- •Introduction to creative writing
- •Genres in creative writing
- •Writing activities
- •Writing a cooperative group story
- •2. Brainstorming
- •3. Good creative writing requires good description.
- •Steps in the writing process
- •Work with your partner. Choose one of these topics. List as many ideas as you can in 5 minutes. Use free writing, brainstorming or clustering.
- •Choosing a topic for a paragraph
- •Structure and development of a paragraph (lessons 5-6)
- •Structure of a paragraph
- •2. Development of a paragraph
- •Peer editing
- •Descriptive and opinion paragraphs (lessons 7-8)
- •Opinion paragraph
- •Comparison/contrast paragraph (lessons 9-10)
- •Writing advantages and disadvantages paragraph
- •Connecting and linking
- •Time and sequence
- •Addition and contrast
- •Similarities, differences, comparisons
- •4. Reason purpose, result, condition
- •Writing an essay-types and structure
- •Types of essays
- •2. The structure of an essay
- •The introduction
- •Writing the thesis statement and the conclusion
- •Writing a thesis statement
- •In these introductory paragraphs, underline the thesis statement. Then circle the topic and draw another line under the main idea in each thesis statement.
- •Writing a conclusion
- •Outlining an essay. Unity and coherence
- •3. Unity and coherence
- •Writing an opinion essay
- •Writing a narrative essay
- •Using metaphors in your work
- •Rhymed verse
- •Hello and good bye poems
- •Acrostic
- •Colorful poetry
- •Basics of poetry writing
- •Metaphors for people
- •Limerick
- •Basics of poetry writing
- •Free verse Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni
- •Carl Sandburg
Introduction to creative writing
(lessons 1-2)
Creative writing is a style where you focus on thoughts and emotions instead of just passing along knowledge.
Creative writing aids language at all levels: grammar, vocabulary, phonology, and discourse. It requires the learners to manipulate the language in interesting and demanding ways in order to express their personal meanings.
A key character of creative writing is a willingness to play with the language. The peculiarity of creative writing is that it puts emphasis on the right side of the brain, with a focus on feelings, physical sensations, intuition and musicality. On the contrast much of the teaching we do tends to focus on the left side of the brain, where our logical faculties are situated.
Genres in creative writing
Genre is a recognized category of works that share a common form, purpose or content. As a writer, it is important to understand what these commonly shared attributes are for each of the different genre.
Descriptive genre
The goal of this genre is to describe a person, place or thing in vivid detail. Forms of descriptive genre are: character sketches, comparisons, descriptive essays, descriptive sentences.
Expository genre
The goal of this genre is to give information such as an explanation or directions. Forms of expository genre are: autobiographies, directions, essays, posters, reports, summaries.
Narrative genre
The goal of this genre is to tell a story of an experience, event, or sequence of events while holding the reader's interest. Forms of narrative genre are: short stories, personal narratives, retelling of stories, story scripts.
Persuasive genre
The goal of this genre is to give an opinion in an attempt to convince the reader that this point of view is valid or tries to persuade the reader to take a specific action. Forms of persuasive genre are: advertisements, book and movie reviews, letters to the edition, persuasive essays, persuasive letters.
Poetry genre
Poetic writing is a written art form that helps the writer express an imaginative awareness and arranged to create a specific emotional response sometimes employing the use of repetition, meter, and rhyme. Forms of poetry genre are: acrostic poems, color poems, free verse poems.
Writing activities
Writing a cooperative group story
Give students a prompt (a photo, a sentence, a word). Anything that will start their imagination to create a story. Students will have 1 or 2 minutes to write .Each student will write I sentence. Group reads a story aloud to the class.
2. Brainstorming
Divide students into small groups of no more than 4 with one designated as the idea recorder. Then give them1 to 2 minutes to write down everything that comes to mind about a topic, such as sailing. Have students categorize the ideas and individually or in a group choose categories, such as the most outrageous idea, dumbest idea, silliest idea. Students would then choose 2 or 3 ideas around which to create their writing assignment.