Creative Writing Ideas
Alina Ianeţ, Romania
Alina Ianeţ is a teacher at “Nicolae Titulescu” National College, in Pucioasa town, Romania. She has been a teacher of English for about 9 years and she is interested to share new ideas and experiences in teaching. She is interested in American literature. Her current interest is to develop professionally. She enjoys working with teenager students.
E-mail: alina_ianet@yahoo.com
Menu
Introduction
Background
Basic concepts of creative writing
Examples of creating writing activities
Tying it all together
Conclusions
References
Students should keep in mind that they can apply “creative writing” to anything, from their imagination, to their everyday life. Teachers have a very important role in helping their students develop and think creatively.
Creative writing ideas come from everywhere. "I have nothing to write about." How many times have students heard that come out of their mouth? I've said it to myself, many times. That is simply not true. If anything has made them stop and say, "Oh, that's kind of cool," they have something to write about. If they've ever watched the world around and wondered why people do the things they do, or events happened the way they did, then they have something to write about. If they’ve ever had a birthday party, been to a school dance or even just gotten up this morning, they have something to write about. The best way for a writer to get creative writing ideas is to say "What if…" Let's try it. What if someone found an old map in his attic that led to a treasure? Of course, he would have to go find the treasure, right? Well, if he didn't, it wouldn't be much fun. So, he packs up his suitcase, tells his friends and family good-bye, and heads out to find this treasure. What if he has to travel through some dangerous territory, like, an enchanted forest, or a mountain filled with trolls? What if he keeps getting sidetracked on his quest? Maybe he meets people who need his help.
Starting to get the idea? Teachers should apply this to anything, from students’ imagination, to their everyday life. What if they woke up one morning and their parents were different people? What if they got a 10 on that maths test they’ve been sweating over? Teacher should try it by looking around and asking "What if…"
They might have a few creative writing ideas floating around. "What’s next?’ teacher asks. Now the fun starts. Now they write. It sounds easy enough. This is the time where they want to get as many creative writing ideas on paper as they can. They should let themselves go, and have fun with it. Writing should make them feel like they're slipping into a special place, a place they have created.
Here is a quick list of a few creative writing prompts just to get their imagination going: someone finds a jewel-encrusted box; .their main character wakes up to find himself in a completely different place from where he fell asleep; their character is afraid of something. What is it? How does he confront it? / Their character is being chased and steps in a mysterious puddle, or makes a wrong turn and ends up in a dead end, or is rescued by someone she does not like. / their character is fishing and catches something interesting./ their character sees a shimmering light through the trees./ the sky changes colour./ a secret room is found./ a path branches off in three different directions and your character has no idea where to go./ a laughing spell goes terribly wrong.
These could be used to help develop their characters, or start a completely new story. They don't have to do all of these; they don't have to do any of these, but the more they practise writing the better they get. They can choose one that appeals to them and see where it is going to happen.
Now that they have covered some ways to get creative writing ideas, it's time they get into the nitty-gritty of writing. The teacher is going to explain a few of the basic concepts of creative writing and give them some examples of how each one works.
Writing their rough draft
The whole point of the first draft is to get their ideas on paper. There's time to worry about commas, spelling and all that stuff later.
Many elementary schools focus way too much on the basic mechanics of writing (the proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and sentence structure they need), but they forget to teach the application of those skills. In other words, they don't teach students how to tell a good story. How to make their words important enough that someone would want to read them. Having good mechanics is useless if they’re not writing anything interesting. So here are a few pointers to get them started.
