Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Region V (Bicol)
Libon Community College
Libon, Albay

Topics:
1. What is Writing
2. Forms of Writing
3. Defining Creative Writing
4. Some Quotes about Creative Writing
5. Creative Writing vs. Technical Writing
6. Creative Writing vs. Journalism
7. Creative Writing vs. Academic Writing
8. Creative Writing Vs. Academic Writing
9. Creative Writing Vs. Scientific Writing
10.  Types of Creative Writing
11. The Use of the Language in Writing
12. Figures of Speech
13. Parallelism and Repetition
14. Style
15. Diction
16. Denotation and Connotation
17. Conciseness
18. Voice
19. Why We Write: Four Reason
20. John Steinbeck’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December
10, 1962
21. Hemingway’s Advice on Writing, Ambition, the Art of Revision, and His Reading List
of Essential Books for Aspiring Writers by: Maria Popova
22. 28 Bits of Advice I Give to Young Writers by: Jose Y. Dalisay Jr.

Discussants:
Saysay, Leslie Ann R.
Regaya, Regine
Tigaon, Rica T.
Vejerano, Jessa
Soliman, Jane Ashley
Course: BSEd III- English
Subject: Creative Writing
Instructor: Richard Bermundo

What is Writing?
 Involves putting words on paper via a computer, pen, pencil or crayon.
 A systematic of graphic symbols that can be used to convey meaning
 Act of composing text
Additional Information
  The message of writing is its content
 People write for a variety of reasons.
o To solve problems
o To communicate with others
o To look inward or to fulfill important personal needs as well.

Forms of Writing
Traditionally, the forms of writing are divided into narration, description, exposition, and
persuasion.
Narration
- Writing that tells a story
- Narration that tells about real events includes biographies and autobiographies.
- Narration that deals with fictional events include short stories, myths, narrative poems,
and novels.
Description
- kind of writing that create a word picture of what something or someone is like
- is made up of sensory details that help readers form pictures in their minds.
- It also uses images, words that appeal to one or more of our five senses (sight, hearing,
taste, smell and touch)
- It can be found in all sorts of writing but it is most common in poetry
Exposition
- This type of writing explains, show, tells about a subject
- It is the most common type of everyday writing
- It includes news articles, memos, business reports, and notes to the butcher, baker, and
candlestick maker.
Persuasion
- A type of writing that tries to move an audience to though or action
Examples:
Newspapers editorials, advertisements, and letters to the editor.
Defining Creative Writing
Creative Writing
- A kind of writing that uses language in imaginative and bold ways. It is an imaginative
writing where the purpose is to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to
simplify convey information.
- Is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non- fiction that goes outside the
bounds of normal, professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature.
Examples:
Novels, epics, short stories, and poems. Writing for the screen page, screenwriting, and
play writing respectively, typically have their own programs of study, but fit under the
creative writing category as well
- Writing that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique,
a poetic way.
Some Quotes About Creative Writing

1. “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”
(Anais Nin)
 2. “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”, William Wordsworth
3. “I am not a very good writer, but I am an excellent rewriter.”, Jen Michener
4. “All the words I used in my stories can be found in the dictionary, it’s just a matter of
arranging them into the right sentence.”, W. Somerset Maghaum
5. “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my
friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.”, Ray Bradurry
6. “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on a broken glass.”, Anton
Chekhov
7. “You don’t write because you want to say something. You write because you have
something to say”, F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. “There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money either.”, Robert Graves
9. “Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see all
around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but
mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.”, Don DeLillo
10. “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn
over half a library to make one book”, Samuel Johnson
11. “Writers live twice.”, Natalie Goldberg
12. “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is…the lightning bug
and the lightning.”, Mark Twain
13. “Writing is its own reward”, Henry Miller

