English V5 Portfolio Creative Writing
Seppe Huinink (5AGA) – Ms. Gerritsen (GRTK)
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Table of Contents
English V5 Portfolio Creative Writing.............................................................1
Einstein’s quote..................................................................................................... 3
Characters: The Pictures........................................................................................ 4
Notes In Class........................................................................................................ 5
Characterisation assignment 1..............................................................................7
Character chart...................................................................................................... 9
Writing assignment.............................................................................................. 11
Atmosphere assignments.................................................................................... 13
Setting and atmosphere assignment 2................................................................14
Title assignment.................................................................................................. 15
Self-evaluation..................................................................................................... 16
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Einstein’s quote
‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge
defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we
might yet discover and create.’
- Albert Einstein
My thoughts on this quote are:
I agree with what he says, but it is only with knowledge that we might be
able to discover everything we imagine: everything that still needs to be
discovered must be thought about using imagination first - yet without
knowledge we wouldn’t be able to make the imagination a reality.
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Characters: The Pictures
Picture 1:
She is a naïve woman who thought this man could do everything for her,
but he couldn’t. After growing up in a rich family, she noticed this man
working for her family and thought he was handsome. After going home
with him, she discovers he uses his status to cover up the holes in his
soul.
Picture 2:
She is a Japanese woman from a small village on Honshu. She always
grew up as one with nature, but after industrialization she fled deeper into
the woods and lived together for a long time with the animals there. Now
she starts to show up in public and in the media to tell her story.
Picture 3:
During the 1960’s, this man helped his father grow big in the money
industry. He married this woman who taught him the kind sides of life,
after which he tried to convince his father to invest in the future, but his
dad wanted money and went for weapons. After a long conflict, his father
was found dead in his mansion, and he never had the possibility to say
sorry for what happened.
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Notes In Class
Characters:
People must relate with or enjoy reading about a character. Or they should
have an understandable enough backstory to be ‘allowed’ to do certain
actions. When you let the reader have an emotional connection with the
character, they are more obliged to read your story.
Conflict
- External: This type of conflict is mostly beyond your control; it is
often an enemy or the final obstacle.
- Internal: This is a conflict like struggling against your own thoughts
and beliefs, which can help the development of a character but also
create some drama.
Characterisation
- Direct characterisation: You tell the reader exactly what a character
is like, which is mostly done in the beginning, and often only about
the ‘good’- or main characters. You mainly say things along the lines
of ‘... is ..., instead of describing someone’s actions.
- Indirect characterisation: You show who a character is through what
they’re doing, instead of boldly saying it. For example, instead of
saying the person likes cats, you tell they have a cat shelter, or
instead of saying they like mischief, you tell the reader they execute
a lot of pranks on teachers.
Atmosphere
What you are trying to make the reader feel, mostly by explaining the
setting and other small details about the characters themselves.
Setting
The place and time at which the story happens.
Imagery
Using words to describe an image, for example ‘the red, juicy, sweet,
crunchy apple’, which gives context for all your senses while still only
using your eyes.
Symbolism
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Something, an object for example, meaning something else, for example
crows meaning death, and a dove meaning life.
Show don’t tell
Don’t literally say what is happening or how someone is feeling, but rather
describe it, for example saying, ‘he broke down and didn’t want to talk’,
instead of ‘he was feeling sad’.
Personification
Giving something non-human a human characteristic or a human action,
for example, ‘the chairs sat quietly with the tables.’
Twists
A sudden change in a story, like something turning out to not be the case
while it had been hinted at.
Epiphany
Suddenly figuring something out, which most of the times causes the
climax of the story.
Perspective
- First person: While writing you use the words ‘I’ and ‘mine’ to
describe the story as if you are one person; the choice of person
who is ‘telling’ the reader what is happening usually doesn’t change
throughout the story.
- Second person: While writing you use the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ to
describe the story; this is mostly used for both motivating and
relaxing stories, as well as manuals, because it has the ability to talk
directly to the reader.
