CREATIVE WRITINGLECTURER:INDRA TJAHYADI, S.S.

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What is Writing?Writing involves putting little marks on paper via a computer, pen, pencil, or crayon. But writing is more than mere scribbling When you write, you communicate a message to the reader. Communicating in writing means sending a message that has a destination. It takes two to tango, change a light bulb, and complete the function of the written word. The message of writing is its content. You can present your message in a variety of ways. Traditionally, the forms of writing are divided into narration, description, exposition, and persuasion.

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The Forms of WritingNarration This is writing that tells a story. Narration that tells about real events includes biographies and autobiographies. Narrations that deal with fictional events include short stories, myths, narrative poems, and novels.

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The Forms of WritingDescriptionThis is a kind of writing that creates a word picture of what something or someone is like. Description is made up of sensory details that help readers form pictures in their minds.Description also uses images, words that appeal to one or more of our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell. Imagery can be found in all sorts of writing (and should be), but it is most common in poetry.

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The Forms of WritingExpositionThis type of writing explains, shows, or tells about a subject. As a result, it is the most common type of everyday writing. Exposition includes news articles; memos; business reports; and notes to the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker.

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The Forms of WritingPersuasionThis is a type of writing that tries to move an audience to thought or action. Newspaper editorials, advertisements, and letters to the editor are all examples of persuasive writing.

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What Is Creative Writing?Creative writing is a kind of writing that uses language in imaginative and bold ways.

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Why Write?Creative writers have a story to tell. The story may be fiction or nonfiction. It may be a play, a script, a poem. Whatever form the writing takes, it must be expressed. Creative writers have a need to write, as much as they have a need to breathe, eat, and sleep. And their task is equally important to humanity.

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Why Write?Writing also allows you to record the key events in your life. You know valuable things that no one else knows. By writing down your experiences as well as your thoughts, you can communicate what you learn to others.

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The Writing Reason I want to communicate ideasI have a story to tellI am a unique personIt satisfies my soulI speak with passionI want to learn somethingI need to fulfill a dreamI have information to shareI want to be famousI want to make money.

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Creative Writing CategoriesCreative writing falls into two main categories: fiction and nonfiction. Fiction is writing that tells about made-up events and characters. Novels and short stories are examples of fiction. Fiction that contains imaginary situations and characters that are very similar to real life is called realistic fiction. Nonfiction is a type of writing about real people and events. Essays, biographies, autobiographies, and articles are all examples of nonfiction.

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Types of Creative WritingArticle. An article is a short work of nonfiction. You can find articles in magazines, newspapers, and books. Autobiography. An Autobiography is a person's story of his or her own life. An autobiography is nonfiction and describes key events from the person's life. Biography. A biography is a true story about a person's life written by another person. Biographies are often written about well-known people, such as O.J., Di, and Sting, and important people, such as Thurgood Marshall, Jonas Salk, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

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Types of Creative WritingDrama. Drama is a piece of literature written to be performed in front of an audience. The actors tell the story through their actions. Dramas can be read as well as acted. Essays. An essay is a brief writing on a particular subject or idea. Fantasy. Fantasy is a kind of writing that describes events that could not take place in real life. Fantasy contains unrealistic characters, settings, and events.

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Types of Creative WritingScience fiction is fantasy writing that tells about make-believe events that include science or technology. Often, science fiction is set in the future, on distant planets, or among alien races. Novels. A novel is a long work of fiction. The elements of a novelplot, characterization, setting, and themeare developed in detail. Novels usually have one main plot and several less important subplots. Poetry. Poetry is a type of writing in which words are selected for their beauty, sound, and power to express feelings. Traditionally, poems had a specific rhythm and rhyme, but such modern poetry as free verse does not have a regular beat, rhyme, or line length. Most poems are written in lines, which are arranged together in groups called stanzas.

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Types of Creative WritingShort stories. A short story is narrative prose fiction shorter than a novel that focuses on a single character and a single event. Most short stories can be read in one sitting and convey a single overall impression. Song lyrics. Songs are poems set to music. All songs have a strong beat, created largely through the 3R's: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. A ballad is a story told in song form. Traditional ballads were passed down by word of mouth from person to person; the words are simple and have a strong beat. Like their older relatives, newer ballads often tell stories about adventure and love.

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The Writing Process Plan. Gather ideas and focus your thoughts. Shape. Find the best way to organize your material. Draft. Write your ideas in sentences and paragraphs.

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The Writing ProcessRevise. Revisit your draft and rethink your ideas. Here's where you add, cut, move, and rewrite. In some cases, you may rework your draft as drastically as plastic surgeons have revised Michael Jackson's face; in other instances, you'll be more along the lines of a Goldie Hawn brush-up. Edit. Reread for errors in technical areas: spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and so on. Proofread. Check the draft for typos and illegible handwriting.

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Writing PlanGenre is not a factor with these four key players. No matter what you write a novel, short story, drama, screenplay, poem, biography, autobiography, or article you must consider all four elements as you plan.

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Writing PlanAll planning begins with thinking about four key elements: Topic Purpose Audience Special circumstances

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Writing PlanTopicYour topic is what you will write about. Also known as the thesis, theme, or subject, the topic comes from everything you have ever known, seen, dreamed, experienced, remembered, read, and heard. Creative writers draw on this rich storehouse of experience to spark their imaginations and make their vision come alive for their readers.

