It is important for teachers to distinguish between the creative process and the writing process. The writing process describes the phases of a writing project that all students are expected to complete, from pre-writing through to publishing or display.
The creative process, on the other hand, is much more elusive. It describes the process that artists engage in when they are creating something that did not previously exist. The creative process involves the student in decision making about content, genre, form, structure, language, theme, craft, and imagery. The end result is the creation of something new that has its own meaning.
The point at which various decisions are made will be different for each student and, possibly, for each project. Some students will make a decision (about form, for example) at the pre-writing stage and adhere to that decision. Another student might make a similar decision at the pre-writing stage and then change his or her mind several times during revision. Some decisions cannot be made until certain truths about the work become evident to the student. The process, then, is an organic process, and one that is unique to individual artists and students. It describes the complex interaction between the student and the work-in-progress.
Gertrude Stein said the following about writing:
"... think of the writing in terms of discovery, which is to say that creation
must take place between the pen and the paper, not before in a thought or afterwards
in a recasting" (Preston, 1935).
Tips for Teaching the Creative Process
Because the creative process is organic, there is no one way to engage in the creative process and there are no fixed sequential steps that can be taught to students. However, the teacher can assist and reassure students in the following ways:
Read students anecdotes from biographies or books on writers and their work. Post quotations on the bulletin board. Invite authors to the classroom. Create an entire display on creative process or have students do it. Ask each student to find a quotation or story about the creative process of a different writer or other artist. Discuss the anecdotes in small groups or as a whole class.
Professional writers often say that becoming a writer is, in part, a matter of learning about their own process. Writers do not automatically know what works best for them or how they discover meaning in their own work. Teachers can help a student by pointing out observations they have made about how the student works. Teachers can validate a student's process by telling the student about writers who work in similar ways and directing him/her to excerpts from biographies or articles on writing.
Many students are not aware that writing creatively involves constant reflection and decision making. Often, students do not realize that they are making decisions as they work. By asking provocative questions, teachers can draw students' attention to the decisions they are making, and let them know that reflection and decision making are expectations.
Use a science analogy to help students understand the value of keeping a journal: when scientists create something new, they keep notes and records so they will know what they did and how they did it. When students reflect on their own work, they are thinking about both what they write and how they do it. Thinking about the process will help them build on what they have done and grow in their creative abilities. Encourage them to see that keeping a response journal is a means of learning about their own process.
The term "taking risks" refers to trying something new that might or might not work. Because creative writing is often personal and because it is eventually shared with a reader, writers (even professionals) are sometimes nervous about attempting new things. However, if writers and other artists do not take risks, they do not grow in their abilities to say something in a new way, or to discover new things about human nature or artistic expression.
It is not necessary for everything the student tries to work. In fact, it is sometimes the failures from which the most can be learned. Remind students that advancements in science and the arts often come about by accident. Encourage them to see the value of accidental discoveries, and to veer in a new direction in the middle of a project if they choose. Taking risks and making decisions about what works and what does not, and which "accidents" are of value, are important parts of the creative process.
Individual differences and perceptions are the "best friends" of the creative artist. Art works are unique, autonomous expressions and they are so because of the individual differences among the artists who create them. We all have our own experiences with the world, with culture, and with the arts (including literature). We all have our own unique ways at looking at something. It is individual perceptions that have given the world centuries of arts expressions.
Teachers can design their own instruments for assessing student progress in this area. A sample form containing several criteria is included in the Assessment and Evaluation section of this guide. It is important to assess the students' engagement in the creative process in order to determine the quality of the students' creative experience. The product alone will not suffice as an indicator, especially if the students were taking a risk and trying something that might not have worked out in the end. Assessing the students' engagement in the creative process lets students know that it is an essential part of the program. It also allows teachers to assess several different kinds of projects using the same criteria.
The Role of Individual Perceptions in the Creative Process
There are two major factors that influence a writer engaged in a creative process: the writer's perceptions of the real world, and the writer's experience with literature and language. The first provides content; the second provides the means or tools for constructing a new piece of writing.
The student's perceptions of the real world and the student's experience with literature are both unique to that student and must be respected by teachers and other students. The following are examples of factors that influence the individual student's perception of the world:
The following are examples of factors that determine a student's experience with literature and language:
The teacher can guide students to expand their knowledge of both the world
and literature by directing them to resources that might be of interest, providing
experiences such as field trips and guest speakers, encouraging students to
value their own perceptions and experiences, encouraging discussion in the classroom,
and encouraging students to use experiences in other content areas as sources
for their writing.
The writing process describes the phases of a writing project with which all students are expected to become familiar. The purpose of incorporating the writing process in a formal way into language arts programs is to encourage students to adopt certain behaviours that will make their writing better and more complete. The writing process encourages students to see writing as something that develops through exploration, research, consultation, revision, editing, and publishing or sharing their work with others.
The writing process includes the following phases:
| Note: Conferencing and discussion are important at all phases of the writing process. Fifteen minutes is an appropriate amount of time for peer conferencing sessions. Students can use this time for discussion of ideas, topic choice, free writing, and drafts, as appropriate. More detailed information on peer conferencing and student-teacher conferencing is provided. |
Pre-writing
Pre-writing includes all the activities a writer goes through before writing actually begins. Some pre-writing might include activities to stimulate students' thinking, such as completing webs or concept maps. Selecting a topic, conducting research, and notetaking or journal writing are also pre-writing activities.
Writing Topics and Pre-writing Strategies
The pre-writing strategies provided in this guide can be presented by the teacher to encourage students to explore ideas and begin writing. Each pre-writing strategy should be explained thoroughly by the teacher and presented along with examples. Students should write each idea down in their notebooks or journals, to be filed away for use at some later date. A few students may wish to try the strategies out immediately, but these strategies should not be treated as assignments to be done by everyone at the same time. They are for students' future reference, to be used as needed. Pre-writing strategies help students discover facts, clarify impressions, and use their imaginations.
The following are general types of pre-writing strategies. (Specific strategies are presented in the section entitled "Module Overviews and Suggested Activities".)
Sample Image Cluster
Idea Notebooks or Journals
An idea notebook or journal should be kept for the purpose of recording anything that might be useful later on for creative writing projects. The notebook or journal might be a bound pad, a steno pad, a spiral notebook, or a loose leaf binder.
Students might also want to carry an additional, very small notebook with them at all times because topic ideas will not always occur to the student in school time. If students keep their notebooks with them and write in them often, these books will become filled with the raw material for creative writing.
In their idea notebooks, students may record such things as images, phrases, thoughts, story lines, experiences, encounters, or emotions. The following are additional suggestions which students may be given for their idea notebooks:
Free Writing
Free writing is spontaneous writing that may or may not be connected to a particular writing project. Fifteen minutes is a suggested period of time for free writing. During this time students might try out a pre-writing strategy presented by the teacher, develop a topic previously explored, or create a first draft. This should be a quiet writing time.
During free writing, it is important that students write down all that comes to mind. They should write for the full amount of time without going back and rewriting or making corrections. In this way, they will explore their thoughts and moods without trying to be too correct too soon. They will become comfortable with writing as a constant practice.
Some of the writing students produce during this time will not be useful to them later. Free writing helps students to understand that not all writing they do is equally good, and not all writing must be kept. Writers must learn to discard. By the end of a writing project, they may have a different focus or angle on the topic or even a whole new topic, and keeping earlier words and phrases might ruin the final product.
On the other hand, during free writing students will often come up with ideas and phrases that lead them in an imaginative new direction. Because students are not focusing on a product, they take risks in free writing without realizing it. This can result in the discovery of something new--perhaps a new idea, skill, or insight.
Drafting
Creative writing requires blocks of time and students must be able to rely on specific planned time periods for their writing. Therefore, when students begin drafting a piece of writing, teachers should plan classes so that students have the time to work intensively on their drafts.
