Forms We Help With
- Short fiction: literary, speculative and genre stories, flash fiction and linked story sequences.
- Poetry: free verse and traditional forms such as the sonnet, villanelle, ghazal and haiku sequences.
- Scriptwriting: short films, stage plays, radio and podcast scripts in standard industry format.
- Creative nonfiction: memoir, personal essays, travel writing and lyric essays.
- Writing for young readers: picture book texts and young adult fiction.
- Exegesis and critical reflection: the academic commentary that explains and contextualises the creative piece.
Craft Elements Markers Assess
Voice and point of view
A distinctive, consistent voice is what makes creative work memorable. Your writer chooses a point of view that serves the story, whether close third person, first person or something more experimental, and keeps it under control.
Structure
Short stories have little room, so every scene must earn its place. Poems depend on line breaks and stanza shape. Scripts follow conventions of format and pacing. Your writer plans structure before drafting.
Imagery and language
Fresh, precise images make writing come alive. Our writers avoid clichés and choose concrete detail over abstraction.
Dialogue and character
Good dialogue reveals character and moves the story forward. It sounds natural without copying the repetition of real speech.
The Exegesis
Many Australian creative writing units pair a creative piece with an exegesis of 1,000 to 3,000 words, and UK modules often ask for a similar critical commentary or reflective essay. The exegesis explains your creative intentions, discusses the techniques you used, and places your work in conversation with published writers and critical theory. It is an academic essay, so it needs references in your required style.
Your writer makes sure the exegesis matches the creative piece exactly, quoting it where useful, and draws on relevant authors and theorists. For Australian literary context, resources such as AustLit are valuable for finding writers and criticism, while UK students can draw on the wide range of British and Irish writers taught in their modules.
Working From Your Ideas
Creative work is personal, so the best results come when you share your ideas: a premise, characters, a setting, an image you keep returning to, or writers you admire. Your writer can develop those ideas into a model piece, or edit and give craft feedback on a draft you have already written, which is often the most useful option.
Feedback on Your Draft
If you already have a draft, an expert can give detailed workshop-style feedback: what works, where the pacing slows, which lines could be sharper and how the ending lands. Comments are specific and explain the craft reasoning, so you can revise with confidence.
Reading as a Writer
Creative writing tutors often ask students to read as writers: to notice how a published story or poem achieves its effects and to borrow those techniques. Our experts can suggest published pieces that use the methods relevant to your task, such as an unreliable narrator, a braided structure or a particular verse form, and explain how the techniques work so you can try them in your own writing.
This kind of reading also strengthens your exegesis, because it gives you specific writers to discuss when you explain your own creative choices. Markers value exegeses that show a real conversation with other writers rather than a list of names.
Writers from your own country are a good place to start for many units. Tutors often appreciate references to local authors, and their work can open up settings, voices and concerns that suit your own piece.
Using a Model Piece
Read the model closely for technique: how the opening establishes voice, how scenes are cut, how imagery recurs. Then apply those techniques in your own creative work, which should always be your own. Our fair use policy explains how to use model work responsibly.
Price and Timeline
A short story or poetry set with an exegesis is usually delivered within four to six days. Feedback on an existing draft can be faster. Send your brief and ideas for a fixed price within 30 minutes.
Writing for Assessment Versus Publication
Creative work for a unit is judged against learning outcomes, so it needs to demonstrate the techniques taught that semester. A tutor may be looking for evidence of a particular skill, such as handling time shifts or writing in a received form. Your writer reads the outcomes and makes sure the piece shows them clearly, while still reading as genuine creative work rather than an exercise.