Creative Writing vs. Technical Writing

Creative writing- is a type of writing in which imagination, creativity, and innovation are used
to tell a story through strong written visuals with an emotional impact, such as in poetry writing,
short story writing, novel writing, and more.
-to arouse a certain feeling in a reader.
Technical writing- a mode of communication used by professionals to convey information
about specialized subjects. A technical writer may create content to provide instructions or to
explain technical concepts pertaining to environmental regulations, computer applications, or
medical procedures.
-to educate the audience with factual information and is presented in a logical
manner.
The distinction between creative and technical writing is that creative writing is
written primarily to entertain the mind's creativity, whereas technical writing is written
primarily to inform in a formal manner or to compel the reader to take action, such as
purchasing the writer's product.
Creative Writing vs. Journalism
Creative writing drives the writer to dig deeper into his imagination to bring out the
story he desires to write about. In creative writing, the writer uses words to paint pictures and
create worlds, situations, and characters that are fictitious but related to life.
Whereas Journalism relies heavily on facts, truths, current events, and knowledge. In
this, the writer must gather credible sources to write informational news about the current issue.
The issue should contain reliable information. It should be informative, truthful, and unbiased.
Creative Writing vs. Academic Writing
Creative Writing- there are far fewer rules since it is personal and creative! In this kind
of writing, one can tell a story, summarize their experiences, or express their opinions, ideas, or
emotions. Their writing can be entirely fictional, requiring minimal factual evidence or support.
This is simply because it is writing for the purpose of only the writer’s intentions. It doesn’t
need to satisfy requirements or match the grading of a rubric.
-undisciplined, personal, and inspirational driven.
Academic Writing- on the other hand is a little more standardized. One's writing must
be much more organized and formatted, and the evidence used as support for their assertions
must come from concrete sources. The sources should be properly cited both in text and in a
works cited page. In academic writing, the writer needs to prove to the reader that what is being
said is factual and correct. Ideas need to be explained, and any inferences or deductions based on
textual evidence or data must include support. Contrary to creative writing, one cannot simply
ponder about an idea and ask questions. In academic writing, questions must be answered.
- strictly organized, and analytical
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.
They each have their own purpose.

Creative Writing Vs. Academic Writing

The two disciplines of academic and creative writing are traditionally divorced creative writing is
seen as undisciplined, personal, and inspiration-driven, while academic writing is stricly
organized and analytical.

· 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.

· academic writing—is rigid and procedural. It’s purposed purely to convey knowledge, data,
and information. It’s orderly, organized, and follows a formula. It’s necessary. It can be
dull. Anyone can master it.

· creative writing—is inspired and artistic. It entertains with word pictures, concepts, and
deep meaning. It’s enjoyable to read and touches us while teaching us. It’s an art form. 

Creative Writing Vs. Scientific Writing

CHARACTERISTIC  CREATIVE WRITING  SCIENTIFIC WRITING

Purpose Expression, exposition Communication

Generality Typically more general rather Highly specific, concrete,

than highly specific and detailed, rather than general
detailed and abstract, except for
theory

Writers vs. Subejct  Personal, subjective or Impersonal, objective, object-

objective oriented

Audience Public or non- specialized Scientific peers

readers

Form vs. Content Shaped by aesthetic- Constrained by scientific

objectives content and purpose

Reader interest Designed to interest  Inherent in content; readers

self-selected

Accuracy and Clarity Not central requirements Central requirements

Passive Voice Prescribed because weak, not Used to focus on object of

direct discourse

Source of material Writer's knowledge and Discrete body of data and

experience concepts

 Graphics  Exceptional, embellishing Required for empirical

demonstration

Format Integrated; headings not Headings important,

 common numerous

 Types of Creative Writing

1. Journal- it is often confused for diaries. Technically, a diary is a type a journal, but journal is
any written log (e.g.  gratitude journal, memory journal, dream journal, goals journal)

-More than just a therapeutic exercise or a way to record the day's events, journals can also be a
type of creative writing. This is especially true if you infuse your entries with your emotions and
personal experiences.

2. Diaries- is a specific kind of journal where you write down the events of each day, resulting in
a chronicle of your life.

3. Essays- not all essays are creative, but plenty of essays flow from creative writing (e.g.
personal essays, descriptive essays and persuasive essays)

4. Fiction- a popular types of creative writing. Prose fiction, or narrative fiction, includes novels,
short stories, myths, parables, romances, and epics. Fiction originally meant anything made up,
crafted, or shaped, but as we understand the word today, it means a prose story based in the
imagination of the author.

5. Poetry- Another popular but under-appreciated type of writing poetry, which is easily the most
artistic, creative form of writing. Poetry is more economical than prose fiction in the use of
words, and it relies heavily on imagery, figurative language, and sound (e.g. structured poetry,
free form poetry, prose poetry and a story with rhyme).

-From haiku to sonnets, there are dozens of different poetic forms to try. In general, the key to
writing poetry is to create evocative images and make every word count. You can write about
anything, from nature to love to your family. You can even write poems for specific occasions,
such as a wedding ceremony or a funeral.

6. Memoir- personal accounts (or stories) with narrow themes and specific topics. They are
usually the length of novels or novella's; shorter works of this kind would be considered essays.
Memoirs topics focus on specific experiences rather than providing a broad life story which
would be a biography.

-a memoir is a type of creative nonfiction that explores a person's life or experiences. You can
focus on a single period or your entire life. This is different from an autobiography in that it
includes feelings and thoughts - not just the facts of what happened.

