We're going to do impressions of some distinctive writing styles, including newspaper reports, lyric poetry, and online game reviews. To give us something to write about, we'll use this picture of Hunters in the snow (Winter), by Pieter Bruegel, as inspiration.
We'll do five exercises. For each exercise, you'll get a snippet in a particular style, and then an example showing how you could apply that style to the image.
Once you submit, you’ll be able to read and react to responses from others in your group.
If you're ready, let's write!
Newspaper reports give you the facts, backed up by quotes and evidence, but it’s the journalist who decides what facts are worth reporting. This report shows a politician presenting at an awards night, but the ‘news’ wasn’t that – it was something they said in their speech.
That shows another part of report writing – journalists assume that people could stop reading at any time, so what’s considered the most important information is put first. So an eye-catching title (headline) and the first couple of sentences (lead) should give the most important details. From there, the writing should give increasing detail.
Have a read.
CHILDREN’S BUSINESS
MELBOURNE: The ambition of all children should be to run their own small business, according to Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett.
Mr Kennett gave his advice to the younger generation while announcing the state Government’s small business awards.
“As I’ve said to people in the public sector ‘You will never know what you’re worth, while you work for someone else’.”
Mr Kennett said only the private sector could make Victoria and Australia “grow”, and children should be encouraged to open up shop.
At yesterday’s awards, the Premier’s gold medal for international achievement was won by VME Systems, which developed industrial, communications and training systems being exported to Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Now let’s look at an example of the same treatment using this painting as the starting point.
FAST FREEZE BRINGS FOOD FAMINE
ZUTPHEN: We must be careful with our food this winter, according to Zutphen Mayor, Lotte Visser.
Ms Visser gave this warning to everyone who attended this week’s town meeting at the Zutphen Community Hall.
“Five of our finest hunting parties have returned empty-handed this month. They’re saying that the early winter has caused migration to begin weeks in advance.”
Ms Visser then advised everyone to ‘tighten their belts’ and to start rationing now as the weather would only get worse from this point on.
In lighter news, the Mayor also announced that this meant that ice skating season was starting earlier and that she was looking forward to judging this year’s figure skating championship.
In this example, the town running out of food is definitely more important than a skating contest. It’s still the journalist and the editor of the newspaper who decides what is put at the top of the story.
Sometimes you're just drifting in a boat or a bus or train and looking at the world, mind wandering. This poem captures that feeling through rhythm, rhyme and imagery.
How does it do that?
Take a look.
Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.
Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating-
Where will all come home?
Grey-blue, the frozen sky,
Sharp white, the fallen snow,
A blanket covers everything,
From trees to ground below.
Families a-skating,
The hunters amble, slow.
Hungry folk, a-waiting,
How did the hunting go?
Sometimes friends and family tease and troll each other via text. The friendly text troll has no real meanness behind it. The point is just to irritate a friend or loved one enough that they snap.
Because this is a text message, we use fragments and optional punctuation and grammar.
Here is the example snippet as you would see it on a phone:
Here is the snippet without the formatting, written like a script:
Papa: Dinner 20 mins.
Me: what is dinner
Papa: Veal and rice. It looks good.
Me: Will it poison me?
Papa: Let’s find out.
Me: If I ever die, and the police are involved… You’ll be the first one they question with this attitude.
Papa: I’ll risk it.
Because this is a writing exercise (rather than texting your Dad), you’ll have to write both sides of the conversation.
Me: home from hunt. Where u?
Mum: Skating. Could you pick up some eggs on your way home dear?
Me: really tired mum
Mum: Oh. We’re out of flour too. Two bags should be enough.
Me: been hunting for 3 days solid mum.
Mum: And those sausages I like! You know the ones. Get ten.
Me: I HAVE BEEN HUNTING IN THE FOREST FOR DAYS!!! I AM COLD AND I AM TIRED AND WOULD LIKE TO SLEEP IN MY BED TILL TOMORROW. ILL DO IT LATER OK?
Mum: Okay. I understand.
Mum: If you’re going to miss dinner make it six sausages, then.
Something you might notice when you first read this snippet from an Australian convict in the 1800s is that it’s long. It’s a single, elaborate, multi-part sentence. That’s partly the style of the time and partly the fact it’s a letter: this is a train of thought, and that train is a long one.
The letter observes the rules that ‘a man has to mind’, the reward if ‘he does his master’s duty’, and the brutal punishments ‘if he don’t’.
All a man has got to mind is to keep a still tongue in his head, and do his master’s duty, and then he is looked upon as if he were at home; but if he don’t he may as well be hung at once, for they would take you to the magistrates and get 100 of lashes, and then get sent to a place called Port Arthur to work in irons for two or three years, and then he is disliked by everyone.
Henry Easy, convict
Your diary snippet could be about the life of a convict, but there are alternatives. Another example of someone living a life with few rights and many rules can be seen in the example below.
All a servant has to do is stay low and quiet, look after the dogs and carry his master’s kills home from the hunt, and then he may even get some of the spoils for doing a good job; but slip up even once and you might as well be one of those birds he’s shooting at, for you will feel the butt of the gun hard against your back, and then be sent home alone and freezing in the snow, to face your hungry family in shame.
Meinte Jansen, huntservant
This game review is the summary of a longer article, so it gets down to a quick ‘need to know’ pattern. Here is a feature / Here are a few words to describe it. The quality descriptions mix value judgments (‘beautiful’, ‘fluid’) and feelings (‘satisfying’, ‘accomplishment’). That mix is just enough to help you decide whether to spend your money and time on the game.
Of course, the rating at the end is usually the first thing you check.
To no one's surprise, ‘Ori and the Will of the Wisps’ is visually and audibly beautiful. Once you get the hang of Ori's abilities, the platforming is fluid and satisfying, the combat is cool, and the game rewards your exploration even when said exploration is a result of getting lost. Through it all lingers a feeling of accomplishment that makes it so easy to keep playing, even through the frustrating parts.
Rating: 9 Excellent
As a first-person adventure, ‘Hunters in the Snow (Winter)’ was beautiful, but flawed. Playing as Pieter, leader of a hunting expedition that goes terribly wrong, much of your playing time was spent getting lost in the woods, looking for game and wishing there was a map or hint to click. That, combined with the awkward realism of loading a musket by hand, made the gameplay too slow, no matter how majestic the visuals or music. When danger does appear however, all is forgiven as it takes every combo in your ability tree to get back to your village safely.
Rating: 6 For lovers of historical action.
That's it for this set of exercises. See you next time for a different image and different writing styles!
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