Character development
Characters are the heart of any story. Many writers start with an idea for a character and then ask "What if" questions to build a story around them. Characters can usually be broken into three categories. The protagonists (good guys); the antagonists, the people who stir up all the trouble in the story (bad guys); and finally, the minor characters, the ones who help move the story along, but who are less developed than the main characters. The student, as the writer, wants to find out as much about these people as he/she can, even the minor ones. So here are a few questions to ask them when they're thinking about their main characters: “Is this person male or female?”, “What is his/her name?” Students would be surprised at how something as simple as a name will make them more real. “How old is he/she?”, “What does he/she look like?”. The teacher could make a list of hair colour, eye colour, details like that. When they are writing their story, they don't want to just write down a list to describe their character's appearance. “What is his/her job?” Or, “What chores does he/she have to do?”/ “Where does he/she live?”/ ‘What clothes does he/she wear?”/“How does their character view him/her?”, “Pretty, smart, artistic, weak, something else?”, “Who are his/her friends?”, “What does their character want?” These questions will most affect the plot of their story. Their job as the author is to keep their characters from getting what they want for as long as possible, then teachers either help them get it in the end, or throw some other kind of twist in there – maybe they thought they wanted one thing, when they actually wanted something else entirely. It's all up to them. In this world, they are the boss. Without a goal, there is no story to tell, so students shouldn’t give their characters resolution of the goal until their story is truly ending.
“What are some things in his/her past that effect who he/she is today?”. This is something else that might affect students’ story dramatically. A person's history is part of what motivates him, so teachers should give this some thought.
Plot
Plot is the vehicle that moves their story along. Their job as the writer is to get their character stuck in a situation, get her more stuck, throw impossible obstacles in her way, and then when it all seems hopeless, show her a way out, and, if you're so inclined, hand her a happy ending.
The pace of the story
Pacing is how fast or slowly the story moves. They don't want the story to be boring, but they don't want non-stop action without any room to breathe. They should compare it to running on a track. If they sprint around the track quickly, they're going to wear themselves out; if they go too slowly, they may never get finished. Students want to keep a nice steady pace, fast enough to keep people interested, but slow enough so as not to wear themselves out. Most stories vary between three speeds, the slower beginning where they 're conserving their energy, then the pace picks up as the action comes in, then it's up and down hill for a while, with a few slower moments in between when the characters can rest, then the rapid sprint to the end. They can look at the stories they read for an idea of what pacing is. They can pick up any other book they've read recently, or even short story, and break it down like that. What happens first, second, etc? Are there moments of intense action followed by moments where the characters get a break? They think about this as they start to write. Many students have no idea how to begin their story. Just as many have no idea what to write about or how to develop the ideas they do have. Fantastic fiction has everything a teacher needs to get students over these obstacles and on to completing their first short story or chapter in a novel. The teacher should explain many point of view definitions such as first, second and third person, third person limited, third person omniscient and third person objective. All concepts should be explained easily to understand terms with examples.
Students should be able to: get and develop ideas for their stories/ develop characters / find out what makes a good plot and get tools for making sure their plots are consistent / decide what point of view to write from / understand how to build a proper setting for their characters and stories / learn how to write good descriptions / learn the grammar rules for writing dialogue / learn how to write interesting and realistic dialogue / discover the importance of "Showing" rather than just "Telling" the reader / understand how to use symbolism and foreshadowing in their writing / develop a writing style. There should be an efficient way to edit and revise their stories.
Using Comics
Grade level(s): 8, 9, 10, (pre- intermediate/ intermediate level)
Subject(s): Language writing (composition)
Objective: To use comics to foster creative writing and vocabulary skills
Materials: newspapers, construction paper;
Procedure: The teacher asks students to name their favourite comic strips and describe what they like best about the characters in the strips. He/she tells students what his/her favourites are and explain that the "bubbles" in comic strips take the place of quotation marks. Using a comic strip from the newspaper, students try to write out dialogues in standard form, using quotation marks and phrases of attribution.
Group Activity: The teacher has students create their own character to be introduced as a newcomer to their favourite comic strip. For example, they might develop a new kid in the "Peanuts" gang or a new pet in Garfield's house. Then each student draws a picture of the new character and writes a description of the character's personality. Next, students draw their own three-frame comic strip, using both new and regular characters. They should write the dialogue in bubbles above the characters' heads. A good idea is to compile all the finished strips together for a class "funny pages."
Follow-up: Comics often contain unfamiliar words. Weekly vocabulary lists will be a lot more fun when students develop their own lists of new words, using comic strips as sources (serial and adventure strips are especially good for this activity.) Each week teachers should have students find five new words in the comics to write down and define. To underline the importance of using words in context, students should cut and paste the strips next to the words they have selected.
“What Would Happen If?”
