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Creative Writing Module Compilation
Creative Writing Module Compilation
Creative Writing
-Also known as “the art of making things up,’ creative writing is a vital art of modern society.
Traditionally referred to as literature, creative writing is an art of sorts -the art of making things
up. It’s writing done in a way that is not academic or technical but still attracts an audience. It
can for the most part be considered any writing that is original and self-expressive.
TECHNICAL WRITING
Factual
Informative, instructional or persuasive
Clear, precise and straightforward
Objective
Specialized vocabulary
CREATIVE WRITING
Fictional and imaginative
Entertaining, provocative and captivating
Artistic, figurative, symbolic or even vague
Subjective
Generalized vocabulary
Creative writing is written to entertain and educate. We enjoy reading novels and stories,
not because they are necessary to read or helpful for us, just because we get a certain
pleasure from reading them, the pleasure which can’t be got from reading technical writing.
In creative writing the most of the part is self-created, although the idea might be inspired
but in technical writing the facts are to be obliged and the note is delivered from leading on
what previously other greats have concluded.
Most commonly, the creative writing is for general audience or for masses but technical
writing is for specific audience.
The creative writing entertains people as it has poetry or some illustrations or another idea,
whereas the technical writing causes boredom as it follows the strong pattern based on
facts and is just to transfer the information to the audience
In technical writing the specialized vocabulary, such like scientific terms and other are used
while in creative writing, one can go with slang or evocative phrases or even something
which can be perceived well by the audience.
Humor, satire might be the useful essences in creative writing but such thoughts or ideas
have no link with the technical writing
Creative writing is different to academic writing. Writing for websites is different to writing
for newspaper columns.
Journal entries are different to writing press releases on behalf of a brand. Writing purposes
do vary. It’s important that when undertaking any writing you have a firm grasp on this
concept
The Principal Difference
The other kind of writing –creative writing –is inspired, artistic and entertains with word
pictures, concepts and deep meaning. It is enjoyable to read. It touches us while teaching
us. It’s an art form. It’s not necessary to learn, but a joy to those who do.
Academic writing will earn you A’s, creative writing may get you published. Academic
writing must be taught, but rarely is; creative writing is optional, but is almost always the
focus of writing curricula.
Overall, creative writing allows for more personal expression whereas academic/scholarly
writing aims to explore an idea, argument, or concept.
Academic writing requires more factual evidence for support, and presents challenges such
as the pressure of time.
flash of lights in the night sky a heavenly hue to the layers of ice and
snow accumulating on rooftops and tree
deep blue of the ocean
limbs.
the roads had begun to glisten underneath
her shadow shaky behind a slight flame
headlights
stemming from a candle she carried
the sun was setting behind low, gray-blue
sparks lit up the dusk of day
storm clouds
a blinking red light from the truck’s turn-
signal illuminated our darkened home
Sound
The walls shook and vibrated like the tail of The cracking of wood splitting punctuated
a rattle snake each burst of fire like an exclamation point.
Ice crackled and pinged against the family the sounds of emergency sirens awakened
room window the still roads
Wind swirled around our beach house the howling of wind and branches creaking
whistling loudly to a terrible tune under the weight of ice
The television buzzed as it shut off, and the
furnace sighed one last time before the
house fell silent.
Smell
sweet aroma of baking corn bread salty beach air
cinnamon-scented candle - pungent odor of rotting leaves and crispness of air
smoke.
Touch
We sat still, huddled underneath the quilt The power lines, heavy from the thickness
of ice had snapped
Car tires gripped the ice with fearful
intensity soft tufts of fur
stick my toes in the warm and grainy sand
Taste
ice-cold strawberries salty chips
tall, frosted glass of sweet yet bitter juicy tartness of orange
lemonade
rancid butter
Imagery
What is Imagery?
– Imagery is language used by poets, novelists and other writers to create images in the mind of
the reader.
– Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical language to improve the reader’s experience
through their senses.
Examples of Imagery
1. Visual Imagery
Visual imagery describes what we see: comic book images, paintings, or images directly
experienced through the narrator’s eyes. Visual imagery may include:
Color, such as: burnt red, bright orange, dull yellow, verdant green, and Robin’s egg
blue.
Shapes, such as: square, circular, tubular, rectangular, and conical.
Size, such as: miniscule, tiny, small, medium-sized, large, and gigantic
Pattern, such as: polka-dotted, striped, zig-zagged, jagged, and straight.