7. Vignettes- is defined as a brief evocative description, account, or episode. Vignettes can be

poems, stories, descriptions, personal accounts, anything goes really. The key is that it is
extremely short-just quick snippet.

The Use of the Language in Writing

A. Imagery
 One of the helpful devices that a writer can use in his writing is imagery wherein the
writer uses words and phrases to create "mental pictures" for the reader.
 Imagery, in a literary text occurs when an author uses an object that is not really there, in
order to create a comparison between one that is, usually evoking a more meaningful
visual experience for the reader.
 It is useful as it allows an author to add depth and understanding to his work, like a
sculptor adding layer and layer to his statue, building it up into a beautiful work of art,
and so it should usually have more than one description.
Types of Imagery
1. Visual Imagery
When you can visualize the colors, shapes, forms, and aesthetics of something that’s
described to you, the writer is employing visual imagery.
Example:
The night was black as ever; but bright
stars lit up the sky in beautiful and varied
constellations which are sprinkled across
the astronomical landscape.

2. Auditory Imagery
When you can hear the sound of nature, machinery, or someone's voice, it’s because of the
description employed in the authors auditory imagery.
Example:
Silence was broken by the peal of piano
keys as Shannon began practicing her
concerto

3. Tactile Imagery
Sensation like itching, stickiness, and the warmth of sunlight all count as a tactile imagery, which
appeals to the way your skin might feel in the moment.
Example:
After the long run, he collapsed in the
grass with tired and burning muscles. The
grass tickled his skin and sweet cooled on the brow.

4. Olfactory Imagery
By describing the peculiarities of scent – its richness, pungence, weight, distinctness, or physical
effect – the author transports the reader through the use of olfactory imagery.
Example:
She smelled the scent of sweet hibiscus
wafting through the air, its tropical smell a
Reminder that she was on vacation in a
beautiful place.

5. Gustatory Imagery
Captures a flavor’s richness, acidity, earthiness, sweetness, bitterness, harshness, etc.
Example:
The candy melted in her mouth and swirls
of bittersweet chocolate and slightly sweet
but salty caramel blended together on her
tongue.

B. Figures of Speech
 Figures of speech use words in fresh, new ways so as to suggest and produce pictures or
images in a reader or hearer's mind, bypassing logic and appealing directly to the
imagination in order to give particular emphasis to an idea or sentiment.
  Figures of speech include smile, allusion, chiasmus, litotes, metaphor, hyperbole,
understatement, personification, apostrophe, oxymoron, metonymy, synecdoche, irony
paradox, antithesis, and symbol.  
C. Parallelism and Repetition
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of
Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period,
that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the
superlative degree of comparison only."
 In this opening passage from Charles Dickens' classic novel of revolution, Dickens uses
two other writing secrets to create powerful, memorable writing parallelism and
repetition. Much of the power of formal prose like this novel comes from the repetition of
words and phrases and the connections between them.
 When you use parallelism, repeating or adding words creates emphasis and rhythm;
leaving out conjunctions creates tension.
D. Style
 Style is a series of choices - words, sentence length and structure, figures of speech, tone,
voice, diction, and over all structure. Style depends on purpose, audience, and
appropriateness.
 An author's style is his or her distinctive way of writing, and he or she needs to know
how to vary his or her style to fit different audiences. In poetry, for example, a writer
might use more imagery than he or she would use in prose.
E. Diction
 The words you select make up your diction.
 Your diction affects the clarity and impact of your message.
 Good writers are concise and precise, weeding out unnecessary words and choosing the
exact word to convey meaning.  
F. Denotation and Connotation
 Every word has a denotation, it is literal or explicit meaning. You can find the
denotation of a word by looking it up in dictionary. For example, if you look up the word
“fat" in the dictionary, it will say, "having too much adipose tissue”.
 Connotation is the abstract meaning or intension of a term. For example, "fat" has a
negative connotation in our fitness obsessed society. Being sensitive to a word's
denotation and connotation is essential for clear and effective writing.
G. Conciseness
It is the extent to which a place of writing communicates clear information in as few words as
possible. To achieve conciseness in writing, follow these three easy rules to create taut,
effective sentences.
1. Eliminate unneeded words.
2. Avoid redundant words.
3. Make passive sentences active.
H. Voice
 The voice of a work of literature is the author’s unique attitude to the material. Because
voice is difficult to measure reliably, it is often left out of scoring formulas in writing
tests.
  A recognizable writer’s voice usually emerges only when a writer finds the right way of
presenting the right subject.