The important thing to remember about the first draft is that it is an opportunity to begin exploring the idea in a formal way; that is, to begin structuring the idea by taking it beyond notes, diagrams, and journal entries. After students have completed their pre-writing and/or first draft stages, their writing will begin to take shape. They will begin to organize their thoughts. They will also begin to consider their intended meanings.
Individual Differences in Working Style
The drafting phase of the writing process refers, primarily, to the first draft. However, the writing process is not always cut and dried, and it is sometimes difficult to tell when the first draft ends and the second draft begins. In addition, some students will write a first draft slowly and carefully, while other students will write very quickly. There is no one correct way to write a first draft. Teachers should observe students’ ways of working and try to decide when it is best to intervene with suggestions. They should encourage students to get to the end and to complete the first draft.
Some students will revise constantly, even while they are writing a first draft. As soon as they have a few paragraphs or stanzas on paper, they will get an idea for how to make the work better, and will begin again. Although a certain amount of this is fine, some students are such perfectionists that it is difficult for them to go on if they know something is wrong with the piece. These students need to learn that all first drafts are flawed. They can be encouraged to move on by being told that things will happen in the writing as they complete the first draft that will help them revise the beginning. Their writing will actually be better if they complete the piece and then revise in earnest.
Other students will write a complete first draft and immediately want to start something new. These students are good at getting to the end of a first draft, but are impatient with the whole process of revision. Of course, these students need to understand that revision is an expectation, and that their writing cannot reach its full potential without revision. However, teachers should realize that there are students who will learn by writing many different first drafts. Teachers should not limit these students' imaginations by forcing them to write a piece over and over again if they have lost interest in that piece.
Teachers can deal with these different types of students by establishing minimum requirements regarding number of pieces that must be revised, edited, and proofread. In addition, the teacher could establish further requirements for individual students based on their preferred ways of working.
Teacher Writing Time
The teacher should also write and become as involved as the students are in the world of language. When students are writing, the teacher should try to find ten minutes to write along with them. For the remaining student writing time, the teacher may wish to schedule individual student-teacher writing conferences, or to conduct informal conferences by conversing with students about their writing in a more informal manner.
Writing Folders
All writing drafts should be kept, not only while the writing is being developed, but also after it is completed. These drafts are valuable to the student as a collection of thoughts, writing projects, and sources for new directions. They are valuable to parents, as they provide the qualitative information that a mark cannot provide. They are valuable to the teacher as a means of looking back over the semester’s work to observe development, find reasons for problems, and assess progress.
Students should keep all notes and drafts for a writing project in a writing folder. They should date their drafts. Students might keep another folder for pre-writing activities, some of which might not develop into writing projects.
| Note: Remember that the writing folder is different from the portfolio. The portfolio is a collection of writing assembled according to specific criteria, for the purpose of assessment and/or display. Students will assemble their portfolios from the work they have kept in their writing folders. For more information on portfolios, see the Assessment and Evaluation section of this curriculum guide. |
Revising
Revising is a process of deciding what should be changed, expanded upon, deleted, added, or retained. Revising also includes editing and proofreading. Editing, although it occurs at a later stage of the revision process, still involves revising for structure, sentences, and words to make the work clearer. Proofreading involves revising for style, spelling, and mechanics, so that the presentation of the work is clean and correct. Editing and revising are not mutually exclusive, and can occur a little at a time as the writer becomes more sure of a certain section of the project.
Methods of Revising
Writing is not a linear process; it is an organic one, where one thing affects another and ideas develop as the writing is in progress. Revision, then, can take many forms. The following are examples:
Other writers will:
There is no one correct way to rewrite, nor is there a correct number of drafts that a writer should expect to complete. Each piece is different and as students become more experienced, they will begin to recognize their own preferred methods of revising.
As students work through their various drafts, a theme will gradually emerge. Their writing will take on a shape it did not have in the beginning. There is no "short cut" to this process. Often an original draft seems wonderful at the time, and then further writing produces an extension of it. The original draft serves as a stepping stone to the second draft.
Students are finished revision when the elements of their pieces all fit together and generally "feel right". When their pieces do what they want them to, even though there still may be some rough edges, they can move on to editing.
Some suggestions for revising.
Editing and Proofreading
Students should be reminded that editing and proofreading are aspects of the revision process. However, they are undertaken by most writers after significant revision has already taken place. When students edit, they should pay attention to things like rhythm, pacing, word choice, accuracy, and sentence and paragraph structure, depending on the genre of the piece. A piece that needs no more major revision may still require minor editing to ensure that:
Proofreading is essentially a technical task. Proofreading is a final check to make certain that everything in a writer’s piece is complete and correct. It includes checking spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, capitalization, page set-up, and spacing.
Students and teachers may find editing guidelines in several writers’ reference texts listed in the bibliography for this course. Recommended handbooks and dictionaries useful for proofreading are also listed.
Both peer conferencing and student-teacher conferencing will, at certain times, be focused on editing and proofreading. For the purposes of editing or proofreading, students may wish to conduct conferences with their peers in pairs as well as in a larger group.
Many students’ pieces will be revised for the classroom audience only. However, some of each student’s writing will be published for a wider audience. Publication is an incentive for students to polish their work by editing and proofreading. If students are preparing their pieces for publishing, they will want these pieces to be correct in every detail.
For published material, the teacher will probably wish to assume the final editing and proofreading responsibility. All writers who publish have editors--people who give the writing a final read and look at it in a more detached way. Students must become aware that receiving additional comments from an editor does not necessarily reflect on their own editing abilities. Editors are simply able to isolate problems the writer may not have been able to recognize because of his or her closeness to the material.
| Suggested Revision Guidelines for Student Writers
|
Publishing
Publishing, for educational purposes, means making public and sharing with others. Students might post their work on a bulletin board, present their work orally, publish in a school or community newspaper, publish in a student anthology, or perhaps enter their work in writing or speaking contests. It is essential that students select their best work for publication or sharing, as the selection process encourages them to discriminate and develop criteria for judgement.
Teachers might establish a regular time in the schedule for students to prepare their work for publication or sharing. Activities might include:
Formal publication can be exciting and gratifying for students, although it should not become the focus of the program. A student creative writing booklet or magazine can often be desk-top published right at the school. Students can enter their own pieces, design the look of the booklet and the cover, and create illustrations.
| Note: Some students may be reluctant to put their work on display. Although they should be encouraged to display their best work, their requests for privacy should be respected. Writing can be very personal and students might not want to share it with other students or teachers outside of the classroom. |
Formal Publication
Formal publication can happen in many ways. Local and provincial magazines and newspapers will sometimes feature student creative writing, as will a number of literary publications. Some province-wide publications like Windscript (Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild), Golden Taffy (Saskatchewan Teachers of English Language Arts), and Young Saskatchewan Writers (Saskatchewan Reading Council) are specially designed for student creative writing.
| Note: If students express interest in exploring the open magazine market, they must understand that acceptance or rejection is not a valid measurement of the quality of their work. There are many more submissions to a magazine than can possibly be published, and the editor's final decision is based on his or her personal preference. Some magazines receive 500 submissions for every six published, and even professional writers receive many rejections from magazines. In most cases, the classroom creative writing booklet is the best publication project for students. The open market can be discouraging at a time when students need to be encouraged to write and learn. |
Contests
Some students may be interested in submitting to writing contests, although contests can also be discouraging because very few people win them. No student should ever be forced to enter a contest, and teachers should make sure students understand that entering contests is not the main reason for writing, and that writing is not a competitive endeavour. That said, contest deadlines do act as an incentive for some students to complete and polish their work. Sometimes entry in a contest includes a subscription to a literary magazine.
