2 CREATIVE WRITING STUDY GUIDE #1 START WRITING! The purpose of this course is to provide the student some basics about writing. The student will need: -Paper, pencils, pens, or a computer with a word processing program. -A workbook (large folder or 3-hole punch notebook) to hold his work. -This complete course, and the test at the end. The student is to do each step thoroughly, and in sequence. The student should complete a lesson per day. The course should take about 25-40 hours of study. There are 24 lessons, made up of 58 exercises and instructions. There is a test at the end of the course, which will cover the terms defined during the course, and the key ideas. Each step in the study guide is numbered for easy use by the teacher and student. IN THIS DOCUMENT, AFTER THE COURSE, YOU'LL FIND THE TEACHER'S GUIDE, TEST, AND TEST ANSWER GUIDE FOR CREATIVE WRITING I.
3 PART I - WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING? LESSON #1: DEAR STUDENT, We re going to begin with very simple, easy ideas. But don t worry, you ll be learning about writing every lesson, and the work will become more interesting and harder as you understand more and more. As you write, KEEP EVERYTHING YOU WRITE in a notebook, and make sure you write the number of the exercise at the top of each piece you write! Keep them in order. Here is your first lesson. 1. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Symbol - When you read or hear the word cat, what do you think of? Do you think of the letters in that word, C-A-T? Do you think of the sound of the word? Or does the word cat remind you of the actual thing, an animal with a tail and whiskers? And yet, the word CAT is only three letters, sounds which have been put together. The WORD cat is not a cat, though it reminds us of one. It s just a bunch of letters, a sound. Why does it remind us all of a cat? Because we all agree that this word CAT will represent or remind us of that animal. Now use the word CAT in two sentences. These When you read or hear the word freezing, what do you think of? The letters in the word? The sound? Or what a really cold day feels and looks like? Again, the word freezing is just a bunch of letters or sounds. Why do we hear or see that word, and think of cold winds, snow, ice? We think of these things when we see or hear freezing because we ve all agreed that s what this word will mean. Now use the word FREEZING in two sentences. These
4 The word cat, the word freezing, like every word, is a SYMBOL. A symbol is anything which stands for something else. A symbol is NOT the thing itself, but any object or sound or word that makes you think of, or remember something else. A symbol is ALSO AN AGREEMENT that a certain thing will represent something else, usually a big idea, something bigger than the symbol itself. ) WHO makes this agreement? Everyone who speaks your language! EXAMPLES OF SYMBOLS: 1. The American flag is a symbol of America. You think of the United States of America when you see our flag. The flag is not America itself. It is a small piece of cloth. But we AGREE that it represents America, and all the ideas that make America a great nation. The word flag is a symbol for the actual thing, a flag. The word flag is not a flag, itself. The word is just a word, a collection of letters and sounds. But you think of a flag when you see or hear the word flag, because we all AGREE that is what the word represents. Now use the word FLAG in two sentences. These 2. A pen used by a great writer could be a symbol for the writer himself. You would think about the writer when you saw the pen the author touched, and wrote with. For instance, a pen that was used by William Shakespeare, the man who wrote many great plays such as Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. If I handed you a pen and said Mr. Shakespeare used it, you would think of his creations, and of him. The pen is not Shakespeare himself, it s only a pen, and in fact, he used a bird s feather dipped in ink, called a quill pen. That quill pen would make us think of Shakespeare. We would AGREE that this pen makes us think of Shakespeare and all his works. Now use the word PEN in two sentences. These
5 3. A stop sign is a symbol, understood by all drivers to mean stop your car. A stop sign isn t actually a wall that your car runs into, which stops your car whether you want to stop or not. It s a symbol. It represents the idea that you should stop your car, here and now. Because we ALL AGREE that this is what a stop sign means, we all stop at stop signs. Now use the words STOP SIGN in two sentences. These 4. The word sandwich is a symbol for the object, sandwich, and the thing you can actually eat. When you hear the word sandwich, you understand what a sandwich is. But you can t eat the word. You can only eat the object the word represents, a real sandwich, made of bread and other stuff. We AGREE that this is what the word sandwich means. Because we agree on this symbol, when you tell someone you want a sandwich, they know exactly what you re talking about. Now use the word SANDWICH in two sentences. These 2. EXERCISE: Draw five of your own examples of symbols. First write a word down. Then, an equal sign next to the word. Then, DRAW THE OBJECT OR IDEA THE WORD STANDS FOR. The word is, each time, the SYMBOL of the object or idea. 3. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Word - Either a spoken or written symbol, made up of agreed-upon sounds and letters. Now use the word WORD in five sentences. These
6 4. EXERCISE: To a parent, teacher or another student, the student offers five spoken words. (Spoken means out loud.) The student then writes down each of the five words, and again, draws an equal sign, and a picture of what each word is a SYMBOL for. LESSON #2: 5. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Idea - Any thought. Any creation you create in your mind. Any creative desire. (We re not talking about good or bad ideas! Just ANY idea. ANY thought of any kind.) Now use the word IDEA in five sentences. These 6. EXERCISE: Share five ideas with someone else. They can include ANY THOUGHT that you get, no matter how unimportant. Make sure the other person reads the definition of idea in this course before sharing your ideas with them. They should not care whether your ideas are good or bad. That has nothing to do with this exercise. 7. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Purpose - The desire to do something. 8. EXERCISE: Make up five purposes, five things you could do. They should be simple, like I want to stand up or I want to walk across the room. Do these five things. 9. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Communicate - To send an idea to another, and have them understand it.