Why We Write: Four Reason

1. Why Do We Write? To be fully alive

● Sir Ken Robinson says: "The arts mainly address the idea of aesthetic experience.
An aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak;
when you’re present in the current moment; when you're resonating with the
excitement of this thing that you're experiencing; when you are fully alive.

● We write to be fully alive.

● Writing draws us into the moment.

● Writing helps us make art out of every day, ordinary moments.

2. We Write to make a name for ourselves

● George Orwell says one motivation to write is sheer egoism, that we write out of
the “desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get
your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc."

● If you can't live forever physically, why can't your memory live forever?

3. We Write to change the world

● Writing gives us a chance to turn the tides on consumerism. Rather than consume
more, we can make something.

● Every day, when you put your fingers on the keys, you’re creating something.
And then, with the click of a button, you can share it with the world.

● Humans have a built-in need to make our mark on the world. We want to
bring new things to life, mold things into the image we have in our
imaginations, to subdue the earth.

● We write not just to change the world, but to create a new world.

4. We write to discover meaning

● The psychiatrist Victor Frankl posited that the main search of mankind is
not happiness or pleasure but meaning. "Life is never made unbearable by
circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose," he wrote in
Man's Search for Meaning.

● Every story matters to the person living it, and our job is to tell universal
stories, the stories that reveal the story of every person on the earth.
Writers are uniquely gifted to find meaning for themselves and to help
others find meaning through their work.

● We write to bring meaning to the world.

John Steinbeck’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm,
December 10, 1962

John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. According to the
Nobel Prize Committee, Steinbeck was awarded this honor "for his realistic and
imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social
perception." Steinbeck received the award at Stockholm City Hall on Monday, December
10th.

● Steinbeck's Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded in 1962, and the writer's task
is particularly challenging when the entire world is your audience. As any good
writer knows, the intended audience shapes the message even before a word
touches the paper or emerges on the computer screen.
● The Nobel Prize “is a monster in some ways,” Steinbeck wrote shortly after
learning he had won the honor for literature. “I have always been afraid of it.
Now I must handle it.”
● What remains today is more than a historical document, it is a call to each of us
to continue to embrace literature as a reflection of humankind's threatened
condition.
● Shares his vision of the writer’s obligations to the world.
● Like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address a century earlier, Steinbeck’s Nobel speech is
the creation of an enlightened mind informed by a profoundly moral imagination

F. Sionil Jose’s Speech in the 61st Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature

Francisco Sionil Jose dubbed the "Old Man of Philippine Letters," was honored
by the Carlos Palanca Foundation with its prestigious Dangal Ng Lahi award. Jose is a
national treasure who has regaled Filipinos with some of the finest prose ever to see
print, including 12 novels, seven books of short stories, and a book of verse.
He is also a five-time Palanca awardee for his short stories “The God Stealer” in
1959, “Waywaya” in 1979, “Arbol de Fuego” (Firetree) in 1980, his novel “Mass” in
1981, and his essay “A Scenario for Philippine Resistance” in 1979.

● Sionil José and his legacy. His creative productions reflect the various social
struggles the Filipino people have faced and continue to face—works that are
proof of his tremendous impact on our country today and for years to come.

● Sionil also spoke about the struggle and challenges of Filipino Writers.

● Writers and Filipino citizens are encouraged to always stand out for what is right
and the truth by using Rizal as an example and source of inspiration.

● F. Sionil emphasizes the value of nationalism as well as the importance of

honoring our heroes, writers, athletes, and other Filipino pride.

Hemingway's Advice on Writing, Ambition, the Art of Revision, and His Reading
List of Essential Books for Aspiring Writers by: Maria Popova
"As a writer you should not judge. You should understand," Ernest Hemingway
(July 21, 1899-July 2, 1961) counseled in his 1935 Esquire compendium of writing
advice, addressed to an archetypal young correspondent but based on a real-life encounter
that had taken place a year earlier.

In 1934, a 22-year-old aspiring writer named Arnold Samuelson set out to meet
his literary hero, hoping to steal a few moments with Hemingway to talk about writing.
Convinced that his literary education would be best served by apprenticing himself to
Hemingway, however briefly, he hitchhiked atop a coal car from Minnesota to Key
West. "It seemed a damn fool thing to do," Samuelson later recalled, "but a twenty-two-
year-old tramp during the Great Depression didn`t have to have much reason for what he
did." Unreasonable though the quest may have been, he ended up staying with
Hemingway for almost an entire year, over the course of which he became the literary
titan's only true protégé.