Preparation of Manuscripts
When students decide to display their writing or submit it to contests, editors, publishers, or the teacher, the appearance of their manuscripts is important. Students should present their manuscripts on white bond paper, double spacing their lines and leaving a two-centimetre margin on the sides and bottom. Pages should be numbered and the author’s name should appear in a header or footer on every page. The author's name, address, telephone number, and/or e-mail address should appear in the top left-hand corner of the first page. The title of the story, in bold or capital letters, should be centred on the first page. If the student is preparing poetry, each poem should be put on a separate page.
If students choose to send work to magazines or contests, they should prepare
a very brief cover letter (a few lines will do). Editors prefer to receive unstapled
manuscripts. They also want stamped self-addressed envelopes for the return
of the manuscripts. Student writers can expect to wait from several weeks to
two months for a reply. They need to be reminded never to take rejection as
a reflection of their abilities as writers.
Conferencing, both peer and student-teacher, is an essential component of the creative writing program. It is useful for student writers to receive feedback on all stages of their works-in-progress. However, peer conferences can be destructive rather than constructive if they are not handled well. Students must learn how to present their work for feedback and how to give constructive feedback. It is the teacher's responsibility to observe peer conferencing sessions and intervene if they are not progressing in a constructive manner. The teacher should prepare mini-lessons, as appropriate, to ensure that students are learning and practising the skills of peer conferencing.
Not all students are alike in their need for peer comments. Nor are they alike in the ways they will find comments useful. Some students prefer to meet in small groups, while others prefer one on one conferences. Some students will be best served by teacher conferences. Although students should experience all types of conferences throughout the course, the teacher should attempt to determine student preferences and help students arrange the types of conferences that will be most useful to them.
Peer Conferences
The benefits of peer conferencing are as follows:
As a rule, a group of three or four is a good size for peer conferencing. Each member of the group can read aloud portions of what he or she has written (or the entire piece, if it is short enough) and receive feedback offered by the other group members. Members of each group may want to have photocopies of the materials ahead of time so they can prepare. The teacher may wish to join a group as well, with his or her topic choices, free writing, or first drafts.
Some students may find it useful, at least at times, to exchange their writing with one partner only. This could be true of students who prefer not to share their writing in groups, students who are writing about something very personal, or students who are writing in a style to which it is difficult for other students to respond. Even in a healthy classroom environment, some students will be protective of their writing, and their desire for privacy should be respected.
This is not to say that all students should not learn to give appropriate feedback to others when asked. The teacher should monitor peer conferencing sessions and help students make the choices that are best for them, and that will best help them grow in their writing abilities.
Tips for Successful Peer Conferences
Students must be supportive of each other and may need instruction in developing the necessary group interaction skills, such as contributing, listening to the contributions of others, responding to other members’ contributions, encouraging quieter members to speak, and practising self-discipline. Students may also need help from the teacher in developing the vocabulary to express the responses they have.
These are "rules of conduct" for peer conferences. They should apply to both the student writer and the peer responders. These can be developed by the class and the teacher, and can be revised as necessary. Post them so they can be referred to easily.
This places the student writer in control of the conference. He or she can have specific questions for the responders or ask for general feedback. The writer should see the session as a working session for his or her benefit, and try, as the chairperson, to keep the conference on track so that valuable information is gained. If the teacher senses problems, he or she should step in and model the behaviours of a good leader.
Students generally experience four stages of peer response: sharing, summarizing, responding, and helping. It is useful for students to understand what type of response they want or are getting from the group.
At the sharing stage, students support each other’s efforts as writers. Hence, the first sessions of peer response might simply consist of members sharing several pieces of writing, if that is the only stage with which they are comfortable.
Summarizing can occur when the writer feels confident that group trust has been established. Members of the group retell in their own words the content of the writing being discussed, so the writer can determine if the writing is clear to others.
When students respond, they talk seriously about the ideas at hand, and how well the writer’s format serves these ideas. Group members discuss their reactions openly and freely. From the reactions of the group, the student writer learns that writing is serious communication that constructs meaning.
Helping is the final stage. Student writers are generally ready to help themselves as a result of the discussions which have taken place. Also, writers are often ready for some unobtrusive comments regarding writing conventions, word combinations, alternative approaches, or elaboration. In later conferences which focus on editing and proofreading, group members may help with things like spelling, usage, and punctuation.
Guidelines for Peer Conferences
Students should be provided with some written guidelines regarding their roles. Guidelines similar to the ones on the next page may be given as handouts or displayed in the classroom.
| Note: A peer conference should never be seen as a session of group or committee writing. Changes are always in the hands of the writer, and the writer is free to reject all suggestions if he or she chooses. The assumption should always be that the writer is the expert on the writing selection under discussion. Peers are there to respond only. |
Student Guides to Peer Conferencing
| Conferencing Guidelines for Writers
Conferencing Guidelines for Responders
|
Student-teacher Conferencing
Student-teacher conferencing is also essential. In some cases, student-teacher conferences can be more useful than peer conferencing sessions, depending on the student. Teachers should hold regular conferences with all students and make judgements about which students need more of their time. In addition, teachers should regularly talk informally with students as they are working.
The teacher might begin the conference by asking, "How is it going?" or "How can I help you?". It is important that teachers ask questions which are non-directive, non-evaluative, and non-leading, so that students will learn to evaluate their own writing. The teacher might ask directly, "What would you like to accomplish in today’s conference?" or "What, in particular, would you like to talk about?". When discussion begins, it is extremely important for the teacher to be positive, and to communicate to the writer that something in his or her draft is worth saying. As the conference progresses, the teacher should continue to ask broad questions that invite response. Typical inquiries might be, "What idea are you developing?" or "How do you feel about the beginning?".
Students must feel that the teacher is interested in what they have to say,
and the teacher should never imply that he or she has a greater knowledge about
the topic than the student possesses. As with peer conferences, the student
should be considered the expert on the piece of writing under discussion. When
students are led to discover their own strengths, they become aware that revision
does not mean starting all over again.
As additional enrichment, teachers should make arrangements for published authors to visit their classrooms and spend time with their students . Visiting writers will sometimes conduct workshops, chair discussions, answer questions, or read from their own works. Authors may be available for several weeks in a semester, for one week, for a few days, or for a few hours. Students will benefit from seeing "real live" authors at work, and from hearing them read and talk about their writing. Having professional writers in the schools will help to create a generation of students who appreciate contemporary writing. It will also help to make students sensitive to their common experiences and the relationship of those experiences to language.
The presence of a professional writer in the classroom should stimulate students’
imaginations through the sharing of creative discovery. Teachers who are interested
in having professional writers visit their classrooms should contact the Saskatchewan
Writers’ Guild for further information and assistance
. Their web site address
is: http://www.skwriter.com/.
Students will also benefit from attending readings and workshops by authors. These are sometimes sponsored by libraries, community organizations, arts councils, bookstores, or publishers.
| Note: The remainder of this Teacher Information section includes information on the four writing genres of poetry, short fiction, plays, and nonfiction. It is not intended that the content provided be taught routinely to all students. Rather it is provided as background for the teacher, to be taught as needed in the form of mini-lessons. Mini-lessons or presentations might be made to the whole class (e.g., a brief lecture on point of view) or to small groups of students (e.g., a brief discussion on precise adjective choice with four students working on poems). Students might also take charge of this type of content by presenting to each other. |
The Poetry Dictionary defines a poem as:
a text or verbal composition, often written lines, whose language is compressed and resonant and which conveys an experience or an emotion; or simply an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of words (Drury, 1995, p. 204).
Poets throughout the centuries have tried to define what poetry is to them, and have never been totally satisfied with their own definitions. Poetry has changed and evolved throughout the centuries and will continue to do so as ideas about language change, and as writers explore the potential of language to express ideas in new ways. Margaret Atwood discusses the evolving nature of poetry when she says, "Poetry is a form of human speech and it is used to express, among other things, sentiments that the writer considers appropriate to the occasion" (Atwood, 1982 , p. xxx).
