Talk given to Kalahandi University Bhawanipatna Orissa Department of English

1. Current Trends in
Creative Writing and
Publishing: Discover
the Writer within you.
Keynote Address
By Dr Koshy AV
Assistant Professor, English Department
University of Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
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2. Talk given for PG Department of
English
+ Kalahandi University
+ Bhawanipatna
+ Orissa
+ 11.30 to 11.55 am
+ 21.05.2021
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3. The value of creativity
+ “Creativity, according to Maya Angelou, is a bottomless pit: "The more you
use it, the more you have," said the novelist. "Creativity is intelligence
having fun," is a phrase often attributed to Einstein. While advertising
supremo David Ogilvy came at it from a business perspective: "If it doesn't
sell, it isn't creative". We know creativity is alive in all fields of life, from
medicine to business and agriculture. But the word – which derives from the
Latin creare, to make – is most often associated with the arts and culture,
and is believed to have first appeared in the 14th-Century literary work, The
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.” – BB Culture.
(https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210105-why-being-creative-is-good-
for-you) The whole article is worth reading.
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4. Unblocking creativity
+ "Many blocked people are very powerful and creative personalities
who have been made to feel guilty about their own strengths and
gifts," Julia Cameron says. Her "bedrock of creative recovery"
prescription is to write "morning pages" – three pages of stream-of-
consciousness longhand writing accomplished on rising, "when our
rational, self-editing mind gets out of the way of intuitive inclination".
The pages "develop our creativity and encourage belief in our
potential," she says. "They are non-negotiable." "The artist date" is
her second tool; a weekly experience to thrill, that "woos your inner
artist", such as a visit to the zoo or buying crayons.
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5. Creative writing in today’s world
+ In today’s world creative writing has gone online.
+ Earlier it was in real time, often in classrooms etc., or
blended learning modules but now it is almost entirely
through the digital medium.
+ This has advantages and disadvantages.
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6. Expert courses
+ Masterclass (Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman
etc. teach.)
+ Udemy
+ Harvard X
+ Coursera.
+ These are paid courses and have the plus point of being
branded but the minus point is the lack of attention from those
teaching it as in the two Harvard X courses that I did.
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7. Poetry Courses (free ones)
+ Free Online Poetry Classes/Workshops
• Poetry: How to Write Poems by The Crafty Writer's Creative Writing Course
• ModPo offers an online class
• Coursera offers several MOOC (massive open online courses) on poetry
• Skillshare has a few video courses as well, including this amazing one by Hanif Abdurraqib
• Yale provides a couple of open courses, including one on Modern Poetry and one on Milton. You just download all the course materials.
• Open Learn has several poetry courses
• MIT provides several through their MIT Open Courseware program
• How to Make a Poem is a recurring course on Future Learn
• mslexia provides three Poetry writing workshops you can work through at your leisure
• Albany Poetry Workshop's online classroom provides a five-session and seven-session workshop, as well as guest teacher's writing exercises.
• (https://trishhopkinson.com/2019/11/12/9-free-online-poetry-classes-
workshops/?fbclid=IwAR1OF_YquZj3V8b2CYBsgUgBKY2L041wb5_LOP3TesmrGSRV0nGXQAMq7dA)
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8. New forms of Poetry learned
through creative writing
+ Minison, anti-sonnet, roseate sonnet (created by me),
caudate sonnet, pantoum, blackout or erasure, free haiku,
haiga, haibun, reverse poem, found poem, menu poem
etc.
+ TSL’s Napowrimo is an example where many such forms
were tried out.
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9. Gains
+ Mental health
+ Happiness
+ Creativity
+ Wellness
+ Publication, sometimes
+ Satisfaction
+ Awards, sometimes
+ Money, sometimes
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10. Trends in publishing for books
+ Traditional
+ Paid publishing
+ E book formats
+ Chap books
+ Kindle publishing
+ Illustrated ( dual media)
+ Pop up books
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11. Trends in publishing continued.
+ Multimedia or mixed media
+ Linkedin
+ Instagram (poets)
+ Facebook
+ Youtube
+ Blogs
+ Emagazines
+ Print magazines
+ Websites
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12. Bibliography
+ Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way. A Spiritual Path to Higher
Creativity
+ The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention
+ Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.
+ Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity?
+ Dorte Nielsen, The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker: How
to Make Connections Others
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13. Thank you.
+ Sister Corita Kent, Learning by Heart: teachings to free the
creative spirit published 1992.
+ Look also at ideas of creativity problem solving and the
flow.
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