Writing Instruction: Integrating Creativity with Mechanics

WRITING INSTRUCTION: INTEGRATING CREATIVITY WITH MECHANICS
Copyright Oct. 2007

It is imperative that a writing pedagogy address the creative aspects of writing along with the basics of composition. This association is absolutely necessary since authors must learn to fuse the spontaneous characteristics of creative writing with technical, formal writing structures. Simply put, students must be prepared to construct eloquent and well-organized essays that are easily understood, original, and fun to read. Teachers facilitate an understanding among their students that it is both desirable and even acceptable to challenge the writing paradigm and traditional ideology—once the students have mastered the laws of mechanics. This combination of fluidity and traditional structure is the essence that enables the great voices in literature.

The teacher’s role is henceforth that of a facilitator in the discovery of a unique and effective voice. There is a great deal of literature that supports the assertion that teachers empower students through writing. According to Haake, author of What Our Speech Disrupts,
Our purpose as creative writing teachers ought to be to construct a nonhierarchical space within which we can expand prior notions of what might count as writing and extend to every student the privilege of his or her own speech. (18-19)

Without the ability to express themselves successfully, emergent writers cannot affect change or represent their native cultures successfully. Lower-level learners remain voiceless, which is why past societies failed to give certain ethnicities, and the female gender, the opportunity to discover the full range of opportunities in reading and writing. Today, however, the creative writing teacher is a key player in the development of a personal voice and the acquisition of culture.

Haake urges readers to re-examine the purpose of creative writing studies, and to consider that writing enables students to better understand their own essence. On the whole, this book (What Our Speech Disrupts) argues for a shift within the discipline that would respond to student differences and allow for reconceiving creative writing as a practice that takes many forms of value in the lives and educations of our students. This practice is open-ended in that it is accepting of all genders, ethnicities and viewpoints. According to Haake,

Such a classroom might be conceived of as a site of bricolage, where the teacher-writer, together with her or his student-writers, uses everything at hand not just to make writing happen, but to do so within a critical framework that reveals writing systems and gives students authority over their own work. (18)

If students are to develop a voice, they must be empowered through knowledge of the mechanics and creative techniques behind the structure. No matter how meaningful their statements may be, the students’ intent must be clearly understood by others. Authors who acknowledge the need to develop a voice express as much concern about the structure of language as the approaches to expression. According to Selling,

“One part of writing is to pick an interesting subject. However, the more important part is to develop techniques and skills that make the most ordinary subject interesting.” (36)

The creative writing teacher must be able to assist students in developing rudimentary mechanics along with basic skills to organize their ideas effectively. To be more specific, some of these techniques may include graphic organizers, sketches, outlines, and chronological tables. The organization of the paragraph must follow logical rules as it moves from topic sentence to the supporting details and conclusion; meanwhile, a natural flow must occur as one paragraph leads to the next, and each must maintain appropriate topics as well as a logical order.

Beginning students can best organize ideas and grasp the structure of writing if it is based upon their own lives. Selling encourages teachers to adapt life story writing to help students increase technique and voice.

This writing approach is intended and has been used to give students the opportunity to develop a command of the language as a mode of communication. Within this developing language, it is appropriate for young people to see that having feelings, knowing what those feelings are, and expressing them on paper are entirely normal parts of ordinary life experience. (41)

A writing curriculum that, in some manner, engages students in the act of recreating moments from personal recollection may lead to many other possibilities for self-expression, such as fiction based on personal memories, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Therefore, as an intrinsic part of today’s pedagogy, the author would insist upon integrating the personal memoir in all undergraduate or secondary school creative writing curriculums.

Without doubt, there is a sense of hesitancy when assigning writing based upon students’ personal experiences since teachers generally fear entry into unknown and unfamiliar rooms. It is essential to remember that writers are the ones who have the courage to encounter that which others fear, and to ask the questions others dare not pose. This is precisely how a writer acquires her individual voice.

A voice, the essence of life, will not be powerful if it does not integrate the creative aspects of writing with its logical and structural mechanics. One of the best techniques to develop structure and mechanics is that of turning to the narrative masters or reviewing the works most admired by students. This could include master narratives in children’s literature. Sims writes,
If you ask most writers how they learned to write, as I have the ones who appear in this anthology, they will tell you it was by reading the works of men and women who were doing the kind of writing they want to do and trying to figure out how they did it. (1)

The implications of this are that a sound pedagogy integrates examples of quality writing that appeal to student writers. For example, the author is about to read five memoirs prior to her attempt at writing her own. In order to target the manuscript to a particular market, it is important that she get a feel for the style of a few successful authors who have written within the same genre. Such teaching and learning techniques used by professionals are applicable to students at all levels.

