Today’s classroom is a world of scantrons and 60-minute essays. We immensely stress the importance of “standardized” forms of writing, that which we can grade and quantify into simple points, while subsequently abandoning “creative” forms of writing. Many claim that writing fictional pieces is frivolous, and that it takes away from “important” writing skills, like the ever-prevalent, inescapable, annually assigned research paper.
Why, in class, do we praise the literature of creative crafters like Dickens, Orwell, and Golding? Yet we fail to actually encourage and support the next generation of writers; instead, we mock them as being the future employees of an airport Starbucks.
What today’s curriculum fails to recognize is that creative writing forces students to think, instead of just regurgitating classroom discussions (or cliffsnotes for the daydreamers) onto a page. When you’re made to build a story of your own, you have to think through your characters’ perspective, analyze situations, and solve problems to complete your tale. Creative writing is engineering a world of your own mind’s machinations; whatever that vision may be, it is the writer’s own innovation. With each keystroke you can build and craft upon it, styling it, refining it, and finally releasing it to the readers of the world.
Just as when you solve a math problem you must divine the solution from a series of logical steps, in creative writing you have to figure out a “goal” or driving force for your protagonist(s) to have, and formulate a series of actions that they take to reach it. But unlike equations, writing allows for increased liberties in what your mind can synthesize. In writing there is no clear set of regulations and rules to follow, no limitations to your story, and your mind is free to roam wherever it desires to go.
Beyond that, creative writing allows your mind to clarify its thoughts, and solidify them on paper. It helps you revise your thought processes and clarify what you’re trying to convey. We have millions of thoughts rushing through our minds all the time, so giving yourself an outlet to expunge them out onto a screen or document in front of you allows you to see where the gaps in your reasoning are. Thus, giving you the opportunity to fill those in, as well as develop your opinions and self-expression further. Plus, when you gain experience with expressing your own words, and your own ideas, you gain confidence in them, and yourself.
Creative writing is a highly underrated practice that allows its adherents to mold their imagination and identity into a novel, poem, short-story, or whatever you need to express your thoughts justly. It exercises our reasoning and rationale, while concurrently giving us, and our readers, a moment to escape into a fantastical tale, and put aside the worries of the real world. Creative writing grants us reprise.
So are you interested in creative writing? Do you want to see what wonders lie in the hidden corners of your mind if you give them room to wander and flourish? If so, come to the next meeting of the Creative Writing Club (meetings monthly in room 435 after school). Keep an eye out for posters advertising the next meeting and an ear open for the next morning announcement declaring the date of a CWC gathering! Inquiries can also be sent directly to creativewritingclub18@gmail.com for all the latest news on how to get involved.
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