Edgar Allen Poe said that poetry for him was a passion. Emily Dickinson said poetry could make her body so cold no fire could warm her. Robert Frost said poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom. Sometimes, you cannot get poetry out of your mind. Poetry has the power to excite, anger, comfort, or calm its readers (Berbrich, 1977).
Poetry as a genre takes many forms and sometimes it is difficult to explain what makes a piece of writing poetry. However, poetry has certain qualities that can be articulated. Some of these qualities include its compression of statement, its rhythm, its use of sound, and its unique attention to line length and spacing (although prose poems may be in the form of paragraphs).
As an introduction to poetry writing, students could find a wide variety of "definitions" of poetry, and either present these definitions or display them in some way. They might also find and present a wide variety of types of poems, showing differences in form and in the use of rhythm and images. They may want to record their own definition of poetry in their journals, then compare it with their understanding after they have experienced poetry writing.
Reading and Discussing Poetry
There is no single collection of poetry that will provide an adequate variety of poems suitable for the study of poetry models. A wide range of poetry from many different anthologies should be available for reading, listening to, and discussing. Different poems will appeal to different students. Saskatchewan and Canadian poetry should be included in the discussion whenever possible.
The discussion of poetry should usually take place in small groups, using a type of reader response. Students should understand that any one poem may be interpreted in a variety of ways, depending on the reader’s background experience, perception of language, and world view. The meaning of a poem evolves from the interplay between reader and text. Students will explore meanings for themselves as they become discriminating readers of poetry. They should record individual reflections and responses in their response journals.
Through discussion, students can help each other appreciate words, phrases, images, and scenes. They can discuss and respond to questions such as: What meanings do others see in this poem? Are there things I have overlooked? What makes this poem particularly appealing, challenging, or memorable?
Some students will gain writing ideas from the poetry that is studied: from the poetry's subject matter, the imagery, the tone, or even a specific poetic line. Even when students do not get their creative writing ideas from the study of poetry, poetry study still provides them with a valuable sense of what poetry is, what it looks like and sounds like, and what techniques are available to them for their own poetry writing.
Types of Poetry
It is not necessary that students in Creative Writing 20 try out many different types of poems. The important thing about the students' poetry is that it reflect their own ideas and interests. As a type of poetry is determined by content, it follows that not all types will be appropriate for the students' ideas. The following are the types most likely to interest students.
Lyric Poetry
Most students will want to write and study lyric poetry. Lyric poetry expresses imagination and emotion. It focuses on individual ideas and experience, and can be written in many different forms, including free verse. (Most contemporary poetry is written in free verse.)
Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry tells a story using exposition, and often a combination of narration and dialogue. The story may be factual, imagined, humorous, or serious. It may be set in the past, present, or future.
Students who decide to write narrative poetry may use almost any type of format, as long as they have a scene, character(s), and a plot or a sequence of events. Sources of narrative poetry may be personal experience, history, the newspaper, the imagination, or a combination of these. Although poetry is not used as often as prose for storytelling today, students should be aware that storytelling was one of the original purposes of poetry.
Prose Poetry
Prose poetry is poetry that appears in paragraph form. A prose poem focuses on a singular idea or image, rather than on a narrative or series of events that result in some kind of change--as in a postcard story, which is a form of very short story that looks like a prose poem. (In fact, the lines between such forms as prose poems and postcard stories can be very blurry.)
Found Poetry
Students with an interest in popular culture and social issues might be interested in found poetry. Found poems are those which are created from existing material. The author's role is one of identifying the poem and its meaning, rather than of creating it. Poets interested in this idea can find poetry in such unlikely sources as the newspaper, restaurant menus, and graffiti. The poet's interest is in the language and its meaning in a social context.
Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic poetry is poetry written for performance, and might incorporate the dramatic elements of action and dialogue. Poetry written in the speaker’s diction also fall into this category (e.g., a monologue). Although dramatic poetry is similar to dramatic monologues or dialogues in plays, a dramatic poem is meant to stand alone and is not dependent on a larger work for its meaning.
| Note: Teachers and students should remember that the study of poetry is essential to the writing of poetry. Although students may draw their content from their own experiences, it is the world of literature that provides them with form and the tools of the trade. |
Getting Started: Ideas for Student Writing
Poetry comes from our daily thoughts, experiences, and emotions, and from the writer's involvement with the subject matter. Ideas and topic choices, then, are endless. Students should be encouraged to write about topics in which they have an interest. To spark that interest or to develop it further, students may become involved in various activities. They might:
Topics which students choose to explore through poetry may be as varied as the following: cities, nature, schools (e.g., teams, report cards), discoveries, disasters (e.g., storms, accidents), other people, hobbies, fantasies, events (e.g., rodeos, races, garage sales), sports, history (e.g., the Gulf War, the first motorized vehicle), places, the weather, food, health (e.g., the dentist, an incurable disease), animals, holidays, the night, colours, family, job experiences, entertainment (e.g., television, rock concerts, the movies), or everyday objects.
Suggestions for student writing topics must always remain suggestions. Teachers need to be good listeners and must be careful not to impose writing ideas that are not the students’ own. However, teachers can help students get started by presenting pre-writing activities. (Suggestions appear in the section entitled "Module Overviews and Suggested Activities".)
| Note: Teachers should remember that these idea-generating exercises are to be used sparingly, as determined by student need. Students must be free to write about their own topics. Many students will come up with their own ideas for writing. They should be encouraged to record all ideas in their notebooks for possible use at a later date. |
Beginning to Write
Modern poetry can be just about anything. It is often difficult to tell the difference between a prose poem, for example, and a very short story (sometimes called a postcard story). However, poets tend to have a very specific focus and a passion for language. Students should come to understand that a poem, like other art works, is an entity in itself, more than simply the sum of its elements. A poem is a unique expression of a thought, emotion, or idea.
Although contemporary poetry is difficult to define, beginning poetry writers might pay special attention to the following:
Focus
Most poems have a very specific focus: a central image, a specific emotion, an epiphany, a revelation, an ironic twist, etc. It is a great challenge to take an idea, find the essence in that idea, and then express it using just the right words.
Students will often start with an idea that is too broad and difficult to capture. They will need to spend time learning how to focus their idea and exploring what about the idea is especially important to them. Through understanding the focus, they will be able to make other decisions that will allow them to construct and revise their poem.
Sometimes students need to be reminded that writing is an organic process. Their focus might not become clear to them until they have explored the larger idea through writing. Through the act of trying to capture an idea in words, the focus might emerge. It is then up to the writer to recognize it and explore it further.
The following can help students focus an idea:
Words
All writers pay attention to word selection. However, because of the condensed nature and specific focus of poetry, word choice is a primary concern for most poets.
Student writers must learn to choose their words carefully. The following are some reasons for this.
Images
Poems are full of images and it is often an image that is the essence of a poem, or that captures its meaning. Student writers should be encouraged to concentrate on the freshness of images and on capturing meaning through the use of imagistic language.
Images can be expressed through vivid description. They can also be captured by similes or metaphors, which are both comparisons--the first linking two images specifically with "like" or "as", and the second implying a relationship. Symbols are also a means of expressing an image.
Similes are more than simple comparisons. In most similes, the area of similarity is considerably narrower than the area of difference. The effect of the simile depends on how well it can make the reader see the new relationship. A simile must bring together terms that ordinary experience suggests are unlike. No simile by itself ever seems truly poetic; however, it delights and surprises the reader in the context of the poem.
