Where to Start a Student in Creative Writing Who Thinks They Can't Write

    

I personally believe that ANYONE can write. Certainly, anyone's writing can be improved with some non-critical pointers, and a lot of writing. The advice I think you'll get from many writers about learning how to write is "write, write, WRITE!" This is decent advice, IF the student loves to write.

That said, you have a student who doesn't want to write because they don't believe they can. I've seen this many times, and it's born from various phenomenon. It doesn't take much to stop someone young from creating, just a comment or disapproving glance can do it, and this could come from any direction...friends, siblings, the critical aunt or uncle, the thoughtless instructor, you name it.

When I first started piloting the Creative Writing courses, which are the oldest of my courses (around 9 years), I was teaching at a private school and had around 50 students doing Creative Writing I . As they started, I would hear moan and groans and comments like "You expect me to write 10 WHOLE SENTENCES!" This type of assignment seemed impossible and abusive to them. I demanded they persist. The result was that two years later, wrapping up Creative Writing IV (as an example), one student came to me with a 40 page story (supposed to be 1/10th that length...) and apologized that he wasn't finished. Many of those students have gone into the arts, some as writers.

It got to the point where, in class, they would (entirely on their own) share stories. In fact, there is an early assignment where the student is asked to finish the story which starts: "Julie came down the stairs for breakfast...". The BOYS in the class created a competition to see who could kill Julie off in the most horribly gruesome manner. (They were boys.) And this is very important...I DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO STOP THIS. In fact, I encouraged it. This got the entire group excited about creating. They stopped this silliness after a while and expanded their writing interests beyond Julie being zapped by ray gun from Mars, and the Earth opening at the bottom of the stairs to consume her. It took a while, but their writing and THEIR INTEREST IN WRITING improved markedly.

Another point, a bit trickier. I had several of those students ASK if it was alright in their work to use profanity. I told them, "IT'S YOUR STORY, WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO." I know this may be a sore point for some nice people out there, but these Creative Writing courses are NOT "manners" courses. (BY THE WAY, I PUBLISHED A MANNERS COURSE TWO NIGHTS AGO ON CURR CLICK!) These are CREATIVE WRITING courses, and the student MUST be allowed to create create create without restriction, "constructive" or critical help of any kind should be avoided at all costs! The parent/tutor/friend's job is to read, understand what has been written, appreciate it, and send the student back to work, AND THAT'S IT! Anything else will hinder the result we all want...students who ENJOY writing, and who are improving at it every day! Let the courses provide ideas the student can use to improve their skills. If you see spelling errors, list them as part of the spelling program WITHOUT COMMENT PLEASE! Grammar should be addressed separately and NEVER AS A PART OF THE CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM.

Creative writing, as is true of any art, is a form of self-expression (though intended to be shared, and to affect others). There is nothing so fragile as self-expression, especially in the young. The world is tough, and will freely offer its disapproval of any and all creative acts. Home school, as with any and all school situations, really should be a safe haven. The Creative Writing courses are designed to encourage creativity. They do NOT teach manners, grammar, or spelling...just the joy of authorship, along with those rules found helpful.

     Steven Horwich
     Connect The Thoughts