Robert provides feedback on Kerryn's work for her Introduction 21570/01 course. He praises her grasp of the fantasy genre and ability to envision new worlds. However, he notes that at age 16 she lacked the life experiences to fully develop her passions and visions. Robert advises Kerryn to abandon her current book project and start over from scratch, using what she has learned so far. He encourages her to explore new avenues on each assessment to get the most out of the course. Robert welcomes Kerryn and hopes they can create wonderful things together.

1. My Grades
Introduction 21570/01
Grade Date Submitted Date Graded Graded By
CR 29/10/2015 29/10/2015 Robert Stephenson
Feedback
Hi Kerryn,
I do so like the activity around Raven's Eye, the manic nature of packing and yet the detailed coverage of all
the elements needed and how everything might fit together. Change is a foot I see and even in your writing
here I see the desire to change something, to pack all the old things up and set off on a new journey, a new
adventure. You already show the touches of solid skills and a good understanding of tropes associated with
the fantasy genre. So, as I read the observatory piece I did have a small, wry smile, because I was looking at a
new writer who at least had a grasp of vision and could see beyond reality into a whole new place, and one
that might not even exist yet. Bravo.
Let's look at that wall you hit. Did you know that wall was something you had to hit and in fact couldn't
actually avoid. It isn't until you reach your mid 20s, there abouts, that the view of the world starts to take on
shapes you can associate with. You experience things on a more subjective level while also exploring
emotional ups and downs. At 16 you have the words, the colours and maybe even some of the visions, but
you didn't yet have the blood and guts of passion, loss, denial and hardship. Those 7 years of struggle with the
words, struggle with life, have reshaped you as a writer and helped craft a better view of what could possibly
be born from your imagination.
That book you started and keep on editing, put it away, the work on this is over, the editing will not fix it
because it is missing everything you need. If you try and force it into something that makes sense what you
have will just become a mess and for your mind create a thicker wall. Is that the end of the story? Well no, the
story is still there, the desire has grown and the passion is starting to really show, so you just plain start all
over again. This time you have part of the idea already, you have part of the journey remapped in your mind,
so starting all over again makes the most logic sense, and the story will be reborn as a better entity.
This course will ask many questions of you, and I suggest you create all new material for each assessment,
vary it, explore all avenues and test your skills, by doing this you get the best out of me and I get the best out
of you.
Welcome to the course, Kerryn, and may we create wonderful things together, and if it all looks a bit ugly,
well just put a weird title on it and call it horror and be done with it. hah...
All the the best
Robert N Stephenson
www.robertnstephenson.com