While a simile connects two dissimilar things by focusing on special similar qualities, a metaphor connects two things directly by focusing on the basic essence of each. A metaphor is more than a substitution of one thing for another; it is the expression of the unique connections between things. In using a metaphor, a writer shifts from an explicit to an implied comparison. It is a shift from a statement which is literally true to one that is literally untrue but is figuratively effective.
A symbol is any detail--an object, action, or state--which has a range of meaning beyond itself. When an image works on a literal level and on an abstract level at the same time, it is a symbol. Often, the poet uses repetition of the symbolic image as a means of drawing it to the reader’s attention. However, care must be taken not to make the symbol appear contrived; the symbolic reference is not effective if it seems forced. Also, when symbols are used deliberately in creative writing, they should not be puzzles to assemble or clues to hunt down. They should naturally complement the effect of the piece.
Rhythm
Rhythm refers to a pattern created by words, phrases, pauses, and punctuation. Patterns can be regular, irregular, or random. Rhythm can be both visual (how the words look on the page) and aural (how they sound).
Decisions regarding rhythm include:
Making students aware of different kinds of rhythm in poetry can result in their conscious efforts to control rhythm in their own poems. Listening to the natural sound of the language and using it to advantage is often the most effective way to control rhythm.
Form
All poetry distinguishes itself through the specific format in which it is written. Many types of poetry are categorized according to the format used by the poet. In addition, some poems take a certain form on the page or form a kind of picture that relates somehow to the content.
For student writers, the most important concepts related to form are the following:
Students can be made aware of the established formulas that exist for certain types of poems (e.g., cinquains, diamantes, tankas, senrus, rengas, haikus, limericks, sestinas, ballads, and odes). Occasionally, students will enjoy writing poetry with a specific formula in mind (e.g., such as a sonnet).
Formula poems should not take up too much of the students' time as the form of the poem then becomes the content and the students are not challenged to find form for their own ideas. (In rare cases, a student might develop a legitimate concern with a certain form, exploring the connection between that form and the expression of contemporary ideas.)
Most contemporary poetry is written in free verse. In free verse, the lines of poetry are not measured or counted for accents, syllables, or rhyme. Lines in free verse may be short, long, or variable. Free verse usually uses vivid images and sound patterns; it uses the characteristics of poetic language (e.g., figures of speech, sensory imagery, attention to detail).
| Note: Although some students might be interested in writing rhyming poetry, they should be reminded that the effort in creating rhyming poetry goes into making the rhyme work rather than finding the best form for the idea. However, if a student is e pecially interested in rhyming or in a type of rhyming poetry such as cowboy poetry, he or she should be encouraged to study different rhyming forms and purposes, perhaps in an independent project. Rhyme should never be a requirement for student poetry. In most cases students should be discouraged from trying to force rhyme onto their ideas. |
Meaning in Poetry
The meaning of a poem is the experience it expresses. That experience may include: a statement of emotion, an understanding of human character, a story the poem has to tell, a description, an amazing image, an epiphany, or some combination of these things. Meaning consists of much more than just the poem’s central theme or message. Meaning is connected to how the poem makes the reader feel or think. For example, it may evoke thoughtfulness, puzzlement, laughter, surprise, joy, despair, anger, fear, or exhilaration.
Most importantly, writers of poetry must remember that no poem has a fixed meaning. Just as the act of writing is an interaction between the writer and the work-in-progress, reading is an interaction between the reader and the finished work. The experience of reading and the meaning will vary with each reader.
Students must be encouraged to value their own ideas, and to consider all the things that contribute to meaning in their work. As they write a poem, they are exploring a unique way of expressing their ideas, thoughts, and feelings. The writer is the person who controls how these are presented through decisions about word choice, images, form, and tone.
Tone
Tone in poetry is the term used for the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject, audience, or self. It is the emotional meaning of the poem and is an important part of the total meaning. Readers will not completely understand a poem unless they have a sense of what the tone is (e.g., sarcastic, carefree, happy, angry, reverent, excited, or calm). Almost all the other elements in a poem help to indicate its tone (e.g., imagery, figurative language, rhythm, and form). Recognition of tone, on the reader’s part, requires increasing familiarity with word connotations, alertness to nuances of language, and careful study.
The best method by which writers can practise incorporating a particular tone into their poetry is to have readers read the poetry, then discuss it among themselves and with the writer. The writer will then become aware of reader interpretation of her or his work, and will be able to assess how successfully the desired tone was incorporated into the poem.
Theme
The theme is a kind of unifying force which keeps the poem from "going off in different directions". The theme of a poem is not its subject, but rather its central idea, which may be stated directly or indirectly. Often, the theme in poetry is some type of comment on the human condition. The theme is often an outgrowth of the subject--the poet’s comment on the subject.
Revising First Drafts
Basic questions writers might ask themselves, after they have completed their first drafts, include the following:
| Note: Beginning writers often write poetry as an outpouring of feelings. Although it is perfectly normal for teenagers to want to explore their feelings through writing, they should be reminded that one of the purposes of literary writing is aesthetic. Even when exploring very personal subject matter, they should be encouraged to think about such literary concerns as structure and language. They should also be encouraged to think about how their personal experience has meaning in the larger context of human experience. |
Fiction is a mixture of experience and invention. It is a story that is not true, told in prose form. However, it is a reflection or representation of reality and it generally reflects the life experiences of the writer in some way, although not necessarily directly.
Every story operates within its own set of assumptions and expectations regarding what can or cannot happen. The following are some forms of fiction that students might explore:
Getting Started: Ideas for Student Writing
Experience is probably the most relied upon raw material for fiction--experience that is transformed to create an illusion of reality. Student writers will rely heavily on their journals or idea books for subject matter. They will continue to add to their bank of ideas by constantly observing, reading, researching, brainstorming, and recording.
| Note: Although the content of fiction comes from experience, the form the fiction takes will be determined by the students’ knowledge of literary forms. Students should be reminded that, when they draw on real life, they do not need to retell something exactly as it happened. They can use the emotions and events in a new way. They can transform experiences into myths or metafictional stories, for example. It is important that they understand that fiction is a representation of life; it is not an imitation. |
"Relationships" is a common theme in short fiction and one that students often choose to explore. Relationships (family, friends, dating) is an appropriate theme because of the human emotions and conflicts present in most relationships. The writer can often draw upon personal experiences and change them into something related, but different, for short story purposes.
"Memories" is another theme students like to explore. Questions a writer needs to ask, when recalling experiences or incidents, are: What happened? What was there about the experience which makes it unique and meaningful? What is the human truth or meaning that can come from exploring this incident?
Other sources for fiction include:
As a work of fiction develops, the original inspiration (a memory, for example) takes on a life of its own. Fiction writers often say that the story becomes so alive for them, they cannot remember what actually happened and what they have fictionalized. However, although the final story might contain very few of the facts related to the writer’s experience, it may still capture the essence of a particular memory or event. That, in fact, is the goal: to find the essential truth in human experience; to make meaning out of experience through fiction.
| Note: The process of writing a story is one of imaging it into existence. If the writer believes in the internal truths in the story, whether or not it is a realistic story, the reader will also be able to imagine the story to life. |
Beginning to Write
There are many types of contemporary short story. They range in length from short postcard stories to novella-length long stories. They range in style from very realistic to completely fabulist. Whatever the type of story the students are interested in, the following are elements they should consider when drafting their stories:
Character
Character is the most important element in short story writing. Character is what brings significance to plot and meaning to the story. The fiction writer needs to learn how to create characters who respond, not necessarily realistically but believably, within the world of the particular story.
The writer’s purposes regarding characterization are:
This does not mean that writers take people they know and put these people into their stories. It does mean that they imagine characters to life, so that they seem like real people.
If the writer is successful at "getting inside" the character being created, the reader will feel what the characters feel and recognize them as having unique human characteristics.
