Narrative and creative writing
Stories and descriptive pieces written by students in the practice, published with their consent and credited to them. Each is read for what the writing does rather than for what it scored.
NarrativeReading to comeThe Vietnam FloodMartinA narrative of an officer adrift on a raft as a flood takes a Vietnamese city. Callum's reading to follow.
NarrativeReading to comeJohn NitramLouisA creative character study, built from a character card and rendered into a diner vignette. Callum's reading to follow.
NarrativeReading to comeThe Kitten & the Neglected CandleHannaTwo linked vignettes — a frantic kitten and a candle the sisters can't blow out. Callum's reading to follow.
What is taught against these pieces
The moves taught against narrative writing, drawn from the practice's own technique record.
- Show, Don't Tell
- Dramatise emotion or state through gesture, physical detail, or action rather than naming it directly. His fists clenched, rather than he was angry.
- Complex, Consistent, Unique Character
- Characters mix good and bad traits rather than being binary, behave consistently across the piece, and avoid resembling media tropes or real people.
- The Checklist Technique for Descriptive Writing
- A self-review method: verify every required element of a description is covered, while connecting the sentences so the description reads as alive rather than as a list.
- Logical but Surprising Resolution
- An ending must be both surprising, so not predictable, and logical, so consistent with the story's own internal rules.
- The Two-Story / Subtext Technique
- Running a second meaning underneath the surface events, so dialogue and action carry more than they state.
These are drawn from the record of techniques used in lessons. The full archive holds every piece published so far, and the Clinic works the same moves at the level of a single sentence.