Activity 3: CREATIVE WRITING.
Once students have mastered basic grammar, punctuation, and essay construction skills they are in a position to consider the quality of their writing. People write to inform, influence, and entertain others. This is true of even basic written communications. No one really wants to read communications that are so basic that they are boring. Even a simple letter can be drafted so that its construction can be admired. Likewise, a personal essay can be enhanced by powerful use of language.
Generally, students often believe that the term "creative" relates to "unrestrained" writing. Yet skill, care and consideration should be applied.
Activity 3: Experiment with descriptive writing. Consider the advice provided on the following pages and then, in one brief paragraph, attempt to capture the atmosphere surrounding one of the following:
The old man.
An 18 year old college student included this description in a creative essay.
His memories danced all day and night, a miniature theatre in his aged mind that only he could view and which kept him out of mischief until his next meal. The wrinkles on his tissue paper face each held a catalogue of experience, a library of emotions.
This is descriptive writing at its best.
The idea that the old man could store his lifetime of experiences, coupled with notions such as mischief and description of his tissue paper skin, is very powerful.
Can you understand how the extract was written?
What are the images that used to describe the old man's body and mind?
What do we learn about the character of the man?
Creative writers aim to impress their feelings onto their readers by:-
Choosing effective words (Diction)
Referring to all senses (Total experience- Keats)
Exaggerating to impress/ heighten the experience and impart urgency.
comparison with something different- imagery,simile,metphor,analogy,personification Allowing the background to fit in with what you have described i.e. weather-Paint peeling from the damp walls relates to poverty.
Here are some examples of the devices that can be used in creative writing. This is not a complete list of creative devices as there are other options open to writers.
There are many ways to express ideas forcefully. There are many creative devices that could be used to replace over used phrases or clichés. People who write bland descriptive essays or articles should consider some of the following ideas.
TONE....Writing can be ironic, sentimental, morbid, genuine, false, dramatic, sarcastic, etc., etc., etc. Writer's should think about these possibilities.
VOCABULARY....the choice of individual words, called diction, is very important. Do you want to use slang? Do you want to use old fashioned words? Do you want to use words that are ambiguous, that leave more than one meaning? Do you want to use words that have interesting connotations?
i.e. 'many' means many but 'legions' means much more.
SENTENCE PATTERNS... the length of sentences can be varied to gain effect. The order of words within a sentence can also be varied for the same purpose.
IMAGERY...Do you want to conjure up images in your readers mind? When you describe something you can use words and descriptions that affect the reader's response to your writing.
i.e. "His argument was so weak that I felt as if I had been savaged by a dead sheep."
i.e. "It was like swimming against the tide."
i.e. "The blades of grass stabbed through the dry soil."
FIGURES OF SPEECH.... Metaphor, personification, simile, hyperbole, metonym, and synecdoche are examples of these.
Look up these terms.