introduction to creative writing slideshare

Introduction to Creative Writing

Jul 28, 2014

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Introduction to Creative Writing. A Crash Course. Let’s start by just sort of yapping a bit about the whole creative enterprise. Take a look at this collection of quotations about writing, art, and the creative process: www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/Litquotes.htm

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• glorious self
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Introduction to Creative Writing A Crash Course

Let’s start by just sort of yapping a bit about the whole creative enterprise. Take a look at this collection of quotations about writing, art, and the creative process: www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/Litquotes.htm Browse through the quotes and select one which you feel best represents your own understanding of creative writing and art.

What quotation did you select in Skittish Libations, and why? • What, for you, is “art”? What is “creative writing”? • What is the process one goes through on the way to creating fabulous poetry and fiction?

A confrontation with reality; facing reality Note that some types, such as satire, mock or interrogate reality The invention of reality Formalist Creative Writing The improvement of reality (art as a hammer An escape from reality; a sedative or distraction Formalist Defiance of reality; reality as it ought to be A magnification of reality Formalist

Process… Something produced solely for others; a means of pleasing an audience A mysterious inborn talent Formalist A commodity Expression that is shaped and crafted The honoring of tradition A pile of crap; a hoax; excuse for not having a REAL job Creative Writing Art Formalist A learnable skill Emotional or psychological therapy The subversion of tradition Expression that is wide-open and free Self-expression; solely for self ; exploration of one’s unique vision Formalist …Product…

Maybe writing’s a constant NEGOTIATION of binaries SELF OTHER Artist Audience Subject Object

Speaking of Past and Present, here are a couple of competing claims: • Creative Writing (Literature) is the art of language in the present moment: the live, unstable, mysterious evolution that is happening continually and right under our noses. It means brand new poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, script-writing, and genres we don’t yet know how to name. • Creative Writing (Literature) is the art of language as an ancient activity: something we’ve been doing since we first opened our mouths to speak and sing around a fire. Some theorists say that the impulse to create poetry is at the root of the human impulse to use language, period.

Ok. So. • Nobody knows how to define it. • Or there’s no final definition. • Then how do we learn it? • How does it get taught? • Should I, as a teacher, emphasize process… or product? Craft… or free exploration? The work of antiquity… or the work of the future? All I can tell you is that, when I go into a classroom….

I teach the writing of literary genres. Poetry, fiction. Creative nonfiction. Some script writing. • I encourage wide-open, glorious self-expression. Go for it,baby! • I encourage patience, self-denial, and disciplined attention to the needs of audience. Craft. • I encourage an understanding of Creative Writing as culturally embedded. • I encourage an understanding of Creative Writing as culturally discreet and autonomous. • I encourage thoughtful appreciation of extremely old traditions. • I encourage experimentation and looney new ways of thinking about the world. • I try to do everything. • That’s why I’m burning out. • That’s why I’m insane. • Don’t tell my boss.

Ok. Here’s a different wrinkle. wrinkle wrinkle

What is “Creative Writing” with a capital C and W? = the branch of English Studies that involves teaching and learning how to write creatively, right? Yeah, but…

Can it really be taught? Isn’t it, according to one ancient tradition, about talent and a mysterious ability to summon the muse? What’s it doing in a university? How do you evaluate it? How, really, is it distinct from Rhetoric and Composition, Literary Studies, Linguistics, even Technical Writing? Isn’t writing in these fields creative also? What’s more important: the writing of literature… or the study of it? Isn’t all language creative, really? Why even have a distinct field called Creative Writing? Can’t business reports, department memos, shopping lists, Facebook status updates, even check-writing all be “creative”?

Did you know… Back in the 50s, at the University of Iowa, Creative Writing was created as a course to help students understand literature better. I.e., it was in the service of literature studies. The idea was that by writing some fiction, poetry, or drama themselves, students would better understand the masterpieces of literature.

