Writer’s Methods and Techniques
‘Methods’ is an umbrella term for anything the writer does on purpose to create meaning. Using the writer’s name in your response will help you to think about the text as a conscious construct and will keep reminding you that Conan Doyle purposely put the text together.
Exam Tip
Remember that the people in the text are conscious constructs, and so are the places being described, and the objects mentioned. Try to learn to notice deliberate things Conan Doyle has done to communicate his ideas.
As you read the text, try to consider: ‘why this, now’? For instance, Conan Doyle chose to recount the novel using a first-person narrative which depicts events through Watson’s limited perspective, rather than through a third-person omniscient narrative. Try to consider why Conan Doyle may have chosen to write his novel from this perspective.