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CREATIVE

WRITING

Indra Tjahyadi, S.S., M.Hum.


081939664944
tjahyadi.indra9@gmail.com

What is Writing?

Writing involves putting little marks on paper


via a computer, pen, pencil, or crayon. But
writing is more than mere scribbling
When you write, you communicate a message
to the reader. Communicating in writing means
sending a message that has a destination. It
takes two to tango, change a light bulb, and
complete the function of the written word.
The message of writing is its content. You can
present your message in a variety of ways.
Traditionally, the forms of writing are divided
into narration, description, exposition , and
persuasion.

The Forms of Writing

Narration

This is writing that tells a story.


Narration that tells about real events
includes biographies and
autobiographies. Narrations that deal
with fictional events include short
stories, myths, narrative poems, and
novels.

The Forms of Writing

Description
This is a kind of writing that creates a word
picture of what something or someone is
like. Description is made up of sensory
details that help readers form pictures in
their minds.
Description also uses images, words that
appeal to one or more of our five senses:
sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell.
Imagery can be found in all sorts of writing
(and should be), but it is most common in
poetry.

The Forms of Writing

Exposition

This type of writing explains, shows, or


tells about a subject. As a result, it is
the most common type of everyday
writing. Exposition includes news
articles; memos; business reports; and
notes to the butcher, baker, and
candlestick maker.

The Forms of Writing

Persuasion

This is a type of writing that tries to


move an audience to thought or action.
Newspaper editorials, advertisements,
and letters to the editor are all
examples of persuasive writing.

What Is Creative
Writing?
Creative

writing is a kind of
writing that uses language in
imaginative and bold ways.

Why Write?

Creative writers have a story to tell.


The story may be fiction or
nonfiction. It may be a play, a script,
a poem. Whatever form the writing
takes, it must be expressed. Creative
writers have a need to write, as
much as they have a need to breathe,
eat, and sleep. And their task is
equally important to humanity.

Why Write?

Writing also allows you to record the


key events in your life. You know
valuable things that no one else
knows. By writing down your
experiences as well as your
thoughts, you can communicate
what you learn to others.

The Writing Reason

I want to communicate ideas


I have a story to tell
I am a unique person
It satisfies my soul
I speak with passion
I want to learn something
I need to fulfill a dream
I have information to share
I want to be famous
I want to make money.

Creative Writing
Categories

Creative writing falls into two main


categories: fiction and nonfiction.
Fiction is writing that tells about made-up
events and characters. Novels and short
stories are examples of fiction. Fiction that
contains imaginary situations and characters
that are very similar to real life is called
realistic fiction.
Nonfiction is a type of writing about real
people and events. Essays, biographies,
autobiographies, and articles are all
examples of nonfiction.

Types of Creative Writing

Article. An article is a short work of nonfiction.


You can find articles in magazines, newspapers,
and books.
Autobiography. An Autobiography is a person's
story of his or her own life. An autobiography is
nonfiction and describes key events from the
person's life.
Biography. A biography is a true story about a
person's life written by another person.
Biographies are often written about well-known
people, such as O.J., Di, and Sting, and important
people, such as Thurgood Marshall, Jonas Salk,
and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Types of Creative Writing

Drama. Drama is a piece of literature written


to be performed in front of an audience. The
actors tell the story through their actions.
Dramas can be read as well as acted.
Essays. An essay is a brief writing on a
particular subject or idea.
Fantasy. Fantasy is a kind of writing that
describes events that could not take place in
real life. Fantasy contains unrealistic
characters, settings, and events.

Types of Creative Writing

Science fiction is fantasy writing that tells about makebelieve events that include science or technology. Often,
science fiction is set in the future, on distant planets, or
among alien races.
Novels. A novel is a long work of fiction. The elements of
a novelplot, characterization, setting, and themeare
developed in detail. Novels usually have one main plot
and several less important subplots.
Poetry. Poetry is a type of writing in which words are
selected for their beauty, sound, and power to express
feelings. Traditionally, poems had a specific rhythm and
rhyme, but such modern poetry as free verse does not
have a regular beat, rhyme, or line length. Most poems
are written in lines, which are arranged together in
groups called stanzas.