When fictional personalities have been characterized, they should act in a manner consistent with that characterization (unless their inconsistent behaviour is part of the story).
In good stories, the characters are shown through the action, and the action is controlled through the characters. In this way, the plot, characters, and story ending are connected.
Methods of Characterization
Characters can be portrayed directly or indirectly.
When using the direct method of characterization, the writer tells the reader what sort of person the character is, through description. The author informs the reader through exposition or analysis, or has someone else in the story tell the reader what a character is like.
Students attempting to use physical description to define their characters (e.g., describing speech idioms, movements, or physical attributes) should be aware that such description can result in a character stereotype. A good story is more concerned with what the character says and does, and how these things affect the outcome of the story. Although some stories do contain physical descriptions, some stories with very strong characterization contain no or very little physical description of the characters.
Using the indirect method of characterization, the writer provides the readers with information, but allows them to draw their own conclusions regarding characterization. Of course, the writer selects the information to be presented, so is still very much in control of the story. Indirect characterization may be accomplished through:
| Note: Some books on writing encourage students routinely to write character sketches that describe how their characters walk, talk, dress, etc. Students should understand that these details can be superficial and might not get at the character's inner self. |
Dialogue
One of the most important purposes that dialogue has in realistic fiction is to reveal character. Writers must make every effort to have the fictional people they create speak "in character"; that is, in a manner that reflects what the character believes and how he or she usually behaves.
Dialogue in a short story must have a purpose other than simply representing conversation. However, to be convincing, dialogue must give the illusion of real "talk" within the context of the particular fictional world the writer is creating. The characters in a futuristic science fiction story might not talk the way the students talk, but they must still be convincing in the world of that story. The dialogue in A Clockwork Orange is a good example of this.
It is important for students to understand the meaning of the word "sub-text". In fiction, as in life, people often do not say exactly what they mean. The difference is that, in fiction, the text and sub-text of dialogue are carefully controlled by the writer. Tension can be increased in a story if the reader knows what the character wants to say, or is trying to say, or should say; the reader anticipates the character's dialogue and might or might not be rewarded.
A first step in learning to write dialogue is learning to listen and analyze all the various ways and reasons that people talk:
Students should be encouraged to listen to many different conversations, read many examples of dialogue in stories, and analyze purposes of conversation and what is achieved through talk.
Dialogue can also be "poetry" in a story. If a writer captures the rhythms and nuances of the way people speak, there can be a tremendous amount of pleasure for the reader in simply enjoying the dialogue of the characters. This is not a concern for all writers, but to some writers dialogue can be musical.
Some students will find that dialogue is very important to them in writing their stories. Other students will incorporate very little dialogue. There is no rule concerning how much dialogue makes a good story. It all depends on the writer's style. Encourage students to analyze their own purpose for including dialogue and to understand what is accomplished in the story through dialogue. Their dialogue must have a purpose that is related to characterization, action, plot, or poetic language (aesthetic purpose). Dialogue must add to the story in some way.
Plot
Plot is that part of fiction that keeps the story in motion. Plot is what happens in a story. It is a sequence of cause and effect events.
It is important to distinguish between plot and meaning. Plot is one level of the story and meaning is another. For example, the plot of a story can follow a character's journey from one side of the country to the other on roller blades; the meaning of the story is something else again and is found in thematic concerns: the conflicts between human frailty and strength, for example.
Some stories are heavily plot-dependent, while others are "quieter" and less dependent on plot. A mystery story, for example, is usually heavily dependent on plot for its success, and will often contain a complex series of cause and effect events (one thing leads to another). A Raymond Carver story, on the other hand, often has very little plot and is still successful as a short story.
Forward Movement in a Story
The book Elements of Fiction (Scholes & Sullivan, 1988) suggests that the following are relevant when examining plot in fiction:
Structure
Structure refers to the story's organization and is different from plot. Structure determines how the story is organized, and how meaning is revealed to or constructed by the reader. The following are a few examples of structures:
The structure of a story should be determined by the needs of the story. It is difficult, for example, to impose a rising action structure on a story that does not have a cause and effect type of plot. On the other hand, it would be difficult to write a suspenseful mystery story using a non-linear structure--the reader would have no idea what was happening.
Structure in story writing is a difficult concept and one that beginning writers often confuse with plot. The best way for students to learn about structure is to read, compare, and discuss many stories with a variety of structures. Discussion should focus on:
Meaning
Meaning and structure are closely connected. Where a writer places certain events, lines of dialogue, symbols, images, or introspections will determine how the reader finds meaning in the story. The following are examples:
| Note: Students should understand that it is not just what happens in a story that allows the reader to construct meaning. How the meaningful aspects of the story are presented (or how the story is structured) determines what the reader makes of them. |
Theme
Theme and meaning are closely connected, although theme is usually something a reader thinks about more than a writer. Most writers do not set out to write a story about a certain theme, although a student might say, "I want to write a story about justice" or "I want to write a poem about love". Although this is fine as a starting point, students should be encouraged to focus on their story and its characters rather than the theme itself, when they begin developing their story. During revision they can think about what the story is saying in terms of theme and whether they need to give the thematic ideas more focus.
Short story writers strive to bring some element of human existence alive. When they do this with conviction, theme naturally arises out of what they have written. Readers, then, state the generalizations for themselves.
Point of View
Point of view refers to who tells or narrates the story. In some stories, the narrator or storyteller is the writer, but usually the narrator tells the story on behalf of the writer, even if the story is told in the first person. (The "I" character in a first person story does not have to be the writer.)
| Note: Point of view is one of the most important decisions a writer makes because it determines how much the reader is allowed to know, to what extent the reader can "see inside" the characters, and through whose consciousness the story is told. |
The following describes the four most common points of view:
In the first person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story and speaks from a first-person perspective. (E.g., "I awoke one morning to find the front door wide open and most of my possessions gone, even the dog. I immediately fell into despair, because the dog was my only companion.") The narrator can be either a main character or the person telling the story of the main character. The important thing to remember about first person point of view is that the story is told through the consciousness of one person, so whatever that person thinks determines how the story is told. The main advantage of the first person point of view is the sense of reality and immediacy it provides. Also, if the reader believes in the first person narrator, he or she will believe in the story. The disadvantage is that the reader can have only the information the narrator has. The narrator cannot see what happens behind closed doors.
Using this point of view, the writer tells the story in the third person, but from the viewpoint of one character in the story. (E.g., "Larry awoke one morning to find the front door wide open and most of his possessions gone, even the dog. He immediately fell into despair, because the dog was his only companion.") The events of the story are seen through the eyes of, and understood through the mind of, that one character. The writer reveals no knowledge of what other characters are thinking, feeling, and doing, except through what the chosen character-narrator can observe or infer. The character telling the story might be either a participant or an observer. The reader can have only the information or knowledge the narrator has.
In the omniscient point of view, the story is told using the third person, but the writer can go into the minds of whatever characters he or she chooses. (E.g., "Larry awoke one morning to find the front door open and most of his possessions gone, even the dog. He immediately fell into despair because the dog was his only companion. The dog, however, was having the time of his life, chasing a rabbit and thinking about rabbit stew".) The writer’s knowledge is unlimited. She or he can tell readers what two, three, or all the characters are thinking and feeling. The reader can have whatever information the writer wants him or her to have. The omniscient point of view is extremely flexible, but must be used very carefully. If the story’s viewpoint is continually shifting from character to character, the total unity of the piece could be destroyed.
In this point of view, the narrator can comment only on what can be seen or heard. He or she cannot enter any character’s mind. (E.g., "Larry awoke one morning to find the front door wide open and most of his possessions gone, even the dog. Larry picked up the dog's empty dish. Then he sat on the porch with his head in his hands.") The reader sees the characters in action and hears what they say but can only infer what they think or feel, or what their personalities are like. The advantages of the objective point of view are that it allows for a great deal of action and speed in a story, and it allows readers to make their own interpretations.