Oates, the editor of Telling Stories, suggests teachers should integrate the miniature narratives into their lessons as models for later writing:

‘Miniature’ narratives come first for obvious reasons: like the dramatic monologue (to follow), they present beginning writers with a form far more accessible and navigable than the traditional story of greater length and complexity. (3)

Ramjerdi gives credit to master narratives for being the basis for all stories that are to be created: “I would argue that virtually all works that are read in fiction workshops now are at the same time repetitions of antithesis of gradations of a master narrative.” (Ramjerdi and Garber 18-19) Whether or not teachers agree with Ramjerdi’s premise, no one denies that master narratives provide an excellent model to either emulate or contrast. Among other important factors, master narratives exemplify solid grammatical structure along with stimulation for creative ideas.

Students should be encouraged to absorb ideas and structures from the master narratives of other cultures. As an exercise in writing, students who are bilingual may get extra credit for translating texts from foreign writers. When students have studied the professionals or the masters from various multicultural genres, they will have moved closer to acquiring a mature and effective technique. This study of masters is an essential step that all writers must take, whether it is within the framework of the Pedagogy Class, or at some point in the students’ journey to personal mastery.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the master narrative is the logical flow of events that enables readers to understand the text. The progression is typically from the development of a problem (conflict) to a climax, followed by a resolution. Teachers must challenge their students with these problems by assigning short fictional writing assignments similar to the miniature narratives they have studied. In making the assignment, the students will be asked to address problems that one might encounter on a daily basis, and craft individualized resolutions. The ultimate resolution, although definitive, should leave room for thought afterward.

Master narratives make one’s life easier as a teacher because they provide writing instructors with high quality stories that are eminently suitable for discussion. Students readily accept the value offered by time-tested master narratives. Indeed, these archetypal models are handed down from one generation to the next as ancestral gifts that provide a sense of history and interconnectedness. It is this feeling of continuity that teachers must establish in the writing classroom through critique and mentorship. According to Johanna Hurwitz,
I was fortunate to always be surrounded by books and people who read...Both my parents and my grandmother read to me and I vividly remember enjoying the public library that was just a short walk from our apartment.

Luckily, Hurwitz was exposed to master narratives as well as relatives who served as her writing mentors. (Koehler-Pentacoff 271)

Student writers may not realize that most writers have benefited to varying degrees from the assistance of a mentor as they developed their writing voice. This may be one of the best-kept secrets in writing instruction: Students need individuals who will give them encouragement and whom they can emulate. Effective mentoring is a critical element within the pedagogy that is enhanced when teachers match mentoring pairs who are assigned to give one another encouragement and advice.

In my class, each student will have a mentoring partner with whom he or she will discuss writing topics. Mentoring partners support one another by providing valuable, targeted and affable counsel regarding the improvement of each other’s work. They can discuss readings, edit one another’s work, and share their findings with others in the group. It is likely most students will want a mentoring partner and will gladly accept the teacher’s assignment thereof. Students enjoy caring feedback provided in safe and personal environments, but they are often too hesitant to seek criticism on their own. There are many excellent examples of mentoring partnerships in the English-to-speakers-of-other-languages classrooms in which peers review one another’s work and jointly assist in the editing and revision processes.

Selling has written a chapter on the importance of giving feedback to fellow students. He urges teachers to engage students in the critique process since giving and receiving feedback from mentors can be as meaningful as the writing process itself. He says that “It is possible, however, to form groups within classrooms that have entirely different dynamics.” Demonstrably, these are the groups in which student writers can feel at ease. In smaller groups, “The writer does not feel it necessary to defend his or her work and can, instead, focus on understanding how others are receiving it.”(52-53) The writing class, therefore, is all about developing this sense of community.

Students will learn more about one another, and about writing, through the establishment of a friendly learning community within the larger framework of the classroom. This is one reason why the author has integrated computer-art and computer-writing critiques for students. Such practices, formerly regarded as strategies for teaching lower-level learners, have become increasingly important in a technology-based, visual world. Classroom critiques nowadays must be integrated with Internet communications in the form of message boards. This medium is currently an integral part of the writing process, and it has proven attractive to writers with diverse learning styles.

