This document summarizes key points from a presentation on creative writing in the classroom. It discusses how creativity is an important part of the curriculum. It outlines the structure of the presentation, which will address the work of Graeme Harper and some ideas for teaching creative writing. Harper's book emphasizes that creative writing uniquely employs both imagination and analysis through writing to create something new. It will use ideas from Harper and other critics to explore elements of writing and the imagination, how creativity brings new things into being, and how imagination is schematic, multi-dimensional, fluid, and connective.

1. MFSPEA3
Creative Writing in the
Classroom
Presented by
David Robinson

2. Introduction
The teaching of creative writing is part of the CAPS document.
The term creative writing is not always used. Sometimes teachers refer
to original writing, and sometimes they refer to transactional writing.
Creativity has a significant place in the modern curriculum. Indeed, the
concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution emphasises the significance
of creativity. In a world where the forms of employment are likely to
change, the issue of creativity is something that is foregrounded.
Creative writing is an element of the English curriculum that explores
and practices ideas of creativity.

3. The structure of the slides:
• The first section of the slides addresses the work of Graeme
Harper.[The first slide is from Tim Mayers, but the rest are linked to
Graeme Harper’s work]. His book on creative writing, published in
2019, is a central text, and is loaded on Blackboard.
• The second section addresses some ideas for teaching in the school
classroom.

4. From Tim Mayers (his Chapter on Process and
Writing is one of the Readings)
Creative writing offers ways of knowing and ways of being that are
active, dynamic, and participatory.
Based on this claim, creative writing has value in the English class.
Creative writing is not passive reception (it is active). It is not static
knowledge (it is dynamic, which implies changing). It is not solitary (it is
participatory – because there is a writer and readers/audience).
These are important elements of teaching and learning.

5. Some thoughts about creative writing by
Graeme Harper
Creative writing is distinctive for three combined and intersecting reasons. In summary, because it
employs in a unique way both our imaginative and our analytical capacities in and through writing,
and because it creates or, as the word ‘create’ suggests, because creative writing brings into being.
(Harper, 2019) From page 12 of the book, Critical Approaches to Creative Writing which is loaded on
Blackboard.
The ideas below are a comment on Harper.
Creativity is therefore something that brings something into being – the “thing” did not exist before.
This is an important element of the creative writing process. (Note that the comment above also
mentions writing, as opposed to music or painting – the writing element is important because it is
about using words on paper (or online) to create an idea or image in the reader’s mind)
The other important element is using our imaginative and analytical capacities. Imagination is the
use of the mind to create or speculate about something. The analytical element is important
because we critique our creations, making decisions on whether they should be changed or
modified, or if they serve their purpose.

6. Three elements from Harper (continued from
previous slide)
First, therefore, the distinctiveness of creative writing is because creative
writing involves the structured and ordered use of a shared and commonly
understood language (in the case of readers/writers reading this book most
likely the English language) and the inscribing of that language largely into
written words.
Second, therefore, what makes creative writing distinctive from other kinds
of writing is that heightened element of the original, the new and the
inventive. Other attributes commonly involved include playfulness, variation
and novelty.
Third, creative writing is distinctive because it is creative in the specific sense
of ‘to create’. Indeed that is exactly what we do – combining the two first
aspects, so that ‘creative’ in the sense of ‘creative writing’ is not merely a
generic designation.

7. Harper on “writing”
Writing includes:
The symbolic – inscribed words are of course not the objects or actions themselves
but rather they are representations of them. This means that while words have
meaning, their meaning or meanings are also dependent on symbolic reference,
the effect seen when combining these symbols, and the wider context of the
reference. For example, the expression ‘a big cat’, combines two relatively simple
words, but in one context could refer to a jungle animal and in another to a large
domestic feline! The word ‘big’ is comparative, so it suggests some kind of
comparison, made directly or one automatically made by the reader of this word,
and the word ‘cat’ is related to a species of animal but not all of them look the
same so even just the visual representation is therefore dependent on context and
also on our experience of cats. What these words represent carries with it symbolic
choices, relating to a creative writer’s desire to create an impression, depict the
voice of a piece of writing, support a prevailing viewpoint (from the point of view of
a mouse all cats are ‘big’!), and conform to or challenge or advance an impression,
a reach out to a reader or audience that is as much visceral as it is intellectual.

