Planning your A2 Original Writing Coursework
This is a post about how to plan your original writing coursework. You should already have an annotated style model, and researched your chosen form and topic. If you haven’t don’t worry. I have posts or upcoming posts to deal with that.
But assuming you have done that, you should be ready to plan.
This is a loose planning framework based on Freytag’s pyramid. Remember that while most non-fiction follows this to some degree, it may not. If you feel that you cannot follow this, then plan four or five sections of your piece following your own views your chosen form or find a time to discuss it with your teacher.
EXPOSITION / THE SET UP
Most texts begin with exposition. In fiction or entertainment texts we are introduced to setting and character. In non-fiction we are often introduced to the historical background of a topic and the stereotypes and preconceptions surrounding it. This would apply to editorials, reviews, leaflets, and autobiographies.
RISING ACTION / ANALYSIS
Once the exposition is over the story can begin. In a narrative / entertainment text, this is likely to be a series of problems or obstacle that the hero has to overcome. Similarly in non-fiction we encounter a series of arguments, anecdotes, events, or sub-topics that help us to understand the main drive of the piece. This section should be the longest section of your piece. Think The Billy Goats Gruff here. The first two goats face the troll; danger threatens then fades, but the big danger, the big, bad Troll remains. These are sometimes called try-fail cycles, and storywriters often like there to be two fails followed by a final victory.
And speaking of which…
CLIMAX / THE BIG WIN
In a narrative / entertainment text we expect to find the most dramatic part of the text near the end of the text. This section marks the protagonist’s final triumph over adversity, and marks the culmination of the try-fail cycles into a final success. So in The Billy Goats Gruff, the greedy troll faces the biggest goat of all, and finds that he has bitten off more than he can chew, and the goat butts him off the bridge and into the river.
Similarly non-fiction texts are likely to reach a climax. In persuasive texts this will be final, strong argument and a linking with the previous arguments of the analysis section. In a biography / autobiography this is likely to be a key moment that defines how the text produces wants their subject to be seen.
You should finish this part with a strong statement, like a metaphorical butting of the troll into the river.
FALLING ACTION / CONCLUSION
The falling action is what happens after the climax. In many cases it is likely to be little more than a bridge (not a Billy Goats Gruff reference this time – but it could be, if you think about it) to the resolution / call to action, and it could be as little as a single sentence.
Going back to our goats, the big guy trips and traps over the bridge to join his brother goats in the green grass – and that’s it. Simple.
So how is this likely to manifest itself in a non-fiction text? Well a simple sentence explaining how your argument is important, and how it’s going to make the world a better place, or how the reader’s life will change if they buy a product or watch a film.
Of course non-fiction is more varied in its forms and conventions than fiction is, and sometimes these ideas just fit better in the resolution / call to action section of the text – and that’s fine. But you do need your argument or recount to feel completed before you hit the reader with the…
RESOLUTION / CALL TO ACTION
And they all lived happily ever after, and the Big Bad Troll was never seen again.
So, whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, the resolution marks the end of your story, argument, recount or analysis. When you think about your resolution you should think about the reader and the characters / actors / items/ objects in the same way. Your text has done its work upon them and they have been transformed, or resolved into a new state.
In an entertainment text, the resolution should give us some sense of what the lives of the characters will be like in the future. But in non-fiction, you are more likely to think about how the readers’ lives will be different in the future.
Advertisers and marketers often refer to this section as the Call to Action, and it’s all about what you want the reader to do after they have finished reading your text. This could be whether or not they should buy a product, or what sort of expectations they should have of it if they do. Or is could be how they should feel about an issue, or at least a sense of what needs to happen next.
And that’s it your text should be ready to get out there and fully map out your planning. You should be good to go.
Let’s summarise:
The Set Up
Will probably be the first 10-20% (75-150 words for the AQA course).
Does stuff with the setting and background.
Links with the reader’s preconceptions that (maybe) you want to change.
Rising action / Analysis
Will be the longest section 40-60% (300-450 words for AQA)
A t least two obstacles or arguments.
Likely to include a lot of evidence or research.
Climax / The Big Win
Your biggest strongest conflict, fact, or argument.
Will be 10-20% of the piece (75-150 words )
Needs to be tied to your previous points or try-fail cycles.
Falling Action / Conclusion
The shortest element (1% - 10% - that’s about 10-75 words)
Tells us what the immediate result of the events of the story or the arguments are.
Prepares us for the Call to Action or Resolution.
Resolution / Call to Action
Will be 10-20% of the piece (that’s 75-150 words).
Lets us know how the characters or our opinions have changed since we began reading.
Links with the power behind the discourse and may tell us what we need to do next.
And that’s it. Now all you have to do now is sit your butt in that chair and get the words out of your head and onto the screen. Good luck!
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