2.Auditory Imagery
– Auditory imagery describes what we hear, from music to noise to pure silence. Auditory
imagery may include:
Enjoyable sounds, such as: beautiful music, birdsong, and the voices of a chorus
Noises, such as: the bang of a gun, the sound of a broom moving across the floor, and
the sound of broken glass shattering on the hard floor.
3. Olfactory Imagery
Olfactory imagery describes what we smell. Olfactory imagery may include:
Fragrances, such as perfumes, enticing food and drink, and blooming flowers.
Odors, such as rotting trash, body odors, or a stinky wet dog.
4. Gustatory Imagery
Gustatory imagery describes what we taste. Gustatory imagery can include:
Sweetness, such as candies, cookies, and desserts.
Sourness, bitterness, and tartness, such as lemons and limes
5. Tactile Imagery
Tactile imagery describes what we feel or touch. Tactile imagery includes:
Temperature, such as bitter cold, humidity, mildness, and stifling heat.
Texture, such as rough, ragged, seamless, and smooth.
Touch, such as hand-holding, one’s in the grass, or the feeling of starched fabric on
one’s skin.
Movement, such as burning muscles from exertion, swimming in cold water, or kicking a
soccer ball.
The Importance of Using Imagery
a) Because we experience life through our senses, a strong composition should appeal to them
through the use of imagery.
b) Descriptive imagery launches the reader into the experience of a warm spring day, scorching
hot summer, crisp fall, or harsh winter.
c) It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters and narrators as they imagine having
the same sense experiences.
d) Imagery commonly helps build compelling poetry, convincing narratives, vivid plays,
welldesigned film sets, and descriptive songs.
Imagery in Literature
Example #1: Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)
Imagery of light and darkness is repeated many times in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Consider an example from Act I, Scene V: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It
seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear …”
Romeo praises Juliet by saying that she appears more radiant than the brightly lit torches in the
hall. He says that at night her face glows like a bright jewel shining against the dark skin of an
African. Through the contrasting images of light and dark, Romeo portrays Juliet’s beauty.
Figures of speech
- are words or phrases that depart from
straightforward literal language. Figures
of speech are often used and crafted for
emphasis, freshness, expression, or
clarity.
Simile
A simile is the comparison of two unlike
things using like or as.
Examples:
Metaphor
A metaphor is the comparison of two unlike things or
expressions, sometimes using the verb “to be,” and not
using like or as (as in a simile).
Examples:
Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced
phrases. Antithesis, which literally means “opposite,” is a
rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together
in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.
Examples:
Many are called, but few are chosen.
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing
It’s better to be late then never; never be late.
Assonance
Identity and similarity in sound between internal vowels
in neighboring words. Assonance takes place when two
or more words, close to one another repeat the same
vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds.
Examples:
The crumbling thunder of seas.
Go and mow the lawn.
the engineer held the steering to steer the vehicle.
Onomatopoeia
An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the
sound it represents.
Examples:
Grief
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless;
That only mn incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God’s throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness,
In souls as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy dead in silence like to death—
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet:
If it could weep, it could arise and go.
.
How do I Love the Three? (Sonnet 43)
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
LOCAL
Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa by Andres Bonifacio was hailed as the
best of these poems. Bonifacio was the founder of Katipunan and
the leader of the revolution of 1896 against Spanish colonialism.
PAG-IBIG SA TINUBUANG LUPA
by Andres Bonifacio
(Excerpt from Hernandez’s Kung Tuyo na Ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan)
Another classic poem written in 1896, Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose Rizal, was an inevitable
choice. The original poem has been translated to Filipino and foreign languages by various
poets.
Jose Corazon de Jesus’s Ang Bayan Ko is a popular song in almost every struggle, from the anti-
U.S. protests of the 1920s apopular for his traditional forms of poetry. ‘30s, to the resistance
movement against the Japanese invasion in the ‘40s, the First Quarter Storm of the ‘70s and the
1986 People Power. De Jesus, also known as Huseng Batute, is
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas Lupain ng ginto't bulaklak Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad Nag-alay ng
ganda't dilag. At sa kanyang yumi at ganda Dayuhan ay nahalina Bayan ko, binihag ka Nasadlak
sa dusa.
Ibon mang may layang lumipad Kulungin mo at umiiyak Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag Ang di
magnasang makaalpas! Pilipinas kong minumutya Pugad ng luha ko't dalita Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!
Diction
•It refers to the choice of words and style of
expression that an author makes and uses in a
work of literature.
•It can have a great effect on the tone of a
piece of literature, and how readers perceive
the characters.
FOR EXAMPLE
Consider the difference...
“I am much obliged to you, sir”
VS
“Thanks a bunch, buddy!”
