Question

CAN someone please give me good or bad specific feed back on this paper...no need to talk about grammer problems or spelling mistakes this is just a rough draft. Thanks :D

ill post it at the bottom

Answer 1

Teaching Creative Writing: an exploratory analysis
Can creative writing be taught? There are many answers to this question that both supports the teaching writing and opposes it. Over the past few weeks of research, I’ve encountered these different opinions on this issue and it became a bit overwhelming. I have read and decided to reference compositions written by professors, students, and published authors, each contributing differently to this conversation. From my sources, I managed to narrow down these views, organizing them into three basic categories. For clarity, I will label them against, (the teaching of writing) for, and middle.
The inspiration for this argument came when a good friend and former writing student said to me, “Writing cannot be exercised. It’s not a muscle.” This introduces the first point under the opposition, the “:against” category. Zach said that doing writing exercises in class were not beneficial at all for him. It was a waste of time. For example, one class we took together required that we write seasonals every morning as a warm-up exercise. Zach was indifferent about them back then, but later expressed that he regretted spending the time writing them down because they lacked a true purpose to him. How does writing over and over again make one a better writer? He claimed that it didn’t. The opposite is argued by means of the “for” category, that

exercising really is beneficial for the future writer. I hated seasonals back then, but I later appreciated them because they helped shape me as a writer. I will agree that writing is not a muscle, but when exercised (even if one hates it at first) can be helpful in the future.
An article by James Gunn brought the specific aspect of creative writing workshop classes into consideration. In this article he both praised and criticized the workshop method, directly correlating with my “for-against” organization. This also relates to my personal experiences in workshop classes. Zach said that he only liked workshopping because it gave the chance to hear other writers. Other than that, he didn’t like them at all. To him, writing workshop was full of inexperienced, aspiring writers who knew close to nothing about what good writing is, and empty comments that are aimlessly thrown about the room, credit the only motivation for speaking. Although these are strong points, I believe he was neglecting the root of the creative writing workshop and its main goal. Our workshops were meant to give students a chance to teach themselves and each other. It was more than a peer review, it was a time to take in what you have heard, reflect on it, and apply it to writing in the future.
Vakil’s “Teaching Creative Writing” brought another more specific aspect into the conversation. He argued that creative writing is important in higher education while some people say that creative writing classes are most or only beneficial to high school students. The opposition believes that creative writing classes, particularly like that workshop style classes, serve only the purpose of nurturing an immature creativity found in young students. It’s like opening a door to a new way of thinking that probably doesn’t result in notable art. However, I believe that creative writing in high school is only the beginning. It only contains the first few

steps toward becoming a great writer. College-level creative writing courses are not unnecessary, but are the enrichment of a seed planted in earlier education and, if all goes well, nothing but good can come from it.
This final point in the “for-against” categories is one that is particularly interesting to me. In each of my sources, the idea that a creative writing teacher cannot teach talent was repeated and stressed a number of times. It was also elaborated that true and meaningful writing can only come from within and neither a class nor a teacher is able to bring that out of someone. I agree that no one can teach talent. I also agree that meaningful writing does come from within. My opposition to this view comes with the use of Natalie Goldberg’s book in my writing class a few years ago. My main point lies in the title: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. I believe that a teacher will never be able to create a writer within a student, but I know there are ways to trigger it. With teaching methods, be it exercises or selected readings, (all found in this book) the writer within can be inspired and freed.
Finally, I must address the category I labeled “middle.” It’s like the middle ground of the argument, but, from my own views, it is more like the bottom line. These are three solid ideas I feel strongly about and that will give a good conclusion to my contribution to this conversation. First, whether the teaching of creative writing will be successful or not depends on the teacher. He or she must be qualified and experienced to teach writing. The success of a writing class depends on the teacher’s teaching methods. They must be appropriate, useful, and interesting to inspire students. Lastly and most importantly, the success of a creative writing class depends of the student. He or she must be willing to put forth the effort to become a better writer. This is the huge difference between Zach and I. He didn’t give enough effort as the courses required and later complained that creative writing just cannot be taught, but I gave it my best and thus, reap the fruitful benefits of writing and writing well.

Answer 2

Great , I enjoy reading it. Personally, I see teaching creative writing would success if all prate implement the right extensive approach rather than intensive ones, they are too old being developed to interest the new generations being good writers or at least set-free talent. let's wish all that teaching creative writing or anything else won't be end to cloning process.

All the best Alis

Answer 3

Thanks HanOuf! Much appreciated :D

Answer 4

"The opposite is argued by means of the “for” category, that exercising really is beneficial for the future writer."
"...directly correlating with my “for-against” organization"
"This final point in the “for-against” categories is one that is particularly interesting to me."
"Finally, I must address the category I labeled 'middle.'"

These are examples of ideas that are a tad fluffy or "flowery". Basically, these sentences are excessive and not concise. There are places within the essay that needs to be more to the point.

"An article by James Gunn brought the specific aspect of creative writing workshop classes into consideration"
"Vakil’s 'Teaching Creative Writing' brought another more specific aspect into the conversation"
"This final point in the 'for-against' categories is one that is particularly interesting to me."
"Finally, I must address the category I labeled 'middle.'"

Watch these topic sentences. The topic sentence should give a summary about what the main argument is. Vague words such as "aspect," "point," and "category," are confusing because the reader does not know which aspect, point, or category is talked about.

I really love this topic about teaching creative writing. I liked how Zach is put within the essay. Creative writing is about work ethic, and you have more of a drive towards writing than Zach did.