8. More from Harper on Writing:
Longevity – with the durability of writing providing one of its most significant contributions
to human life, longevity or the ability to sustain and exchange and contribute to intra-
generation and inter-generational understanding is notable here. Writing in this way forms
a bond, a narrative of human existence, over time.
Being transportable – writing, in many of the material formats we have delivered it, is
most often transportable.
Writing is also encoded – by virtue of its role as a representation of our ideas, thoughts,
feelings, responses and reflections – as a depiction of a generally agreed language, as a
series of ‘markings’ created according to culturally agreed referents, as an historical record
(styles of writing change over time) – inscription is encoded. Writing is encoded to carry
meaning not only on the surface of representation but beneath it as well. Writing’s
underlying codes relate to frequently unspoken shared understandings and regularly
exchanged human values. For example, while punctuation is indeed a practical tool with
the primary purpose of making a communication more comprehensible, think also of the
signal sent when a sentence is concluded and the new sentence begins with a capital letter,
a suggestion about organization, moving to a new stage of discussion, introducing
something, the juxtaposition or contrast of one thought with another.

9. Harper on Imagination
• The imagination is schematic, offering organizational input, arranging
sights, sounds, impressions, ideas, emotional contexts, conceptual
groundwork. Of course, the schema employed might be fanciful or
disjointed or combinatory or speculative, but the approach is
schematic nevertheless.
• The imagination is multi-dimensional, so that while intellect might
reason and arrange and attempt to understand by delving deeply into
one or a few avenues of thought, or indeed reasoning might construct
arguments according to logic or premises determined by their
potential deductive but certainly their inductive validity, the
imagination works across thought, throughout feeling, in layered and
networked ways.

10. More from Harper on the Imagination
• As its multi-dimensional and schematic nature indicates the imagination is also fluid.
While it is true that the imagination might repeat, overlap, create a resonance, a pattern
that while rhythmically interesting to us nevertheless appears to fix on an impression or
to be delivering a recurring theme or idea, or dwelling on a concept or sensation, the
modes of the imagination are nevertheless fluid.
• The imagination deals in factual evidence, alternative factual scenarios and in the
fantastic – sometimes independently, sometimes in combination. That is, the
imagination can deliver a factual interpretation, memories largely intact, transposition of
sights, sounds, feelings from reality. It can pose, and indeed rehearse or play out
alternative factual scenarios whereby the elements are realistic but the progression or
outcomes, connections or juxtapositions are alternative, not how things are or were but
how they might be. The imagination can also offer the fantastical, clearly unrealistic
events, scenarios, things, experiences, that operate as aspects of your psychological,
emotional modeling, that attempt to overcome limitations of your experience, or pose
material conditions from transcendental evidence, or operate to raise questions that
assist in further grounding what is real.

11. More from Harper on the imagination
• Within the reach of its offerings, whether in experiences or thoughts
or feelings the imagination is cause and effect based.
• The imagination is connective and combinatory – it connects one
thing, one event, one observation, one feeling with another, or
combines these, or connects and combines simultaneously, not
always in logical or literal ways, so that the newness, the novelty
associated with our imaginative work is the product of de-connection
and re-connection, or unique combinations, or combinatory layering.
• Active in how it operates, the imagination suggests action, it suggests
you are not passive.

12. Some additional points on Harper and the
imagination
• In his book Harper devotes a certain amount of time and pages to the idea of the
imagination. The points on the slides are selected points, not all that Harper says.
• If time permits, it is recommended that you read the First chapter of harper’s
book – it covers the issues of writing and the imagination with greater detail.
• Harper summarises his ideas about this in the following way:
The two fundamentals in creative writing – writing and the imagination – brought
together by your decision to be a creative writer, are therefore, certainly significant
in themselves. They have value because we have valued them personally and
culturally for their contributions to human life and human engagement with what is
observable to us, and what is perceivable by us, and we have done so over a
considerable amount of time.

13. Some other critics
• There are additional readings on the topic of teaching creative
writing. They address several elements, including:
• Writing as a process (rather than a product)
• Feminism and writing
These points are interesting, because they link to the idea of addressing
writing not as a product (a complete “thing”), but rather as addressing
the stages that creating a piece of writing follows.
The third bullet is of interest because it locates creative writing within a
social context.

