The Student Room Group

Higher English Folio Creative advice

Hello,
I am doing Higher English this year and was thinking about doing a broadly creative piece instead of a discursive one. I was wondering if anyone has any general tips or things to avoid. Some initial ideas are writing a fantasy short story or a first-person account of a crime. Any advice is really appreciated. Thanks

Reply 1

Original post
by JohnDeacon
Hello,
I am doing Higher English this year and was thinking about doing a broadly creative piece instead of a discursive one. I was wondering if anyone has any general tips or things to avoid. Some initial ideas are writing a fantasy short story or a first-person account of a crime. Any advice is really appreciated. Thanks

Yes, I think this is a very good idea. I did the story of a doctor who hits someone late at night, thinking they 💀 them, only to find that they were a patient in the hospital next day (omg, shocker, crowd goes mad :p:)

I think what is important in creative pieces is to explore a dilemma, like in mine the doctor had to either treat the patient and save them, risking them waking up and reporting it, or to just let the patient go by natural causes. Centre your story around this and the impact on the character etc. Or do whatever you want, creative writing is supposed to be creative :biggrin:

Just please write something decently original and you'll do well!
Best of luck! (I got full marks in the folio btw so hopefully you'll listen :colondollar:)

Reply 2

Original post
by stilllearning123
Yes, I think this is a very good idea. I did the story of a doctor who hits someone late at night, thinking they 💀 them, only to find that they were a patient in the hospital next day (omg, shocker, crowd goes mad :p:)
I think what is important in creative pieces is to explore a dilemma, like in mine the doctor had to either treat the patient and save them, risking them waking up and reporting it, or to just let the patient go by natural causes. Centre your story around this and the impact on the character etc. Or do whatever you want, creative writing is supposed to be creative :biggrin:
Just please write something decently original and you'll do well!
Best of luck! (I got full marks in the folio btw so hopefully you'll listen :colondollar:)

Thanks a lot for your reply, and congrats on your full marks! Do you think a first-person account of a murder where the speaker talks in an indifferent tone about his macabre acts could work?

Reply 3

Original post
by JohnDeacon
Hello,
I am doing Higher English this year and was thinking about doing a broadly creative piece instead of a discursive one. I was wondering if anyone has any general tips or things to avoid. Some initial ideas are writing a fantasy short story or a first-person account of a crime. Any advice is really appreciated. Thanks

Glad to know that you’re considering a creative approach and I am sure it can really help your writing stand out if done well. For Higher English, make sure your piece still shows strong value added structure, language skills, and depth of unique ideas. With fantasy, be careful not to get lost in world-building; focus on character and theme. If you choose crime, avoid clichés (like stereotypical detectives or overdone twists) and instead aim for a unique perspective, maybe focusing on emotions or moral dilemmas. Whichever you choose, keep your writing clear, purposeful, and engaging and always link back to what examiners look for: originality, brainstorming of tone, and strong use of language. Good luck!

Reply 4

I'm doing a creative folio for Higher English myself this year, and the genre I went with is crime.

I'm detailing a Detective as he waits for and receives a sinister letter from a suspect. My piece focuses a lot on not just what's happening, but how the Detective experiences it. I also have the letter, which provides a different speaker and monologue to that of the Detective.

My best advice is that whatever genre you choose, you try to have a unique main character whose monologue is a bit different. And by different, I mean distinct. You don't want it to sound like every other piece of writing from that genre, even if it is a cliché.

Also, I don't think this should put you off but my teacher isn't letting anyone do a creative fantasy piece. I assume this could be because it's hard to do well in, but he hasn't really clarified.

Reply 5

Original post
by JohnDeacon
Thanks a lot for your reply, and congrats on your full marks! Do you think a first-person account of a murder where the speaker talks in an indifferent tone about his macabre acts could work?


I'm jumping in here too!

That sounds like a strong starting off point. In class, it was recommended that we provide an interesting setting that brings these things out of a character. For example, maybe the character is in an interrogation room or the back of a police car (or somewhere more unique, like an AA meeting or a catch up with friends).

We were shown an example of a previous Higher Folio that did really well. The piece is set in a butchers shop, and from the beginning of the piece we can tell someone is missing as there is a missing persons poster on the window. Gradually, the piece becomes creapier, and we discover that the meat being sold by the butcher is not animal meat.

I use that as an example because it shows us that this main character is unapologetic and has clearly done horrible things, without explicitly ever telling us straight up what they did.

This is the ideal way to write a piece, by showing not telling.

I hope everything I've said helps, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask me. 😊

Reply 6

Original post
by Angelina Harriet
Glad to know that you’re considering a creative approach and I am sure it can really help your writing stand out if done well. For Higher English, make sure your piece still shows strong value added structure, language skills, and depth of unique ideas. With fantasy, be careful not to get lost in world-building; focus on character and theme. If you choose crime, avoid clichés (like stereotypical detectives or overdone twists) and instead aim for a unique perspective, maybe focusing on emotions or moral dilemmas. Whichever you choose, keep your writing clear, purposeful, and engaging and always link back to what examiners look for: originality, brainstorming of tone, and strong use of language. Good luck!


Thanks a lot!

Reply 7

Original post
by jasmineva3128
I'm doing a creative folio for Higher English myself this year, and the genre I went with is crime.
I'm detailing a Detective as he waits for and receives a sinister letter from a suspect. My piece focuses a lot on not just what's happening, but how the Detective experiences it. I also have the letter, which provides a different speaker and monologue to that of the Detective.
My best advice is that whatever genre you choose, you try to have a unique main character whose monologue is a bit different. And by different, I mean distinct. You don't want it to sound like every other piece of writing from that genre, even if it is a cliché.
Also, I don't think this should put you off but my teacher isn't letting anyone do a creative fantasy piece. I assume this could be because it's hard to do well in, but he hasn't really clarified.


Thank you sm

Reply 8

Original post
by JohnDeacon
Thanks a lot for your reply, and congrats on your full marks! Do you think a first-person account of a murder where the speaker talks in an indifferent tone about his macabre acts could work?

Definitely!
I think the main thing is to understand what you are writing so that your text has depth, as they can really tell when they read it. So again, basically anything you can think of that you will enjoy writing!

Reply 9

Hello, just wanted to add my two cents - I also got full marks for my creative piece at Higher.

I think a big part of it is prose and line-level writing. Does it flow, are you using nice vocabulary and imagery? If your writing is nice on a sentence level you are likely to do well overall.

Best of luck xx

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