His travels were recorded in a manuscript that was only discovered by his
daughter after his death 1981. It was eventually published as With Hemingway: A Year
in Key West and Cuba (public library)--the closest thing to a psychological profile of the
great writer.
In his letters to Paul Samuelson, Ernest Hemingway gives him a list of books he
should have read as part of his education. If you haven't read these, you just aren't
educated. Some may bore you, others might inspire you and others are so beautifully
written they'll make you feel it's hopeless for you to write.

● The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane

● The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
● Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
● Dubliners by James Joyce
● The Red and the Black by Stendhal
● Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
● Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
● War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
● Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
● Hail and Farewell by George Moore
● The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
● The Oxford Book of English Verse
● The Enormous Room by e. e. cummings
● Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
● Far Away and Long Ago by W.H. Hudson
● The American by Henry James

In a letter to Henry James, Ernest Hemingway offers Samuelson advice on what

he believed to be "the best book an American ever wrote," Mark Twain's Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. He also offers some concrete writing advice for budding writers.

He also offered his wisdom on the psychological discipline of the writing process:
Never
write too much at once, leave a little for the next day.

Then, echoing Lewis Carroll's advice on overcoming creative block in problem-

solving, Hemingway considers the practical tactics of this psychological strategy:

● The next morning, when you've had a good sleep and you're feeling fresh,
rewrite what you wrote the day before.
● When you come to an interesting place and you know what is going to
happen next, go on from there and stop at another high point of interest
That way, when you get through, your stuff is full of interesting places
and when you write a novel you never get stuck and you make it
interesting as you go along.
● Every day go to the beginning and rewrite the whole thing and when it
gets too long, read at least two or three chapters before you start to write,
and at least once a week go back to the start.
● . The main thing is to know what to leave out. The way you tell whether
you're going well is by what you can throw away. If you can throw away
stuff that would make a high point of interest in somebody else's story,
you know you're going well.

He returns to the psychological payoff of this trying practice:

 When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but
after you learn to work it's your object to convey everything to the reader so that he
remembers it not as a story he had read but something that happened to him. That's the
true test of writing.

When Samuelson asks how one can know whether one has any talent, Hemingway
replies:

Out of every ten stories I write, only one is any good and I throw the other
nine away. The only thing I can advise you is to keep on writing but it's a damned
tough racket.

Hemingway tempers this with a word of advice on ambition, self-comparison, and

originality:

Never compete with living writers. You don't know whether they're good or not.
Compete with the dead ones you know are good. If you have a story like one somebody
else has written, yours isn't any good unless you can write a better one. And don't ever
imitate anybody. All style is, is the awkwardness of a writer in stating a fact.
28 Bits of Advice I Give to Young Writers by: Jose Y. Dalisay Jr.

1. To write well, read well.

2. Raise the stakes, push the narrative, and bring us somewhere we've never been.

3. Get a life, and get a notebook. "Gathering material" is the writer's best excuse for
anything.

4. Write the story that only you can write (with many thanks to Franz Arcellana that
one).

5. Given a choice, choose the less obvious.

6. If it’s obvious to you, it's obvious to somebody else.

7. Write for the intelligent and difficult reader.

8. The intelligent reader is at least as smart as you are.

9. Better to start a story with an image (like “A yellow umbrella”) than a theme; you? hardly
find the words “justice” and “freedom” in the best stories about justice a freedom.

10. Everything submitted to my class is a draft, and all drafts are negotiable, no matter how
perfect they may look like to you in the morning.

11. Don’t revise the day after the workshop; wait a while and revise with a cool head- ruthlessly.
As Nick Joaquin put it, “Kill your babies."

12. Don’t over plot at the beginning; let the plot develop organically, and be open all
possibilities.

13. Characters are most interesting when they go out of character.

14. Find the extraordinary in the ordinary; write a fantasy that takes place in a Jollibe in Cubao,
not in Galaxy X.

15. Poetry is the hardest thing to write well and the easiest thing to write badly.

16. Workshops are part boot camp, and part support group.

17. Workshops are as much about learning to read as learning to write.

18. This is all about one thing: the book with your name on the spine.
19. Nobody owes you a reading or a living; lose the attitude and get to work.

20. Art is made by an elite, but it doesn’t have to be just for that elite.

21. An artist who’s out of touch with society isn’t just politically but also aesthetically
compromised.

22. Nick Joaquin drank a lot, but just drinking a lot won’t make you a Nick Joaquin.

23. In writing, nothing is ever wasted; even bad work can lead to good.

24. Think visually; look into the corners of the frame for interesting details.

25. Characters best reveal themselves when taken out of their natural element; put the professor
on a Ferris wheel, and bring a nun to a girlie bar.

26. Trust the story, not the language.

27. Wit is easy, wisdom harder to achieve in a story.

28. You only think you know what you're writing about, because the knowing is in the writing.