Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

Joe, a Facebook member, posted this question today … ‘What do you guys think about an aspiring writer going to college to become a fiction writer? Good or bad idea?’

Rather than giving him a direct answer, his question became the inspiration for today’s blog post.

Many years ago, I had a pen pal called Nadia. This was before the Internet became popular and people exchanged letters instead of emails. Our letters were no ordinary letters, but pages and pages of stories that resembled a small newspaper. We started out writing with pen and paper, later used a typewriter and ultimately switched to a computer.

Nadia’s letters were fluid, interesting and funny. She wrote from the heart and I could tell that rather than writing, she was talking to me.

A few years later, Nadia told me that she planned on writing a short story for a national competition. As it turned out, her submission was not only accepted, but she won 1^st prize and gained television, radio and newspaper exposure.

Rather than this victory building up her confidence, it destroyed it. Nadia couldn’t write anything anymore because all her creations fell short compared her winning story.

She decided to enroll in a creative writing class. Three years later she graduated with distinction. During these three years, I had noticed a change in Nadia’s letters. They were no longer fluid but mechanical.

When as tactfully mentioned this to Nadia, she wholeheartedly agreed. She said ever since she took the course, writing was no longer a labor of love but torture. She agonized over word choice and sentence structure, often rewriting the same sentence over and over again until it was as perfect as possible.

When I remarked that this was probably advisable for story writing, she didn’t have to go through such trouble while writing a letter to me. Her response was ‘I can’t help it. I’ve become so aware of being grammar perfect that nothing but the best will do.’

Ultimately, the book that Nadia intended on writing never materialized and she couldn’t even produce another short story. In her quest for perfection, she had lost her creativity.

To answer Joe’s question … Go to college to improve your language skills, but where it comes to your creative spirit … nobody can teach you that.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

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Day 13: Letters - Make reference to a famous letter

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 13: Letters. Make reference to a famous letter

Because of the internet, people today enjoy instant communication. Someone writes an email and within seconds can expect a reply. Or contact someone via chat and create an instant conversation.

While this is a very convenient way of interaction, very few people today know the pleasure of writing a letter and the joyful anticipation of a reply.

When I was a teenager I had several pen pals and waited for the mailman every morning. Sitting by the window, I saw him push his bike up the street and almost from door slip something in the mailbox. Would he have something for me? When I heard a thud in our mailbox I knew something had arrived.

I used to rush through the house, open the small wooden door of the mailbox and fish out whatever was just delivered.

More sweet anticipation followed as I sifted through the envelopes looking for those addressed to me.

Responding to those letters was just as enjoyable. Sitting at the dining room table, a block of crisp white lined paper in front of me and a fountain pen on the side. I use to love the feel of that silky paper and the sound of the pen scratching as it formed letters and words.

I wonder if Napoleon felt the same when he wrote:

My Dearest Josephine, I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart!

Poor man, who knows how long it took for his letters to be delivered and how long he had to wait for a response. I wonder how Josephine felt. Each time Napoleon went off to battle she must have wondered if she'd ever see him again, and a letter would have been a sign of life.

In due time, I moved on from pen and paper to a typewriter. I admired those machines the way my friends admired shoes, boots, and handbags. From behind the showroom window, they beckoned for me to come closer, enticing me with their shiny black, white, mint green or powder blue cases, detailed with black or white keyboards. Side by side they stood, fighting for my attention.

A whole year I saved up part of my pocket money so I could have one of those machines for my very own. Do kids still do that today, save up for something?

I’ll never forget the day when I brought my ‘baby’ home. Using two fingers I could now hammer out letters to my pen pals at a fraction of the time it used to take me.

Over the years my little typewriter was replaced by a much more sophisticated electric machine, followed by several desktop computers and finally laptops.

Does anyone these days still use typewriters or write letters for that matter?

Feel free to comment, I'd love to hear from you.

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The importance of writing in our lives

When a child learn to write the letters A to Z, he has no idea the impact the ability to write has on his life.  He can write notes, letters, journals, stories and in due time a resume to pursue a career.  Writing is so much more though.  Where it comes to creative writing, ask yourself, why is writing important?

Continue reading at:

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