- Third person: While writing you use the words ‘he/she, they, his/her,
their’ to describe what is happening; this is the most common
perspective used and it gives you a narrator who usually doesn’t
have an opinion but is all-knowing.
Theme
An idea, lesson, message, or main type of story used to class groups of
literature.
Title
The name of your story; it can tell you what the story is about, mostly
used to draw attention to the book.
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Characterisation assignment 1
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This photograph, called ‘Migrant Mother’, is one of the most famous photographs
in the world. It was taken during the great depression, and the person you see in
the picture is a single mother who sold everything so she could buy food for her
children.
Short story based on the photograph
Imagine a world. A happy world. Imagine, in that happy world, a family at a party.
Now take away the food. Then take away the house. Then take away the guests.
Then take away all the jewellery and fancy clothes. Then take away your
husband. Then take away the colours – take away life. But keep the struggles,
worries, the fears for the future. Imagine losing everything you have and love,
due to circumstances you cannot predict or change. Imagine a person, at that
point in time, unable to look forward, unable to look backwards, unable to be
happy, unable to cry. Unable to give up. That is me. That is us. My children don’t
know it yet, but we’re out of food. Out of life. They are still happy, calling
themselves the ‘Pea-Pickers’, and our tent the Pea-Pickers camp. Last week, a
van drove by, dropping some peas – the only food I had this week; I saved the
rest for them. Someday, we will be happy again. Someday soon. Today, a car
drove by. Twenty minutes later, it returned, drove off the road, and stopped – a
woman walked out, holding a camera. She didn’t talk much, only a few
questions; where we came from, how long we had been standing here, how
much food we had. I think she already knew the answers. I didn’t have the power
to lie, but I couldn’t say the truth either; with my baby on my lap and my kids
holding onto my arms, I spoke with my eyes. She asked if she could take some
photos. I didn’t say yes, but I couldn’t say no. Maybe I wanted someone to know
that we existed. That we’re still here. That we tried. That I tried.
I stared towards nothing – stared beyond the camera. Beyond the woman. Into a
place that wasn’t there – but might come. A place with food. With laughter. A
place with hope. She thanked me, then left. Everything was just as silent as
before, until my son asked if she would come back with food. I said yes. I couldn’t
say no. About the picture? Maybe someone will see it, someday, somewhere, and
remember we had been here. That in the middle of hopelessness and dust and
silence, we were still holding on.
And maybe – just maybe – that’s enough to start again.
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Character chart
Name Leeroy Morrison
Physical description
Age 17
Gender Male
Height 1m67cm
Weight 64 kilos
Eye colour Blue
Hair colour Dark blonde
Personal data
Education None
Occupation Factory – Jack of all trades
Social class Working
Religion Azanosh
Ethnicity Scottish
Hobby/Hobbies Lantern making
Relationship None
status
Children None
Friends Diego ‘Carlos’ Luìs – Archie Ryder
Life goals To be famous with his lanterns
Personality
Main personality Curious
traits Mischievous
Good-hearted
Smart
Self-image As someone who does bad to be good
What difficulties in Factory accident which killed his dad; takes care of his
life has your mother
character faced?
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Writing assignment
Objects:
Chair
Bike
Pole
Flag
Manhole
Colours:
Turquoise blue
Scottish Blue
Blood Red
Black Hole Black
Factory – Grey
Dog names:
Fikkie
Steve
Bob
Herman
Hendrik
Famous English people:
Tom Holland
Tom Hanks
Barack Obama
King Charles the Third
Emma Watson
Story (with ‘random words’)
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I opened the door and saw… nothing. Not that there was nothing there – there
was a whirring ventilator and a few carboard boxes – there was nothing new.
