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Death Penalty in Creative Writing (1 Viewer)

Faith_7

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I have a creative writing section in my upcoming prelim half yearlies on belonging. I was wondering if it is okay for my main character to receive the death penalty for his actions at the end of the story.
 

Shuuya

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Should be fine, probably...
 

BandSixFix

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Should be fine, probably...
Shit the title almost scared me.

But if you're worried about having something too graphic you need to make sure you link more the meaning of why he/she received the death penalty I guess
 

si2136

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Should be alright to do. However, confirm with your teacher just in case.
 

BLIT2014

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Probably best to clarify with your english department as they will be marking internals, and can be against marking stories along those lines.
 

Skull5556

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That's fine, but in any story if you wish to gain a high mark, it would be a good idea to follow what Aristotle has written and those rules maybe even bend them a little like Shakespeare, simply modernise it all. But from my view I like that idea, it seems rather creative if used correctly there can be a immense build up towards it.
 

Destan

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Honestly, you just need to make clarified links throughout the story. Any creative text can be "creative"; so long as it makes sense.
 

marxman

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Generally this is OK... But realistically dying is thought of as a teeny bit cheesy by some markers. When I was going through the same process in Year 11 - I drafted my stories a lot and my teacher (who is fucking fantastic might I add) really toned it into a classy story without any death or suicide etc... Yes in principle death is fantastic, dramatic - it shocks the responder etc. However markers will find it much more pleasing to read a work that keeps the drama and richness without using stuff that everyone else seems to also use.

In general a good rule of thumb for nailing creatives is to avoid (As best as possible!) Drugs, suicide, death and expletives.

Drugs - teachers generally don't want to hear about that stuff - expletives same story.

For suicide and death, generally its not that great not only because its cheesy and somewhat unoriginal - its also relatively unrealistic, neither you or I know what it is like to die or face the death penalty. Hence, writing about the death penalty may not be a great idea simply because you just wouldn't know enough about it.

Another good tip is to just to write about what you know, don't venture of into fantasy land just stick to a basic idea that you know about and construct a clever plot that doesn't do anything overly dramatic but maintains a rich plot and sound technique.
 

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