Anyone who has taught students that possess a wide range of abilities, learning styles, and talents understands well that teachers should never assume learners know the material. The writing instructor must question students in order to ascertain whether they truly comprehend what is expected of them. The teacher must specifically address issues regarding grammar, mechanics, and creative processes. In turn, questions posed by the students themselves indicate they are learning, and no question is too simple to be presented to the group. Indeed, it is the writer’s job to pose such questions and seek answers relative to integrating mechanics and creativity.

Effective writing pedagogies strive to fuse spontaneous, creative production with a grammatically correct structure. Therefore, assignments combine mechanics with creativity to both establish balance and make a powerful statement concerning the development and use of student voices. Critiques, mentoring, and portfolio production represent efficient strategies that move students along the path toward achieving these goals.

Teachers should modify portions of the curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners. Students benefit from exposure to a variety of genres including persuasive essays, poetry, and dialogue. Some of them will opt to specialize in specific genres since very few writers tend to drift toward analytical writing. Others are more spontaneous. Writing teachers can choose to advocate individual instruction while assisting students to learn useful techniques such as brainstorming, free association, and burrowing.

Burrowing is especially helpful for those students who absorb the world around them and dig deep into their souls. By its name alone, burrowing suggests excavating to the depths of consciousness with structure and great thought. In What Our Speech Disrupts, Haake says that burrowing is the use of ideas based upon a sentence. “Writing proceeds from language rather than image.” (177-79) One sentence leads to the next. The process is akin to free association, except that it involves sentences that inspire successive sentences.

In contrast, free association is the challenge of writing as much as one can within a given amount of time while permitting one idea, rather than a sentence, to foment the next. This enables the writer to be as creative as possible, often pairing two concepts that are frequently antithetical. Free association also has much in common with brainstorming, itself generally a function of the prewriting process.

Brainstorming entails working on a team and surfacing ideas that might seem crazy to some, or even deriving solutions to problems. Mentoring partners may be asked to brainstorm new plots for fiction in a bid to be helpful to one another, much like a critique process. Whatever the assignment, however, one finds that working with others in the writing class builds teams.
Team building is an effective methodology that involves the establishment of multiple intelligence groups. On such teams, students pair with like-minded peers to brainstorm and edit texts. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality questionnaire can be employed to assist in pairing those who have similar personality traits. These corresponding groups of students are very effective when discussing creative visualization techniques and reflections from life.

Teams and critique groups will encounter issues of ethnocentrism and the ethnocentric versus the multicultural voice. At present, these are two sizzling topics that follow the emergence of writers from all cultures whose work expands the context of the English-based writing world. Such topics fall within the realm of spontaneous and grammatical writing as they force classmates to find creative solutions to the gap between ethnocentrism and multiculturalism. It is interesting to examine how immigration and limited English proficiency affect the mechanics of the English language, and to what extent one can, or even should, deviate from normative writing models. A few authors have begun to integrate new word patterns into their texts such as Spanglish, a new language that has found its way into the mainstream from longstanding bilingualism.

Multiculturalism and diverse perspectives enhance creative writing. Indeed, eschewing conformity—daring to be different rather than safe—represents the very nature of the creative voice. Students’ origins often become the seeds of triggering subjects; in other words, their various experiences serve as the inspiration for such students to become writers. Moreover, a triggering subject that arouses the desire to express one’s passion is the very definition of a writer’s motivation. The triggering subjects for some individuals motivate them to endeavor naturally in various arts, often because they have experienced difficulty or euphoria. Other students, however, require assistance in identifying a suitably catalytic triggering subject, the likes of which may be as radiant as "Princess Diana", as groundbreaking as The Beatles, or as gentle and fleeting as the memory of a kind deed. Triggering subjects are undeniably and extraordinarily personal, and they require acceptance within teams of students engaged in the critique process.

