The motivation behind the narrator’s discontentment is Judy’s prank – very clear about that.

Avoiding Gory and Obscene Details • Blood, guts and gory details are out. • Explicit details, especially relating to sex, and vulgar language are frowned upon.

Multi-sensory Approach • See ‘The Toy Girl ’ (http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/douglas_macarthur/creative.htm) • auditory imagery (hearing) • visual imagery (sight) • tactile imagery (touch) • olfactory imagery (smell) • gustatory imagery (taste) • The real world is experienced through the 5 senses.

Flashback • See ‘I listened but no sounds came ...’ (same web address)

Flashback • A good literary device which allows the writer to begin the essay in the midst of action – a real attention grabber. • The flashback provides background information with regard to the preceding action. • Allows the writer to explore the mind of the main character.

Differentiation of Sentence Length • Long sentences depict situations of low dramatic tension. • Shorter, even incomplete, sentences suggest situations of high dramatic tension and suspense.

Zero Hour • "Quiet. They'll hear us. Oh, God, they'll find us soon enough - " • Below them, Mink's voice. The husband stopped. There was a great universal humming and sizzling, a screaming and giggling. Downstairs the audio-televisor buzzed and buzzed insistently, alarmingly, violently. Is that Helen calling? thought Mrs. Morris. And is she calling about what I think she's calling about? • Footsteps came into the house. Heavy footsteps.

Other Pointers • Climactic endings • Single motif • Mysterious villain

Checklist for Writing 1127/01 (Section 1)