7 10. EXERCISE: Work with someone else. Communicate five things to the other person. You ve succeeded when the other person understands five of your communications. These communications can be words, actions, emotions, whatever the other person can see or hear and understand. LESSON #3: 11. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Paper - Material one can write on, usually made from the wood of trees, in sheets. (Find three sheets of paper a person could write on.) 12. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Writing - The placing of words on paper, with the purpose to communicate. (It can also mean The typing of words with the purpose to communicate.) 13. EXERCISE: Write five sentences on paper. These can be as short or as long as you wish, and are made of words. (No drawings.) Show these five sentences to someone else who can read. Have them read them. Did they understand them? If not, rewrite the sentences until they can be understood. Did you find out that you CAN WRITE, AND BE UNDERSTOOD? If the answer is No, or I m not sure, then do #13 again, until you know that you CAN WRITE AND BE UNDERSTOOD. 14. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Generation - The making of, or the creating of something. 15. EXERCISE: Generate a sound. (Make or create a sound.) Generate another sound. Generate a word written on paper.
8 16. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: LESSON #4: Creative Writing - The generation of ideas right now, and the expressing of these ideas as words on paper, with the purpose to communicate. Short examples of creative writing: 1) The rabbit escaped from the chasing dog by running into its rabbit hole. (This is a made- up story about a rabbit, a dog, and a chase.) 2) The astronaut discovered that the moon was really made of Swiss cheese. 3) A car was given a mind of its own, and drove itself from one end of town to the other. 4) Johnny gave his mother a dozen roses for Mother s day. 5) The girl sat in her chair, dreaming that class was over, and it was summer." 17. EXERCISE: A) Write on paper three stories, each an example of creative writing. These can be as short or long as you wish. They can be one sentence long, or twenty sentences. But each piece should have an idea you wish to communicate. B) These are each shown to someone else who can read. Let the other person read what has been written, and ask after each story is read, Did you understand the story? If the answer is yes, then a communication happened. C) If the answer is no, ask What do you think happened in the story? If the answer is close to right, than a communication happened.
9 D) If the person truly did not understand what they read, show the story to another person, and have the new person read it. Let the new person read what has been written, and ask after each story is read, Did you understand the story? If the answer is yes, then a communication happened. E) If the answer is no, ask What do you think happened in the story? Listen to the new readers answer. If the new reader is pretty close to right, than a communication happened. If the second person also truly did not understand what they read, write a new, simpler story. Show it to someone to read. Steps A-D are REPEATED UNTIL THREE STORIES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AND EACH ONE UNDERSTOOD BY A READER. (This could be three different readers, or all the same person.) LESSON # 5: 18. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORDS: Non Not. Established - Already exists. 19. EXERCISE: Look around the room and find five objects which are established, which already exist. 20. EXERCISE: Name three subjects that are established. You can use subjects studied in school. 21. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Author - A writer. A person who writes something. 22. EXERCISE: The student looks around the room (or school) for three books, and locates in each case the author s name(s).
10 23. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORD: Authoring - The act of writing. 24. EXERCISE: The student authors a sentence about anything. They student signs his name on after the sentence, and after his name, writes author, as follows: LESSON #6: EXAMPLE: Written sentence. STUDENTS NAME, Author The rabbit escaped from the chasing dog by running into its rabbit hole. Steven Horwich, Author 25. FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WORDS: Non-Creative Writing - The authoring of words and ideas dealing with established subjects, such as science or history, where the writer is not creating new ideas, but writing about established ideas.