Creative Writing

3.2.2026 - 27.3.2026 (Week 1 - Week 8)
Vanessa Kei Kurniadi / 0360525
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Creative Writing

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MONOLOG

Reflection

Monologue is something I find a bit hard and strange. I'm not used to writing about my inner self, and performing it is definitely something I have always avoided, because I'm not much of a performer nor someone who's confident with so many eyes looking at me.

When I looked back at this writing, I noticed that it was sort of lacking in some "deep emotions". It seems like I'm narrating a story of another character. But no, it's actually something so personal that I rarely talk about it to anyone. Maybe that's why, when I knew that I had to perform, all feelings were suppressed, even though I tried to show them in this writing. I'm so used to hiding negative feelings that I find it hard and slightly embarrassing to openly show them, because I unconsciously consider it a weakness. It resonates well with what I put in my writing about the mask. About it being practised so much that it has practically become who I am. But this experience gave me a chance to notice something I've been ignoring far too often before, and knowing this, I want to try to start facing my own negative emotions and find a way to cope with them in a more positive manner.

Anyways, the original "feel" of this writing is about my frustration with the "old-fashioned" superior view that the elders have, which makes it hard to communicate properly, so I was trying to adapt to whatever they want me to be. But I also added my frustration and trying to stand up to myself, while I keep growing, and things that I have to worry about keep coming, adding up to the pile of my mental stress.

My resolution on the first draft is me accepting my feeling of confusion and not knowing what to do in the present nor the future, but the word "hoping for a sweet better future" isn't really a satisfactory end, according to Mr Mark's feedback. So I changed it to something stronger and more solid, which is still the truth about me.

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SHORT PLAY

Reflection

The concept and settings for this short story were thought up by my groupmates. However, due to language barriers, most, if not all, of the script was written with the help of AI. So my friends are in charge of creating the outline of the story, while my main job is to modify the wording and pacing to make it more natural and emotional.

I looked through the first draft, and I noticed a lot of things are lacking. The storyline was too straightforward, the characters and speech were too "under the nose", making it lack impact and feel monotone. I believe anyone with a slight passion for good stories knows that the original draft is too shallow.

Fortunately, I have a little hobby of trying to make stories more impactful and heartfelt, because that's what I love, too. A story with strong feeling, a plot that isn't too simple nor too complex, and gives enough seriousness to make it seem real and connect more with the audience.

So I modified the story using my own words, creating tension here and there. I basically just used whatever ideas and creativity flowed into my mind and asked myself, "What would make me like this story more? What would make it more interesting and give me a deeper connection?" I added my own life experience into the story, imagined how my parents or my siblings would act, and poured it into a family that is just different enough to be original, yet connects to me. I made the story simple enough to fit a short play, but it gives enough feelings to the reader. I also tried to not change the "essence" of the plot too much to respect my groupmate's hard work, but I did ultimately change almost every line and added more in the script to make it more natural.

I particularly like how Anna turned out to have a very strong and brave personality. She has this nice balance of rebel, mannered, and responsible eldest daughter, which is a bit similar to how I see myself in my family. She and Bella have a very nice sibling dynamic, supporting each other in their own ways.

My friends helped to change some lines for Clara because we couldn't determine how she should act, so after their modifications, I had to modify the wording some more. There are some parts that I personally think could still be improvised plot-wise. But I want to respect what my friends had made, and it could very well be what they had envisioned as their versions as family, so I keep it there. While the overall story isn't something I usually go for in my own personal works, I do think I made a decent short story with my groupmates, and I'm proud of how it came out.

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Peer Review

"Grief" by Insha Thahirah Rajab

The story tells about a character who heard the news over the phone about someone's passing, a girl, a friend. Likely bullied, depressed, and committed suicide. The character was grieving and furious, complaining and snapping towards God in their prayer. Asking if she's not loved enough to be saved, even though the character tried to keep in touch with her. Although they are also asking themselves if they didn't try hard enough. The character kept asking for signs from God to say why He let it happen and why they had to hear it, and they were given silence.

In the performance, the character was focusing more on processing the grief they felt the moment they heard the news. They blamed themselves for what happened and only asked God why they had been designed to feel the pain.

The writing version gives a stronger emotion of rage and grief, while the performing version focuses more on the deep sadness. There are enough lines that explain what happened to the girl and why the character felt really bad about it. It's enough for me to personally feel the pain, the frustration.

I personally think the character was strongly designed. Them feeling lost and their rage were clearly conveyed when they bombarded God with their questions. It's all already pretty self-fulfilling, but I do think there are some ways to cut off the questioning just a little bit more to focus more on the girl and the self-blame, make the grief and rage more obvious and stronger.

The performance was great too. I am aware everything had to be cut very short, so it's hard to convey the full intention of the writing, but I wish some of that rage had been shown during the performance because it was written very strongly and beautifully.

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