Creative Writing

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INTRODUCTION

WHY CREATIVE WRITING? OR HOW TO EXPLAIN TO OTHERS WHAT IT IS YOU’RE DOING IN THIS CLASS

Creative writing—like relationships, sports, music, or dance—makes life more meaningful and interesting. Recent neuroscience provides proof for what you may have suspected all along: The pursuit of creative writing measurably increases a person’s ability to observe, intuit, empathize, impose structure on chaos, read closely, and understand nuance. These skills will serve you well not just in your writing life but also in college and in every job you will ever have.

Creative writing was interdisciplinary long before “interdisciplinary” became a buzzword. In composing our writing, we writers combine elements of architecture, psychology, philosophy, language, and scientific observation. In our careful attention to detail, creative writers and scientists share a similar and complementary approach to the world: We increase our skill in our field by dipping into these complementary inquiries. In designing and sustaining a creative writing life, writers have a lot in common with athletes and musicians, who know how to spend large blocks of time focused on one activity. And on top of all that, creative writing helps us become more thoughtful, discerning, and articulate.

WHAT CREATIVE WRITERS DO As creative writers, we practice a process, a way of working with our intellect and our feelings to make art objects that people learn from and enjoy. It’s a mixture of individual hard work (focused time we spend at our desks, composing and shaping) and group work (listening to other writers and reading their work).

Creative writing is like photography. Photographers care about shape, emotion, pattern, human experience—all that meets the eye. It’s not a hobby; it’s a commitment to understanding all that is inside and outside oneself. Lots of people take selfies—selfies are wonderful for documenting the

1280895 - Macmillan US ©