introduction to creative writing
DESCRIPTION
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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Introduction to Creative WritingA 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?
An escape from reality; asedative or distraction
Form
alist
Form
alist
FormalistCreative Writing
A mag
nifica
tion
of re
alityThe improvementof reality (art as a hammer
The invention of
reality
A confr
ontat
ion w
ith
reality
; facin
g rea
lity
Defiance of
reality; reality
as it ought to be
Note that some types, such as satire, mock or interrogate reality
The ho
norin
g of tra
dition
Form
alist
Form
alist
FormalistArt
Expre
ssion
that is
wide
-
open
and
free
A pile of crap; a hoax; excuse for not having a REAL job
A comm
odity
The subversion of
tradition
Self-expression;
solely for self ;
exploration of one’s
unique vision
Somet
hing
prod
uced
solel
y for
oth
ers;
a
means
of p
leasin
g an
audie
nce
Emotional or
psychological therapy
Creative Writing
Process…
…Product…
Expression that
is shaped and
crafted
A mysterious
inborn talent
A learnable skill
SELF OTHER
Maybe writing’s a constant NEGOTIATION
of binaries
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 Review or 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…
Got it?
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:
o Creative writing pedagogyo The culture of creative writing/creative writing in the
culture o The history of creative writing in the university.