How to Use Metaphor Strategically in Your ATAR Creative Writing
Discover how strategic metaphor application transforms ATAR creative writing. After 30 years of teaching, I'll show you the systematic approach that helps students score higher on creative writing tasks through purposeful literary device use.
How Haiku Writing Transforms ATAR English Skills
Discover how haiku's 17-syllable constraint teaches ATAR students essential skills: systematic observation, precise language choices, and strategic literary device mastery.
Metonymy or Synecdoche? That is the question.
Think you can spot literary devices? That's just the beginning. ATAR success requires knowing WHY authors choose specific devices, WHAT effects they create, and HOW to analyse them with precision. Discover why metonymy vs synecdoche matters, learn to identify each with confidence, and master the critical questions that turn device knowledge into sophisticated essay analysis.
Spot the Literary Devices: How Many Can You Find in This Haiku?
Think literary devices are hard to spot? Try this challenge: How many can you identify in just 17 syllables?
Spotting literary devices isn't just an academic exercise - it's a crucial skill for ATAR and Academic English success. When you can identify these techniques in your set texts, you can analyse with confidence instead of writing 'the author uses good description.'
Observe, Wonder, Connect: How to Turn Any Image into a Compelling Story
Most students struggle with narrative prompts because they write reactively instead of strategically. They see a post-apocalyptic image and think 'survival story!' - but that's the trap that leads to incomplete plots and surface-level writing.
My 'Observe, Wonder, Connect' method transforms any image into a complete story framework in minutes. Instead of panicking about what to write, you'll have clear conflicts, character arcs, and thematic depth.
Take this apocalyptic image: most students see 'disaster story.' But when you observe the gas mask, wonder about protection vs. isolation, and connect external toxicity to internal emotional barriers - suddenly you have a sophisticated narrative about human connection that writes itself.
Uh Oh, Onomatopoeia!
"Bang, crash, splash, whoops, boom, tick-tock, ding-dong, click, snap, poof, whomp, wham, pop, burp, honk, oops, boo, vroom and buzz to name just a handful. Onomatopoeia is the surround sound blast that can express every sound from the tiniest whisper to an all-out crash boom bang sound explosion!
In writing, it's all about developing empathy in your reader, building tension with foreshadowing and dramatic irony... Sounds are closely linked to emotions. When cats are happy they purr. When time is the focus the tick-tick-tick could make time streeeeeetch or, speed it up like a ticking time bomb..."
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