Types of Creative Writing

Short stories. A short story is narrative prose


fiction shorter than a novel that focuses on a
single character and a single event. Most short
stories can be read in one sitting and convey a
single overall impression.
Song lyrics. Songs are poems set to music. All
songs have a strong beat, created largely
through the 3R's: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition.
A ballad is a story told in song form. Traditional
ballads were passed down by word of mouth
from person to person; the words are simple and
have a strong beat. Like their older relatives,
newer ballads often tell stories about adventure
and love.

The Writing Process

Plan. Gather ideas and focus your


thoughts.
Shape. Find the best way to organize
your material.
Draft. Write your ideas in sentences
and paragraphs.

The Writing Process

Revise. Revisit your draft and rethink your


ideas. Here's where you add, cut, move, and
rewrite. In some cases, you may rework your
draft as drastically as plastic surgeons have
revised Michael Jackson's face; in other
instances, you'll be more along the lines of a
Goldie Hawn brush-up.
Edit. Reread for errors in technical areas:
spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization,
and so on.
Proofread. Check the draft for typos and
illegible handwriting.

Writing Plan

Genre is not a factor with these four


key players. No matter what you
write a novel, short story, drama,
screenplay, poem, biography,
autobiography, or article you must
consider all four elements as you
plan.

Writing Plan

All planning begins with thinking


about four key elements:
Topic
Purpose
Audience
Special circumstances

Writing Plan

Topic

Your topic is what you will write about. Also


known as the thesis, theme, or subject, the
topic comes from everything you have ever
known, seen, dreamed, experienced,
remembered, read, and heard. Creative
writers draw on this rich storehouse of
experience to spark their imaginations and
make their vision come alive for their
readers.

Source of Writing Topics

Writing Plan

Purpose

An author's purpose is the author's goal


in writing a selection. Common
purposes include to entertain, instruct,
persuade, or describe. Nearly all
creative writing has the same purpose:
to entertain. Nonetheless, an author
may have more than one purpose for
writing a particular selection, but one
purpose is often the most important.

Writing Plan

Audience

Your audience is your readers. Sometimes you


know who your audience is.
Writing without first considering your audience
is like mailing a letter without a stamp, cutting
wallpaper without measuring it, or buying a
pair of pants without trying them on.
Audience influences your choice of topic,
language, sentence length, punctuation, and
allusions. It can even influence your choice of
form, such as novel, article, or poetry.

Fiction

Fiction is writing that tells about


made-up events and characters.
Novels and short stories are
examples of fiction. There is no
specific required length that sets the
novel apart from its cousin the short
story or the novelette, a story
usually between 50 to 100 pages.

Plot

Plot is the arrangement of events in


a work of fiction. Successful writers
arrange the events of the plot to
keep the reader's interest and
convey the theme.

Plot

In many stories and novels, the events


of the plot can be divided as follows:
Exposition. Introduces the characters,
setting, and conflict.
Rising action. Builds the conflict and
develops the characters.
Climax. The highest point of the action.
Denouement. Resolves the story and ties
up all the loose ends.

Point of View

Point of view is the position from which a story


is told. Here are the three different points of
view you will encounter most often in novels:

First-person point of view: The narrator is one of


the characters in the novel and explains the events
through his or her own eyes, using the pronouns I
and me.
Third-person omniscient point of view: The narrator
is not a character in the novel. Instead, the narrator
looks through the eyes of all the characters. As a
result, the narrator is all-knowing. The narrator
uses the pronouns he, she, and they.
Third-person limited point of view: The narrator
tells the story through the eyes of only one
character, using the pronouns he, she, and they.

Characters

First of all, keep the usual suspects


to a minimum. We don't have to
meet the whole family. Use only as
many characters as you need to tell
the story.