14. Process and Writing
• This theory emphasizes the need to address the steps taken to
achieve completion of a written text.
• The idea of writing drafts is central to this concept/theory. This
involves a series of stages of writing and re-writing the same text,
with modifications made each time the text is revised. In adopting
this type of principle a “better” text is created with each version.

15. The Feminist Approach
Central to an emerging creative writing pedagogy as well is helping
students to locate their material, empowering them to write it in their
own voice(s), giving them a safe place in which to take creative risks,
providing experienced teacher/writers to mentor them, introducing
them to the tools of their craft, and guiding them through prompts,
sequenced assignments, and revision strategies to explore the wild
country of their own writing terrain.
From the reading by Pamela Annas and Joyce Peseroff.
The quote above emphasizes the value of students using their own
voices, to present their own stories. The writing process is not just
about telling a particular story – there are many.

16. The next slides
The previous slides have addressed many of the aspects of creative
writing theory. The slides that follow address more practical elements.

17. Types of Writing
Descriptive – this emphasizes the use of the senses. Note that humans tend
to consider how things look, because we use our vision as a significant
source of information. However, we also have other senses, and these can be
effectively used in the writing of descriptive passages.
Rather than saying only how something looks, we can write about how it
sounds, or smells, or tastes. We also have the sense of touch.
Another sense is that of movement – if we are on a boat the movement of
the boat on the waves is something we can detect – we feel the boat rocking.
Narrative – this type of writing is about telling a story. The writing includes
the idea of plot – the sequence of events, and the issue of conflict. This can
be very creative. It is also a process that can foreground the lived
experiences of the writers.

18. Types of Writing (continued)
• Persuasive – this type of writing attempts to convince the reader of
the value of a position. It uses argument to convince the reader.
• Expository – this type of writing presents a statement about a topic.
It presents information about a topic, without trying to convince a
reader (as the persuasive type does).

19. First Lines
• These are important – they make the initial contact with the reader;
they establish what the topic is to address; they establish the style.
• Students in a class can be given the opportunity to write their first
lines. This exercise is one in which first lines are looked at as a
separate matter – the rest of the piece is not part of the focus. First
lines are practiced in class, without worrying about the rest of the
piece of writing.
• To decide if a first line is an effective one, ask one question: Do I want
to read further?

20. Conclusions
• Important because they are the final impact/impression.
• If a conclusion is not effective, the impact of the piece is (or might be)
compromised.
• A conclusion is not effective if the reader is left with a question, like:
What was that all about?

21. Coherence
• The essay/writing should have an internal logic that ensures that it
makes sense. The sentences and paragraphs must be organized
effectively for this to happen.
• The paragraphs should link and develop from each other.

22. Diction
• What words will you choose to make your point?
Will you say: She climbed the stairs, OR She ascended the stairs. Note that the
meaning is the same, but the second sentence sounds more sophisticated.
• Will you display a level of sophistication in your writing? Will you allude to other pieces
of writing in your work? For example: There is a novel called Grendel, by John Gardner,
who refers to the story Beowulf, but re-written from the monster’s point of view, rather
than that of the hreo.
• Another text that references an existing text is James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, which makes
reference to Homer’s Odyssey.
• Another text is Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, which makes reference to the novel Jane
Eyre.
• This type of allusion is significant because it shows the reader that you have read these
other novels.

23. Innovation
• How will your work be different from that of others? Note that if a
teacher is marking lots of pieces that are the same or similar, the
“sameness” can be burdensome. A different text can be seen as very
exciting – the point of difference can be seen as something of value.
• Be aware that breaking with convention can be problematic – not all
teachers like this. Some teachers do not like writing that challenges
existing principles.

24. Topics
• Quotes – from music, speeches, great thinkers. Examples are:
You can’t always get what you want (song title from the Rolling Stones)
I have a dream – a quote from the famous speech by Martin Luther
King Jr.
The Unexamined Life is not worth living – from the Greek Philosopher
Socrates.
• Images – there are many photos or other images that can be the
spark for thought that becomes writing.