But also… a bunch of teachers who were also writers wanted to get together with other writers and blab about their work— in a college setting. They couldn’t hang out in the bistros of Paris or Gertrude Stein’s salon anymore (the way they did in the 20s) so they had to get together somewhere…) The university is now sort of the chief “watering hole” for writers. It’s where they come together, share what they’re doing, argue, write, and learn from each other.

It’s always been a bit of an outlaw… Not scholarly like other disciplines. The MFA is a studio degree. Very different criteria. Not necessarily considered “academic.” Has even been viewed historically as an almost spiritual pursuit. Sometimes considered a “soft” subject by the other disciplines in English Studies. …even though those same disciplines appear to respect accomplished writers hugely!

The belief that “creative writing” isn’t really rigorous or difficult is ill-founded. Writing a poem or story that works, that is worth re-reading, that gets us where we live… IS FRAPPING DIFFICULT!!! The next time someone suggests that Creative Writing is a “fluff” discipline, ask them to write a poem and submit it to the Paris Reviewor Poetry. Tell them to “go ahead; give it shot. See how easy it is.”

In any case, over the last three decades, Creative Writing programs have proliferated like crazy across the U.S., and record numbers of students are FLOCKING to them. Despite its sometimes marginal status in the university, despite dire warnings that the printed word is dying out and giving way to a visual culture, despite scary statistics which show that reading is ever on the decline, despite the pragmatic, vocational, corporate, and anti-art bent of most universities… Creative Writing continues to absolutely flourish!

A Few Fun Facts

It was from Creative Writing that the whole notion of “writer’s workshop” developed. Creative Writing workshop strategies were borrowed by, and are now standard features in, composition courses all across the country. Since the 1980s, Creative Writing has had a somewhat ambivalent, and at times downright antagonistic stance toward academic trends—especially the advent and dominance of critical theory. At the same time, however, creative writers of all genres have produced works which significantly helped to shape our very understanding of postmodernism. New fields related to Creative Writing are on the rise, primarily under the influence of Composition Studies. You can now get an MA and PhD, for example, in “Creative Writing Studies” which examines: Creative writing pedagogy The culture of creative writing/creative writing in the culture The history of creative writing in the university.

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Secondary Menu

Introduction to creative writing, english 110s.

ENGLISH 110S.01

INTRO CREATIVE WRITING

Faulkner (Carol) Fox Online

This course encourage students to explore and practice four genres of creative writing: creative nonfiction, fiction, playwriting, and poetry. Part of the class will be devoted to peer critique of student work (“workshopping”), and part to discussions of craft as well as close reading of published essays, stories, and poems; and close watching of scenes from plays. There will be weekly writing assignments, and students will also submit a final portfolio of finished work.

ENGLISH 110S.02

Mesha Maren

Introduction to Creative Writing is a hands-on, interactive exploration of nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, and fiction. Students will read examples from each genre and discuss the craft elements demonstrated in each text. We will then go on to try our own hand at drafting and revising essays, poems, plays, and prose. No previous experience is necessary.

ENGLISH 110S.03

Akhil Sharma Hybrid

Learning to write creatively is like learning to sing, in that the writer is similar to a singer in being her own instrument. The writer's specific sensibility and especial competencies determine the range of excellence that the writer can comfortably operate in.

This course will focus on three genres: poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction. More particularly, the course will focus on the sonnet, the profile, and the short story. Each section will feed into the next: the stanza preparing us for the paragraph, and the interview leading into third person point-of-view.

Because learning to write creatively involves developing a form of muscle memory, there will be almost daily writing exercises. There will also be, and equally importantly, a daily writer's diary of the experience of performing the exercise.

The end goal of the course is to develop both a suppleness with language and an awareness as to our particular responses to specific subjects and technical challenges.

Requirements: Almost daily writing exercises. Grades: Writing assignments 50%; Participation 50%.

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• Duke English Administration
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• Resources for Faculty
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• English Minor
• Creative Writing Minor
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