Major Objectives: to produce a piece of creative writing; to use word processing and graphics software; to create a classroom journal combining creative writing and graphics;
Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11; (pre- intermediate/ intermediate level)
Subject(s): Language Arts/Writing (composition)
Materials: computers; printer Software: word processing, graphics;
Activities and procedures: Firstly, the teacher should stir up the students' imaginations with the following: “What is imagination?”, “Are your imaginations like anyone else's?”, “Who are some people who use imagination?” Then the teacher tells them that they will be dreaming and imagining and creating word pictures of things that might never have existed or happened. In addition, he/she presents the students with "What Would Happen If..." scenarios. For example, "What would happen if..." vegetables could talk; your brother turned into your sister; water in the oceans evaporated; all clocks stopped; people decided to no longer work for minimum wage; everyone looked alike; and all trees began growing money. Teacher has the students brainstorm their ideas in phrase form, using the word processor, and print out their notes. Then the students use their ideas to develop a story, proof/edit it, and print out a copy. They edit, and print a final copy. Students go on creating a picture to illustrate their stories and print the picture at the top or bottom of the stories. Finally they can combine stories into a booklet.
Follow-up/Extension: It’s very important for them to spend a class period sharing the stories and pictures and talking about new ones to write. As a larger project, creative teachers can have their students create a literary magazine.
Collaborative Stories
Grade Level(s): 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject(s): Language writing (composition);
Overview: This is a creative writing time that takes a minimum of 25 minutes. During this time students are beginning their own story, reading another's beginning and creating the middle section, reading yet another story and finally developing a conclusion for that story.
Purpose: This activity encourages students to be creative in their own writing, as well as being critical and analytical of another's. I find that students, who accomplish very little during a typical, structured writing time, become very involved in this type of writing.
Objective(s): To create the beginning of a story; to introduce the characters and the setting; to develop the action for the story; to bring the story to a conclusion; to read and analyze another's work; to recognize the need for neat, well-organized work;
Resources and materials: Pencils and writing paper for each student
Activities and procedures: Each student is asked to take out a clean piece of writing paper and a pencil. They do not put their name on this paper. The direction is given to write the beginning of a story. The characters' names should not be those of students in the class and gory (blood and guts) type plots are not allowed. They are given 5 minutes to write as much of the story as they can. (Time might be lengthened for older students.) At the end of 5 minutes, the teacher directs the students to pass their papers in a given order. The teacher tries to get them at least 3 or 4 students away. The teacher has the students read the story that has been started and continues it for the next 5 minutes and reminds them that they are developing the plot.
At the end of these 5 minutes, again the teacher has the students pass the papers in the same pattern as before. The students now read their new story, keeping in mind that it will be their job to write the conclusion for this story. Again the teacher allows the students 5 minutes for writing.
There are several possibilities. Any and or all could be used. They could pass the stories yet another time and have a fourth student illustrate the story then read it aloud to the class. Then they collect the stories and use them for an editing activity. Two or three students could edit the same story. After the stories have been edited, the teacher should have them copied in best writing or put on the computer and published as a class book available for free time reading by all. Everyone enjoys hearing the stories read aloud and listening to see if something they wrote is in that story and what others did with their story line. The books are fun to go back to later in the year and see how their writing skills have improved.
To conclude I want to point out that these activities encourage students to be creative in their own writing. I find that students, who accomplish very little during a typical, structured writing time, become very involved in this type of writing. Thus, they get and develop ideas for their stories, develop characters, discover the importance of "Showing" rather than just "Telling" the reader. On the other hand they understand how to use symbolism and foreshadowing in their writing and the most important thing is that they develop a writing style.
Consequently, there should be an efficient way to edit and revise their stories.
Scrivener, J.: Learning Teaching. Heinemann, 1994, ISBN 0 453240 98 7
Ur, P.: A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge : CUP ISBN 0521 44994-4
Harmer, J.: The Practice of Teaching English. Longman 1993, ISBN 0 582 091337
Doff, A.: Teach English. Cambridge : CUP 1988, ISBN 0 521 34864 1
A Common European Framework of reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment .
www.culture2.coe.int/portfolio/documents_intro/common_framework.html
The Creative Methodology for the Classroom course can be viewed here
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