Some novelists mix point of view, writing one section in the first person, for example, and another section in the third. Most short story writers stick to one point of view for the duration of a story (although, of course, there are exceptions).
Tense
Although tense might appear to be a mechanical concern, it is connected to point of view and can be extremely important to a story. When students decide on point of view, they will also have to decide on tense. They might write a story in one tense, and then change their minds and experiment with another. When they have decided, they should take care to be consistent. Inconsistency in tense is a common mistake made by beginning writers.
Most stories are written in either the past tense or the present tense. The present tense has the advantage of being immediate; the reader's knowledge grows at the same time as the characters' knowledge. Past tense has the advantage of distance. The narrator can have an introspection that comes with time having passed.
Setting
A writer chooses a particular setting for the short story, not because of the need to be realistically accurate, but because of what it will accomplish for the story. Setting is used for a variety of purposes.
| Note: Students should remember that all fictional settings (even though they give the illusion of reality) are imaginary. Their job as writers is to imagine the setting to life, whether it is a real setting or an imaginary one. |
Revising First Drafts
It is not possible to come up with a list of revision questions that will apply to all stories. The criteria for one story might not apply to another. There are, however, some general questions that apply to most stories. When the student has looked at the general questions, he or she can make a checklist of relevant specific questions that can be put to peer responders.
Some general questions that a student can ask about a story are as follows:
A play is a complex art form that is concerned with the representation of people in time and space, their actions, and the consequences of their actions. Actions and consequences are extremely important in most plays.
Play writing is similar to fiction writing in some ways: both depend on character and forward movement. A play is also similar to poetry writing in its attention to unity and language. The major difference is that a play must be dramatic in some way; that is, the forward movement must be connected to "dramatic action". The writer controls the forward movement through the characters, what they say and do, and the consequences, rather than relying on other means such as exposition.
A play is a dramatic production that begins with tension, usually arising from an initial dramatic question. One way of looking at this is to ask: Who is the main character of the play? What does that character want most in the context and time frame of the play? What and who are stopping the character from getting what he or she wants? Although this is too simplistic to work for all plays, it is useful for beginning writers and helps them understand the concept of dramatic action.
In a very short play (five or ten minutes) the tension might build to one main conflict (physical, moral, or psychological). In a longer play, tension builds in a series of conflicts (sometimes called rising and falling action). In some plays the conflicts might be physical; in most plays, they are internal and psychological. The latter are the most interesting because they often indicate the play's concern with "the human condition".
In this class, teachers and students should separate writing and performance. Students should concentrate on learning to write dramatic characters and dialogue. Although performance aspects cannot be completely separated from the writing, students need not concentrate on elements such as sets and lighting. Stage directions need only be minimal--whatever directions help the reader to understand the play, whatever actions help the reader understand the words a character says. This frees students to concentrate on dialogue, which is the most important element in a play. In most plays, it is the dialogue that contains the dramatic action, not the stage directions.
The success of a play depends largely on the interaction between the audience and the play. Playwrights usually "workshop" their plays before they are produced. These workshops involve actors and are opportunities for the playwright to see how his or her words can be interpreted, how the dramatic action unfolds, and how the words sound. Workshops are not the same as rehearsals for a performance and, unless the play is at a later stage of development, do not include physical movement and blocking. Actors usually read the play seated at a table, especially if the play is at an early stage. In this class, peer conferencing can be in the form of workshops, when appropriate. Students can read each other's plays aloud, as actors.
A play is a very difficult thing for students to write, in part because it is such a complex form, and in part because most students have seen and read a limited number of plays. The concepts of dramatic action and dramatic dialogue are unfamiliar, and students will have to learn that dialogue in a play can never be static and must move the play forward in some way. The recommendation, then, is for students in this course to concentrate on scenes and very short plays. In most cases, the end result should not be a formal performance of the play for an audience.
However, a staged reading of the play could take place in the classroom at the publishing or presentation phase of the writing process. A staged reading is a reading done by actors with scripts. They may read seated at a table or standing with scripts on music stands. Sometimes a staged reading is presented with minimal movement of characters. If the students wish, a small invited audience could be present (e.g., principal, parents, other students).
| Note: In some cases a student might write a play that is ready for full performance in the school environment. The student might work on an independent study project with a drama teacher and drama students. That is preferable to the whole creative writing class spending time on performance elements. Most students will benefit more from time spent on the words and language of their plays. Those students who are especially interested in play writing should be encouraged to take drama as an elective, in order to learn more about performance. |
Getting Started: Ideas for Student Writing
Plays generally begin with a situation, some kind of conflict or struggle, and forward movement toward an outcome or conclusion. Plays can arise out of a writer’s own experience, just like stories do. The challenge for the student is to learn the meaning of dramatic dialogue and dramatic action in order that they can translate their experiences into something that is uniquely drama, rather than fiction or poetry.
The following are some sources of ideas for student plays:
Situations. A character finds himself or herself:
Dilemmas. A character finds himself or herself:
Historical Stories. Students might choose to write about:
Adaptations. Students could adapt:
Parodies. Students could write parodies of:
What if. Students could ask "what if" about any situation or characters:
Beginning to Write
Students should begin by writing very short plays that are complete in themselves or scenes that might become part of longer plays. A scene is a section of a play in which something happens that moves the play forward. A scene has its own structure and often has its own conflict and rising action. A scene can be thought of as a wave, with its own crest and denouement. Unless a student is especially interested in play writing, there is no need for students to write more than scenes or very short plays in this course.
Students can begin by writing short scenes with the goal of understanding the following concepts:
Characters
Students often make the mistake of thinking that a character is a person with distinctive quirks. We often say about a person who amuses us, "He's a real character". Students need to understand that, in drama, any character can be interesting if the writer gives that character an interesting dilemma. A character in drama does not have to have distinctive physical characteristics or a unique way of dressing in order to be an individual. Dramatic characters are distinguished by what they say and do, and what choices they make.
Students can begin to understand character in drama by thinking about characters from plays they know (Romeo and Juliet or King Lear, for example). It is not Romeo and Juliet's external characteristics that are essential to the play. It is their situation, their internal conflicts, and the choices they make that create a moving and interesting play. In the case of King Lear, what matters is that a well-meaning decision made by Lear leads to dire and tragic consequences. Of course actors create a physical presence in their characters, but to the writer, the internal essence of the character is more important. Understanding this frees students to place characters very much like themselves or the people around them in challenging situations.
Playwrights rely on action and dialogue to reveal character (that is, what characters do and say in response to situations created by the writer). Character and action are inseparable; it is the character's personality, morality, past experiences, and world view that determine how the character will react in given situations or toward other characters.
Throughout the course of a play, major characters undergo significant changes. This does not mean their personalities should change. After all, personalities need to be consistent to be believable. However, it does mean that there may be changes in attitude or in fortune, or that the audience comes to view the characters in a different light.
Characteristics are not something the writer "lays on" the characters. That is why it is inadvisable for students to create character sketches or lists of personality traits for their characters. The danger in doing this is that the characters will not be genuine, but will be constructed as stereotypes. If students know the characters they want to write about, they should go ahead and write, and allow the depth of the characters to emerge in the writing, through the engagement of the writer's imagination, and what the characters do and say in certain situations created by the writer.
Stasis
"Stasis" is a word that might be useful to students in trying to decide what they might write about. In a play, stasis refers to the balance that exists at the beginning of a play, at various points during the play, and at the end of the play. Students can examine the state of stasis at the beginning of their plays and how the forward movement begins when the balance is upset by something. For example, in the play Hamlet, Gertrude has remarried after the death of her husband, Hamlet's father, and life appears to be back to normal. Then the ghost of Hamlet's father appears and Hamlet decides to avenge his father's death. If Hamlet did not make the decision to avenge his father's death, life would go on and there would be no play. However, Hamlet makes the decision and takes action. The stasis is upset and the play begins to move forward.
