The Authorial Intent

The Authorial IntentYoure the author what were your intentions?

What an Authorial Intent isntA dot point outline of unrelated, random thoughts loosely connected to your writingA plan for your Context responseA summary or description of your Context responseAn informal, casually written discussion or reflection on what you wroteA vague, thrown together, last minute piece of writing

What an Authorial Intent isA sophisticated, formally written, coherent piece of writing that articulates the reasoning behind the choices/decisions you made as the author of your Context pieceSupports your Context response

It should answer the question: How did you go about putting together an effective piece of writing?

What is an effective piece of writing?A piece which combines FORM and LANGUAGE to best achieve the PURPOSE with the intended AUDIENCE

Your Authorial Intent should make it clear how you decided to do this

FLAP+CTFormLanguageAudiencePurposeLinks to Context (i.e. the Prompt)Links to specific elements of the Text

FormYou should not only mention what form you chose (and why), but also the genreGenre: persuasive, creative or expositoryForms: essay, narrative, script, article, speech, letter to the editor...Forms have different conventions e.g. essays use formal language, narratives use descriptive elements and so on you should show that you understand these conventions in your Authorial IntentionIt is imperative that you state WHY you chose the form you did explain how it helped you achieve your purpose

LanguageAs an author, you should be conscious (thinking about) why you are making particular linguistic and structural choices:To symbolise an idea?To make the readers feel empathy?To add a persuasive effect?To instil an image in the readers minds?To make the readers laugh?To make a link with the authors style of writing?Also talk about the way you structured your piece (if this is significant) tense, perspective, paragraphing, dialogue, linear/nonlinear...and so onThink of this as doing a mini-language analysis on yourself keeping your chosen audience and purpose in mind language creates a link between audience and purpose (i.e. what were the intended effects of the choices you made?)

Language (continued)Expository:What you did to keep the reader interested?What you did to make the explanation clear?Why you used the examples you used?Why you used the evidence you used?Argumentative:What persuasive techniques did you use and why?How did you develop your argument?Creative:How did you create setting, narrative voice, use symbols, metaphor, structure, tense, point of view, imagery, dialogue and so on...

Language (continued)You MUST discuss TONE the mood of the pieceWhy have you chosen that tone? what effect were you seeking?How did you go about establishing this tone and maintaining it throughout your piece?

Tone doesnt just happen you need to be in control of it

AudienceHaving a clear sense of who you are writing to (a particular, specified, well-defined audience), will shape what you write and how you write it (so that it is appropriate for your audience)

An audience is NOT:People aged ___ to ___ (or just teenagers)People who enjoy readingPeople who have experienced conflictThe teacherAustraliansPeople who are interested in the issue

The audience needs to link to your purpose and languageTalk about audience in terms of their values, attitudes or feelings rather than age, class or gender be specific about this

PurposeWhat are you trying to achieve in this piece of writing for your readers?How did you keep your piece focused on achieving this prompt?Generally three categories of purpose:To inform (expository)To persuade (argumentative)To entertain (creative)But there can be others or a combinationTry to have an overall moral/lesson in your piece what is it important for people to learn/remember/take away from your piece of writing?Link your purpose to your audience and discuss how your choices regarding form and language help you to achieve your purpose

Explaining whyIt can be difficult to explain why you have made particular choices as an author especially because these reasons must be meaningful and thoughtful

Reasons are NOT:Because it was easierBecause I think Im good at itBecause I thought it would be the best way to reach the audienceBecause I thought it would be more interestingBecause I couldnt think of anything elseBecause the alternatives were too hardBecause I had toBecause I like writing this wayReasons must be directly linked to your audience and purpose

Make yourself sound professional and intelligent dont give me reasons that make you sound lazy! You must show passion, commitment and also convince me that you have something worthy to say

Links to Context (the prompt)Explain how you explored the prompt in depth in your piece be obvious and specific in explaining these links, especially if you wrote in a creative way as the links you made to the prompt might be quite subtleDid you explore more than one interpretation of the prompt? Did you explore how it might relate to people/characters in different circumstances? What original, new insights did you come up with? What was the overall moral/lesson of your piece about the prompt?

Links to the Text (optional outside examples as well)Which specific examples did you draw on? Why did you choose these characters/events? What was it about them that revealed ideas about the prompt and helped you achieve your purpose?Outside examples how did they add to your ideas and discussion?DO NOT just re-write Najafs story but call him something different this is not a clever linkFor creative writing in particular: Did you draw on the authors writing style? How? Or did you deliberately try something different to gain a new insight into the characters? What similar themes/images/ideas are there between your response and the text?

Some tipsAuthentic, meaningful, powerful believable! Use a sophisticated, formal, academic tone in your AIYou CAN say I, me, my in this as in I chose to....because I...Be conscious of your choices as an author as you write dont try to make up fake reasons laterHave a specific AUDIENCE and PURPOSE in mind before you begin writing its really hard to make these up after youve written your responseChoose an audience that you know and understand this might mean doing some research600 words (handwritten) its a lot to say in a short amount of space, so dont waffle or repeat yourselfLook at samples! (see booklet or ask me)