Characters

Some writers begin with plot and find


characters who fit the story. Other
novelists, in contrast, begin with
characters and let them interact as the
plot unfolds. Still others begin with a
theme and seek plot and characters to
address that truth about life. There are
even some writers who begin with a
setting and let the plot and characters
unfold from there.

Characters

Select the method that works best


for you. Remember, though, that the
method may vary from novel to
novel. Experiment with different
techniques until you find the one
that works for you at that particular
point in your writing career.

Dialogue

Dialogue, the character's speech,


should reveal the character's
important traits, be easy to read,
and further the plot.

Poetry

Poetry is one of the oldest arts, and until


very recently, one of the most important
ones. In olden days, poetry was as crucial
as food, shelter, clothing, and superpremium ice cream (even though the
latter hadn't been invented yet).
Poetry was recited at important public
occasions and learned by educated people
as a part of their basic intellectual
equipment.

Poetry

The definitions of poetry:

In which words are selected for their beauty,


sound, and power to express feelings
That uses a kind of language that is more
intense and expressive than everyday speech
That presents the speaker's emotions as they
are aroused by beauty, experience, or
attachment That provides a fresh,
unexpected way of looking at things
That gives pleasure, whether it appeals to the
senses, emotion, or intellect.

Poetic Techniques

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant


sounds in several words in a sentence or line of
poetry. Poets use alliteration to create musical
effects, link related ideas, stress certain words,
or mimic specific sounds. Here's an example
from Dylan Thomas's Fern Hill: About the
lilting house and happy as the grass was green.
The phrase shows alliteration in the repetition
of the h in house and happy and the gr in grass
and green.

Poetic Techniques

Blank Verse

Blank verse is unrhymed poetry, usually


written in iambic pentameter (see the
section titled Meter for a discussion of
iambic pentameter). Many English poets
wrote in blank verse because it captures
the natural rhythm of speech. Here's an
example by William Shakespeare: Time
hath, my Lord, a wallet at his
back,/Wherein he puts alms for oblivion.

Poetic Techniques

Lyric Poetry

Poet Emily Dickinson, who made the


Phantom of the Opera look like a party
animal, was a champ at writing lyric
poems. These are brief, musical poems
that present a speaker's feelings. In the
distant past, before Spandex and Pez,
people sang lyrics as they played stringlike instruments called lyres. This is
where we get the word lyric.

Poetic Techniques

Catalog

The catalog technique in poetry


predates L.L. Bean and Victoria's
SecretHomer used it around 800 B.C.,
John Milton in the seventeenth century,
and greedy children still use it around
Christmas. It's nothing more than a list,
but when used with brio, it's as overwhelming as Toys R Us on Christmas
Eve.

Poetic Techniques

Narrative Poetry

Narrative poetry tells a story, either through a


narrative storyline told objectively or through a
dramatized situation. Examples of narrative story
lines include Alfred Noye's The Highwayman and
Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin. An
example of the dramatized situation is Robert Frost's
poem The Death of the Hired Man.
A special form of the dramatized situation is the
dramatic monologue, in which a character speaks,
using the first person point of view. We don't hear
the other character's responses, but we can infer
them from hints in the poem. It's like listening to one
end of a phone conversation.

Poetry vs Prose

Prose, claimed Samuel Taylor Coleridge,


consists of words in their best order.
Poetry consists of the best words in the best
order.
The primary difference between poetry and
prose is concreteness. A single word of poetry
says far more than a single word of prose.
That's because the language in poetry
resonates worlds of other meaning. In a sense,
the poet distills meaning in brief and vivid
phrases. The poet's use of economy and
suggestion evoke response in the reader.

Poetry vs Prose

The primary difference between poetry


and prose is concreteness. A single word
of poetry says far more than a single
word of prose. That's because the
language in poetry resonates worlds of
other meaning. In a sense, the poet
distills meaning in brief and vivid
phrases. The poet's use of economy and
suggestion evoke response in the reader.

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