You Can Write ! / Creative Writing is…Self-realization

Pgs. 41-42

Does this title leave you unconvinced? Well, I believe you can write, and can do it with skill and imagination. Every year, I have read many examples of student writing; many of these are good, and some are absolutely amazing. If other young people can exhibit such ability, so can you.

You, like nearly all teenagers, have the basic ingredients required for writing. For instance, I know you have imagination. It pops out all over you…in the words you use, and in your choice of movies and books. You like humor, adventure, and things that are different. From science fiction to “Bananas” magazine, you recognize and enjoy ideas that go beyond the ordinary. You have such ideas yourself, if you will reach for them.

I see instances of great sensitivity in you. Especially at your present age, you are open to the world. You have moved from childhood into a new and misty landscape called youth. Your outlook on life is undergoing basic change, and you are more aware than ever of the many impressions whirling in your mind. Since there is no one else on earth quite like you, there are things you can say which no one else can…things worth saying well.

Fortunately, you have a natural feel for language. You dance along with the rhyme and thythm of good poetry. Some of your slang words, used at the appropriate moment, can be as vivid as some of Shakespeare’s phrases. You can sense, now, when a writer begins to wander from the subject or when he brings in things that get between you and the story. These feelings may be vague, but they are there… and can be developed.

The big task…and one which has never changed since the first writer put down his first word…is getting all the things inside you out in the open. Doing this is no easy job. It requires practice and experience, and it means that you are going to have to rattle your brain to make it think. But writing can be great fun when your ideas are good and are flowing down on paper just as you want them to.

This whole message is based on the idea that you can enjoy writing. I’ll provide some encouragement and warm-up exercises, and then we’ll move into situations calling for imagination. We’ll also ask that thoughts be expressed at length, with logical support…and as clearly and colorfully as possible.

You take over from here. I think you will learn a lot and have a good time too. I say you can write. What do you say?

“Creative Writing is…Self-realization”
Pgs. 42-44

Key vocabulary: Define each word so you can understand its use in context. Learn these meanings and try to incorporate them into your standard vocabulary.
( PRONOUNCE……UNDERSTAND……..USE (APPLY).

expansion

stimulating

opportunity

forum

denied

intimate

perceptions

confidence

aroused

maintained

execution

significant

conducive

stable

interaction

heightens

Creative Writing provides a personal reflection of one’s emotions and observations… a “mirror” of one’s self. Eveyone needs to discover who and what he/she is, and where he is going. Opportunity for the expansion of one’s feelings, comments, and thoughts is provided through varied forms of creative writing.

Stimulating questions, themes, or statements provide a mood or atmosphere for personal speculation. Many writing activities provide an opportunity to learn abut one’s self, people around us, and the vast world in which we experience life’s complications and subtle joys. This personal forum might otherwise be denied, in other academic or non-academic situations… at a time when there is such a need to express intimate perceptions concerning experiences with which a person comes in touch.

In relating to academic achievement, a student may achieve pride and confidence in the product of his work, the written material produced by his thoughts and effort. The individual’s sensitivity may be aroused and maintained, through the execution and effort of creating this written product.

At the same time, he may also discover an appreciation for what is significant and beautiful in the written language itself; creative activities are conducive to one’s development of language ability and better communication within one’s self and with others. Provision can be made for gifted students possessing the seeds of literary talent, to secure encouragement and appropriate direction.The individual might develop a certain amount of wit and a sense of humor…both being strengthening qualities to a stabled, wholesome pesonality.

The concept of sharing becomes extremely useful, as the student can not only understand better the task of livign as a feeling person, but may also share hiw written peceptions with others. The quality of successful and satisfying interaction is an achievement in itself.

Students (and teachers) can explore and determine the feelings they have toward and with each other, toward school achievement, and personal behavior.

In summary, an individual can establish a strong, well-earned confidence in himself, through written expression; he can develop the value of this communication tool in the establishment of clear, logical understanding. This form of communcation heightens his awareness of what he is and can be as an individual, how he and others respond to each other, and how he relates to the world around him.

“Eighteen Rules for Good Writing”

1. Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.
2. Just between you and I, case is important.
3. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
4. Watch out for irregular verbs which has cropped into our language.
5. Don’t use no double negatives.
6. A writer mustn’t shift your point of view.
7. When dangling, don’t use participles.
8. Join clauses good like a conjunction should.
9. Don’t use a run-on sentence you got to punctuate it.
10. About sentence fragments.
11. In letters themes reports articles and stuff like that use commas to keep a string of
things apart.
12. Don’t use commas, which arent necessary.
13. Its’ important to use apostrophe’s right.
14. Don’t abbrev.
15. Check to see if any words left out.
16. In my opinion I think that an author when he is writing shouldn’t get into the habit of
making use of too many unnecessary words that he does not really need.
17. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.
18. Last but not least, lay off cliches.

(HA, HA !)

More To Come!

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