Dr. Bill Thomas (DrT)

English & Journalism

 
 Welcome to the world of creative writing

     Let's imagine we're working together in a writing workshop, not a class where the teacher does all the talking and you do all the writing, test taking, exercise practicing, reciting selections aloud, and speak only when spoken to. We'll be organizing ourselves into teams, so that all of you become facilitators. We all have different backgrounds, means of expressing ourselves, favorite topics, senses of humor, writing expressions, and individual voices. Why not combine all our skills and practice learning together rather than separately?

Let's write an essay. What's the process? First, what do you want to write about? Write the word or phrase - tattoos. Next, how do you collect ideas? Brainstorm, create a cluster, ask questions, freewrite, explore your journal, or talk to someone else about what you want to write. So, you've got all this stuff in front of you. What's next? Do you build a house wirthout a plan? No, you must have blueprints, right? It's the same with an essay. You need a plan, which, in English, is termed an "outline." It's a good way to organize all your ideas into subject areas, ordinarily called "paragraphs" that are the major building blocks of your essay.

The first joining of your paragraphs is called a draft. Next, you print that draft and start playing around with your pencil or pen to evaluate what you've written and add new ideas and punctuation. Print that and review the contents once more. Read the draft aloud. Revise where essential. Viola! The finished piece. Is the process finished? No way! You have to make enough copies of your paper for each of your team members. Ask them for peer reviews. With their input, you've now challenged your own creativity but theirs' as well. That's creative writing.

How do you like your new tattoo?

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