Aside from the painting of trees, the wall was completely empty. Not a single
crack, crevish or imperfection. As if someone had made this wall to lock – to lock
everything. On the floor there were some toys, toys for children. A truck, two
cranes, another truck and three trains. Why would there be children’s toys, if not
for children? With one shaking foot in the door so it couldn’t be shut, I bent
forward to grab one of the objects. As soon as my finger touched the train, a
purple – lavender purple – smoke emerged from the sides and my hand started
to hurt. Amazed but frightened, I threw the train on the floor, only for it to
explode in a ball of colours. A very loud bang could be heard, and it deafened me
for a couple of seconds, while my memories came back half – the crying when
Iggy died, the laughter when watching Gordon Ramsey screamed ‘idiot
sandwich’, the aggressive head bopping when the DJ played Jason Derulo – all in
one moment. That’s the last I remember.
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Atmosphere assignments
It was a cold December night… and far away the factories hummed into the
darkness. He was walking alone, that snowy evening. In his eyes you could see
how he had been broken by life. A dream, broken by powers, a future, shattered
by the ignorance of the so-called leaders. The wrinkles of his face, shaped by the
choices of his former friends, grew deeper and deeper. He was waiting, waiting
for what was meant to be. It was midnight, but the skies weren’t dark. They
became brighter and brighter - turned from grey to yellow to red, in a matter of
seconds. His face erupted with laughter, and tears started to roll down his face,
as the snow melted, and the trees burned.
He stood there in the doorway… waiting. A candle was burning in the middle
of the room, spreading light across the dozens and dozens of papers laying
around. Every paper had words on them, some were covered, others were
thrown away after one. In the corner of the room, a clock was ticking… and
ticking, and it reminded him how long he had been waiting. With a sigh, he
moved his head, trying to go back inside, when a rumbling noise was heard.
Instantly, he stood upright, and a smile spread along his face, while the car
stopped right next to the cottage. A door opened, and a woman jumped out. She
fell into his arms, and they started laughing, because they had found each other
again.
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Setting and atmosphere assignment 2
A.
This photograph was taken at 14:00, close to the sea of southwestern France.
This picture gives me a feeling of nostalgia and freedom, as we always went to
France in the summer vacation, and we would see a lot of this type of trees.
Furthermore, it gives me a feeling of drought because it looks like the picture is
in the blazing heat. It also gives me a feeling of independence and sheer will
from the point of view of the tree, because it looks like it takes a lot of effort and
strength to stay in a place like that.
B.
I chose the song ‘Hotel California’, from Eagles, because the instruments of the
song (mainly guitars) sound bare, just like the branches, and the lyrics contain
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words about heat.
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Title assignment
Looking Back
Hills flew by
Campfire
Vacation
Driving
Timelapse
The sun was starting to set, and paving an orange road through the window,
where hills were rolling by. The air in the van was still, but lukewarm and cooling.
We were somewhere in France, the rusty sign said. Somewhere, it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered. Everyone got out on the beach, to cool off and get clean. A
campfire was started between the dunes, the flames almost reaching the stars.
Nothing wasn’t alright. No worries, except maybe the wood for the fire. The
bright orange glow lit up the faces of the people around, while the prickling smell
of burning wood gave a feeling of being alive.
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Self-evaluation
This period, I think I did a really good job paying attention in class. I genuinely
enjoyed some of the assignments we did during school, and I really put effort
into some of the stories. I believe that those small writing assignments really
help improve a pupil’s writing skills.
My planning wasn’t the best, but I think everything will only get better with every
small change, even if it’s just before printing. In class, I did almost all the
assignments you had to finish there, and at home, I made the entire layout for
this portfolio, so there was some good planning in there. Sadly, I lost some of the
things I wrote, because my laptop broke and the only things saved where the
things that were in OneDrive, but I managed to recover a lot (please don’t take
many points away for incompletion, pay attention to the content of the stories).
In the future, I hope I will be able to foresee everything I have to do earlier, and
not right in the face of the deadline. In the future, I would like to have everything
complete, because now it was impossible. But I think that what I want to achieve
on my end in the future, is achievable by asking more questions and showing
more initiative.
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