A writing pedagogy that integrates the creative and the mechanical aspects of language facilitates openness and candor in discussions. Suitably enabled minds inspire the emergence of new ideas, which is essentially the intent behind encouraging culturally diverse writers to express a personal voice. The teacher serves as a role model for the students as they observe the instructor’s verbal and written responses to their products. Miller writes, “You should always be careful to treat both your audience and your opinions with respect. Few are likely to be converted to your opinions if you treat them like fools and dismiss their beliefs with contempt.” (1-3) Only when students learn the mechanics of persuasive essays do they fully understand the necessity of treating opposing viewpoints with respect. As an analogy to life lessons, the student writers will learn that many points of view can be advanced or suitably defended if one adequately prepares her statements.

In conclusion to the new Pedagogy Integrating Creativity and Mechanics, the author wishes to provide a few practical suggestions for teaching that will provide outlets for imaginative expression. The following assignments deal with empathy, characterization, and protagonists.
In the first exercise, the students will interview someone who is of a different culture or age group. Their questions will surround the experience he or she identifies as having been the most effective learning experience over the years. The results of the interviews will be shared with the class. For the second exercise, the students will create a flawed character and explain the psychology that led to the character’s distinctiveness. During the third assignment, the student writers will use index cards to create three protagonists for a fictional story dealing with opposing points of view. The students will later expand these ideas into stories and plays. Afterward, peer writers will trade work and edit each other’s texts prior to commencing the final draft.

Teacher responses and evaluations are essential in providing instruction in creativity and writing mechanics. Above all else, evaluation is critical for creative writing students because it affirms their ability to take the steps necessary to improve their work. Evaluation includes summarizing the teacher’s understanding of student efforts. The instructor must read student writers’ works critically to achieve a full understanding of the overall meaning of that writing. Naturally, different teachers will rely on individual interpretations and understandings of student work, just as separate publishers have conflicting opinions about whether a particular manuscript is worthy of publishing. Since negative criticism from a teacher might inadvertently cause the end of a student’s budding writing career, it is necessary to convey the logic that the instructor’s opinions are merely subjective.

The best way to prevent grading from hindering creativity—or worse, making students abandon it altogether—is to grade multiple aspects of the writing. Teachers should pay attention separately to creative originality, analysis, and grammar and mechanics. There are many methods by which teachers can recognize compartmentalized abilities, either through separately grading creativity and mechanics or by providing students with a score for each. Regardless of whether college-level writing teachers establish such guidelines for grading, the instructor must be sensitive to these creative and mechanical components, individually and collectively, of effective writing.

Research in the area of creative writing instruction indicates there is a need for creative writing classes that focus strong emphasis on the analytical and intuitive aspects of writing. These are separate but unified forms of creativity and mechanics. Students must be encouraged to think independently while they develop a logical voice, which they reinforce with a solid foundation in both grammar and research.

In the real world, an artist employs technique and imagination to create a work of perceived genius. A musician adds masterful expression to the notes he has rigorously followed. Likewise, writing students persist in combining the spontaneous aspects of creativity with formal writing structures to ensure their melodic and emerging voices will be heard by all.


Works Cited

(Daigh Ralph Maybe You Should Write a Book 1973)Daigh, Ralph. Maybe You Should Write a Book. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1973.

(Haake Katherine What Our Speech Disrupts 2005)Haake, Katherine. What Our Speech Disrupts. United States: Premium Source Publishing, 2005.

(Koehler-Pentacoff Elizabeth ABCs of Writing for Children 2003)Koehler-Pentacoff, Elizabeth. The ABCs of Writing for Children. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003.

(Miller Robert K Informed Argument: A Multidisciplinary Reader and Guide 1992)Miller, Robert K. The Informed Argument: A Multidisciplinary Reader and Guide. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, Inc., 1992.

(Oates Joyce Carol Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers 1998)Oates, Joyce Carol, ed. Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998.

(Ramjerdi Jan Garber Eugene Reflection on the Teaching of Creative Writing 1994)Ramjerdi, Jan, and Eugene Garber. "Reflection on the Teaching of Creative Writing." Colors of a Different Horse (1994): 18-19.

(Selling Bernard Writing Your Life Story: Using Life Stories to Develop Your Writing Skills 1994)Selling, Bernard. Writing Your Life Story: Using Life Stories to Develop Your Writing Skills. 2nd ed. United States: Barnes and Noble, 1994.

(Sims Patsy Literary Nonfiction: Learning by Example 2002)Sims, Patsy, ed. Literary Nonfiction: Learning by Example. New York: Oxford U P, 2002. (Zinsser)

(Zinsser Williams On Writing Well 1990)Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.