There may be several different points of stasis in a play, where balance is achieved and then upset again by a new obstacle or conflict, or by a new development in a character's thinking. It is useful for students to compare the beginnings and endings of their plays and scenes by looking at how the state of stasis has changed.
Actions and Consequences
It is essential that student playwrights understand that "action" defined by action verbs (running, jumping, fighting, eating, etc.) is different from the concept of dramatic action. Dramatic action in a play cannot be separated from the play's characters. Dramatic action refers to the forward movement of the play, and this is usually achieved through what the characters say and do, and the consequences.
Hamlet and Macbeth, with which students may be familiar, are good plays for discussing actions and consequences. For example, in the first scene of Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet's dead father is seen by Hamlet's friend Horatio. Horatio decides to tell Hamlet about the ghost. As a consequence, Hamlet decides to try to speak to his father's ghost. As a consequence of that, Hamlet decides his father was murdered; he acts to avenge his father's death, and so on. The entire play can be looked at a series of actions and consequences, moving toward an ending.
Saskatchewan writer Connie Gault's play The Soft Eclipse is an example of a modern play that, although "quiet" in terms of subject matter (no sword fights or wars on stage), is full of dramatic action. The play begins on a hot day in a small prairie town. The town gossip, Ina, learns that the long-absent husband of Mrs. McMillan has just died. The decision is made to keep this news from Mrs. McMillan, and the rest of the play is built on the consequences and complications that result from that decision.
Dialogue
Dialogue in drama strives to move the play forward in some way. The dialogue can contribute to the dramatic action of the play or can reflect inner conflicts.
Dramatic dialogue is dialogue where one character speaks to "act" in some way upon another: to force the character being spoken to into some kind of action that will move the first character closer to what he or she wants in the context of the play. The simplest way to think of dramatic dialogue is as dialogue that has a specific purpose related to action.
In everyday life, one person in an elevator might say to another, "Nice day". There is no real purpose other than to make small talk. The first person is not trying to get the second person to do anything that will have a particular consequence. On the other hand, in a play a person would have a reason for saying, "Nice day". The following is an example: It is early spring. A woman suspects something is buried in her garden, but she is afraid to dig and find out herself. She wants the gardener to do it, but she is afraid to tell him what she suspects in case she is wrong. It is not quite late enough in the spring for gardening, but she tries to hurry the gardener along. She says, "Nice day", as a hint that he should dig the garden.
Sometimes a character's reason for speaking might be related to inner conflict. The following is an example: A character is trying to make a decision about something that could have important consequences. The character is at a bus stop, mumbling to herself, weighing the pros and cons of various alternatives. Another character is standing next to her, waiting for the bus. He tries to make small talk by saying, "Nice day". The first character does not hear him and continues mumbling to herself. Finally, she makes a decision and says to herself, "Yes, that's it". Then she sees the man standing next to her and says, "Nice day". The sub-text of what she says is, "I know what to do. I'm back in the world".
The important thing for students to understand is that all dialogue in a play has a purpose within the context of that play. The biggest mistake beginning writers of dialogue make is having characters exchange lines that do not move the play forward in some way.
What If
"What if" is at the root of all play writing. Students can ask themselves "what if" at any point in their notes or draft writing and examine a multitude of consequences. "What if" can help them see the many directions their play could go and the many actions their characters could take.
Asking "what if" is one of the pleasures of play writing, as it can open the students' ideas up to a range of imaginative possibilities. The important thing is that students look at the answers to their "what if" questioning inter ms of consequences--if this happens, then this might happen as a result, and so on. Whatever they decide, it should move the play forward in some way.
Sample Scenario
The following is a scenario describing how a student might begin writing a play.
The student records in her notebook a description of a humorous conversation she overheard in the grocery store: A man and his wife were arguing about whether to buy Christmas oranges. The man insisted that he was allergic to the smell and could not have them in the house. The wife said it was all in his head. She said she looks forward to Christmas oranges all year and why should she not have some when his problem is all in his head.
The student begins by thinking about stasis: There are no oranges in the house. Everything is fine.
The student now thinks about the question, Who is the main character? She decides it is the wife. What does the wife want in the scene? The student decides the wife wants to prove to the man that his "allergy" is all in his head. What is standing in the way of the wife getting what she wants? The student decides it is the man's stubbornness and his refusal to change his mind, even after the wife proves he is not allergic to the smell of oranges.
The student now has the information she needs to write a scene or a very short play from her notes. Her dialogue will be dramatic dialogue because her characters have a purpose for speaking that is related to action (e.g., the main character's purpose--to trick her husband into admitting he is not allergic to the smell of oranges; the husband's purpose--to keep from admitting that he was wrong).
The student begins the play with the man alone in the house reading a newspaper. The wife comes in with groceries. The audience sees her hide a bag of oranges. The husband does not see her. The wife busies herself in the kitchen and then says, "Do you smell anything?".
Now the student asks, "What if ...?". What if the man says yes, he smells oranges? What if he says no, he cannot smell anything? What if he says no, but then develops strange allergy symptoms? What if he dies in his sleep that night and the wife thinks it was her oranges that killed him? What if he finds the oranges where she hid them and decides to play some kind of trick on her?
The student will probably not know how the play or scene is going to end until she has worked on it for a while. When she has decided what it is about (e.g., revenge), then she can start working toward a meaningful ending. If the student is working on a scene that is to be part of a bigger play, she should concentrate on moving one idea forward from the beginning to the end of the scene (e.g., a scene in which the wife convinces the husband, even though he is suspicious, that there are no oranges in the house).
| Note: Some students might be interested in writing radio dramas, either in this module or in the Independent Project module. The basic elements for radio drama are the same as for stage plays. The challenge is for students to make the characters and setting clear for the listening audience. Film scripts, on the other hand, are very different from stage plays because much of the story in film is told using visuals. Students with an interest in writing for film might choose to explore their interest in an independent project. They might focus on the role of text and dialogue in film. |
The Dramatic Plot
A dramatic plot begins with a concept. A concept can be described in a complete sentence or two. (E.g., A prince decides to avenge his father's murder. He becomes so obsessed with his mission that he brings about the downfall of his whole family.) The basic unit of plot development is the scene, although not all plays are written in scenes. Some plays comprise only one scene. Other plays comprise many short scenes. Scenes can change without any characters leaving the stage.
Dramatic Questions
The dramatic question is what "hooks" the audience’s attention before the theme or story line becomes clear. Examples of dramatic questions are: Who did this? What is happening? Will she succeed? Will he find out what we know? Most lays move from one dramatic question to another so the audience wonders about both immediate and final outcomes.
Dramatic Action
Dramatic action is the very core of a play. It does not refer simply to actors moving around on stage. It is a want, a need, a desire, or an objective pursued by the major character(s). Dramatic action must be:
There are several types of recurring action in plays:
The above list does not state all of the possible major actions, but it does provide the most common ones. Playwrights see drama as action and try to create strong "action" objectives for the characters in their plays.
Pace
Pace is especially important in a play. Pacing can be thought of in the same way one thinks of rhythm in music. There is no one pace that is correct for all plays. Obviously, mystery plays or thrillers have a faster pace than quieter character-based dramas. Some scenes call for a slower pace so the audience can take in information or enjoy the beauty of the language. The important thing is for the pace to be well thought out, varied, and in keeping with the content of the play.
Conflict
Conflict is what gives drama its energy. Many plays have a network of related conflicts connected to their characters' wants, needs, and internal questioning. All plays will have a major conflict which will likely consist of a struggle between the progagonist and antagist