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Source of Writing Topics

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Writing PlanPurposeAn author's purpose is the author's goal in writing a selection. Common purposes include to entertain, instruct, persuade, or describe. Nearly all creative writing has the same purpose: to entertain. Nonetheless, an author may have more than one purpose for writing a particular selection, but one purpose is often the most important.

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Writing PlanAudienceYour audience is your readers. Sometimes you know who your audience is. Writing without first considering your audience is like mailing a letter without a stamp, cutting wallpaper without measuring it, or buying a pair of pants without trying them on. Audience influences your choice of topic, language, sentence length, punctuation, and allusions. It can even influence your choice of form, such as novel, article, or poetry.

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FictionFiction is writing that tells about made-up events and characters. Novels and short stories are examples of fiction. There is no specific required length that sets the novel apart from its cousin the short story or the novelette, a story usually between 50 to 100 pages.

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PlotPlot is the arrangement of events in a work of fiction. Successful writers arrange the events of the plot to keep the reader's interest and convey the theme.

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PlotIn many stories and novels, the events of the plot can be divided as follows: Exposition. Introduces the characters, setting, and conflict. Rising action. Builds the conflict and develops the characters.Climax. The highest point of the action.Denouement. Resolves the story and ties up all the loose ends.

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Point of ViewPoint of view is the position from which a story is told. Here are the three different points of view you will encounter most often in novels: First-person point of view: The narrator is one of the characters in the novel and explains the events through his or her own eyes, using the pronouns I and me. Third-person omniscient point of view: The narrator is not a character in the novel. Instead, the narrator looks through the eyes of all the characters. As a result, the narrator is all-knowing. The narrator uses the pronouns he, she, and they. Third-person limited point of view: The narrator tells the story through the eyes of only one character, using the pronouns he, she, and they.

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CharactersFirst of all, keep the usual suspects to a minimum. We don't have to meet the whole family. Use only as many characters as you need to tell the story.

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CharactersSome writers begin with plot and find characters who fit the story. Other novelists, in contrast, begin with characters and let them interact as the plot unfolds. Still others begin with a theme and seek plot and characters to address that truth about life. There are even some writers who begin with a setting and let the plot and characters unfold from there.

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CharactersSelect the method that works best for you. Remember, though, that the method may vary from novel to novel. Experiment with different techniques until you find the one that works for you at that particular point in your writing career.

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DialogueDialogue, the character's speech, should reveal the character's important traits, be easy to read, and further the plot.

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PoetryPoetry is one of the oldest arts, and until very recently, one of the most important ones. In olden days, poetry was as crucial as food, shelter, clothing, and super-premium ice cream (even though the latter hadn't been invented yet). Poetry was recited at important public occasions and learned by educated people as a part of their basic intellectual equipment.

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PoetryThe definitions of poetry:In which words are selected for their beauty, sound, and power to express feelings That uses a kind of language that is more intense and expressive than everyday speech That presents the speaker's emotions as they are aroused by beauty, experience, or attachment That provides a fresh, unexpected way of looking at things That gives pleasure, whether it appeals to the senses, emotion, or intellect.

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Poetic TechniquesAlliteration Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in several words in a sentence or line of poetry. Poets use alliteration to create musical effects, link related ideas, stress certain words, or mimic specific sounds. Here's an example from Dylan Thomas's Fern Hill: About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green. The phrase shows alliteration in the repetition of the h in house and happy and the gr in grass and green.

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Poetic TechniquesBlank VerseBlank verse is unrhymed poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter (see the section titled Meter for a discussion of iambic pentameter). Many English poets wrote in blank verse because it captures the natural rhythm of speech. Here's an example by William Shakespeare: Time hath, my Lord, a wallet at his back,/Wherein he puts alms for oblivion.

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Poetic TechniquesLyric PoetryPoet Emily Dickinson, who made the Phantom of the Opera look like a party animal, was a champ at writing lyric poems. These are brief, musical poems that present a speaker's feelings. In the distant past, before Spandex and Pez, people sang lyrics as they played string-like instruments called lyres. This is where we get the word lyric.

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Poetic TechniquesCatalogThe catalog technique in poetry predates L.L. Bean and Victoria's SecretHomer used it around 800 B.C., John Milton in the seventeenth century, and greedy children still use it around Christmas. It's nothing more than a list, but when used with brio, it's as over-whelming as Toys R Us on Christmas Eve.

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Poetic TechniquesNarrative PoetryNarrative poetry tells a story, either through a narrative storyline told objectively or through a dramatized situation. Examples of narrative story lines include Alfred Noye's The Highwayman and Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin. An example of the dramatized situation is Robert Frost's poem The Death of the Hired Man.A special form of the dramatized situation is the dramatic monologue, in which a character speaks, using the first person point of view. We don't hear the other character's responses, but we can infer them from hints in the poem. It's like listening to one end of a phone conversation.

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Poetry vs Prose Prose, claimed Samuel Taylor Coleridge, consists of words in their best order. Poetry consists of the best words in the best order. The primary difference between poetry and prose is concreteness. A single word of poetry says far more than a single word of prose. That's because the language in poetry resonates worlds of other meaning. In a sense, the poet distills meaning in brief and vivid phrases. The poet's use of economy and suggestion evoke response in the reader.

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Poetry vs ProseThe primary difference between poetry and prose is concreteness. A single word of poetry says far more than a single word of prose. That's because the language in poetry resonates worlds of other meaning. In a sense, the poet distills meaning in brief and vivid phrases. The poet's use of economy and suggestion evoke response in the reader.

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