The former expression of gratitude sounds much more formal than the latter,
and both would sound out of place if used in the wrong situation.
COMMON EXAMPLES OF DICTION
REDUNDANCY
•Redundancy means superfluity or using words
unnecessarily or using words for a second time.
Redundancy in English usually happens when an
adjective is added to a verb or noun that means the
same thing.
Example-1:
In this sentence, the words cooperate and together have been used. But both
these words convey the same meaning.
One of the two words should be dropped in order to make the sentence a correct one.
Example-2:
Example-3:
The two words which convey the same meaning are consensus and opinion. One word
should be removed to make this sentence correct one.
Here also two phrases in common and with each other have been used to convey the
same meaning.
Enclosing and herewith are the two words which convey the same meaning.
I am enclosing my bio-data.
Example-6:
The two words (rose and up) convey the same meaning.
ELEMENTS OF GENRE
GENRE
A genre refers to the type or category of story
you are writing. There are many different genres
– action, fantasy, science fiction, drama,
romance, to name but a few. Some genres
have become more complex in response to
readers becoming more discerning about the
types of books they like and want to read.
Genre
Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language defines
genre as “a category of artistic, musical,
or literary composition characterized by a
particular style, form, or content.”
(Haiku)
Haiku's are composed of 3 lines, each a phrase. The first
line typically has 5 syllables, second line has 7 and the
3rd and last line repeats another 5.
Example:
(Tanaga)
The Tanaga consists of four lines with seven
syllables each with the same rhyme at the end
of each line --- that is to say a 7-7-7-
7 Syllabic verse, with an AAAA rhyme
scheme
Translation:
Way beyond the stars
My heart’s reduced to ashes
dead in silence.
MAIN CATEGORIES OF GENRE
1. Non-fiction: real, factual, deals with actual people, places, and
events
2. Fiction: unreal, not true, not factual, a made up story
3. Poetry: literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative
awareness of experience or a specific emotional response
through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound,
and rhythm
SUB-CATEGORIES OF GENRE
1. Biography
Story of a real person’s life
Form of nonfiction (true)
Bios means life
Graphe means to write
2. Realistic Fiction
Form of fiction (not true)
Accurately reflects life as it could be lived today
Everything in the story could happen to real people
living in our natural physical world
The characters have normal human characteristics
Story may be set in real places, but the story is NOT
based on history
3. Autobiography
Form of nonfiction (true)
Story of a real person’s life
Auto means self
Bios means life
Graphe means to write
Written by the person the story is about
Author does not need to do research
Author shares how he/she feels and what he/she
thinks
4. Historical Fiction
Form of fiction (not true)
Based on historical events
Authentic settings
Characters portrayed in realistic manner
Some characters may be actual people from
history, but the story is fictional
Artistic mix of fiction and historical fact
5. Science Fiction
Form of fiction (not true)
Contains some sort of scientific element, such as
Outer space
Medicine
Technology
Within the realm of possibility
Characters have some believable traits/qualities
7. High Fantasy
Form of fiction (not real)
Good vs. evil (supernatural/evil forces)
Story written in a series of books/ volumes
Coming- of- age themes
Include fantastical elements, such as:
Elves and dwarves
Magic
Wizards
Invented languages
quests
8. Mystery
Form of fiction (not true)
Story revolves around a puzzle/problem
Characters deal with the solution to a
puzzle/problem, such as
finding a missing item/person
unraveling a secret
rationalize an event that is not explained
Contains clues/hints that help the characters
and readers solve the puzzle/problem
9. Folktales
Form of fiction (not true)
Story that teaches a lesson
Contain the beliefs and customs of a region or
country
Original story is modified to make it more
interesting or more humorous
Present larger-than-life characters and very
unusual happenings
Fables
Form of fiction (not true)
Type of folktale
10. Legend
Form of fiction (not true)
Stories written about a real life hero and his/her
mighty deeds
Mix of fiction and historical facts that have been
creatively altered to encourage moral conduct
and right choices
Leaves questions/wonder in the reader’s minds
(Did Mike Fink really wrestle a grizzly bear?)
11. Myths
Form of fiction (not true)
Pertains to the actions of the gods and/or
goddesses
Characters are super-natural beings with
human emotions and qualities
Plot may involve interplay between worlds
(this world and previous/original world)
12. Classics
Form of fiction (not true)
Timelessness: enjoyed by readers from generation to
generation
Deals with universal themes and experiences that relate
to readers, such as:
love conquers all
good vs. evil
rags to riches
Communicates ideas across cultures
Unforgettable characters
POETRY