{"id":603,"date":"2017-01-31T22:38:18","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T22:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=603"},"modified":"2017-01-31T22:40:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T22:40:02","slug":"advisory-warning-creative-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2017\/01\/31\/advisory-warning-creative-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Advisory Warning: Creative Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This semester, I did something crazy: I signed up for a creative writing class, on purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reason this is insane is because while I do some creative writing, I, like many writers, do not want to share it. My creative writing is personal more often than not and it can be tough to share it with other people. Sharing your writing is a opening up a vulnerability and that is a difficult thing to do \u00a0when it\u2019s so easily criticized. People have told me that there\u2019s no way anyone would be as harsh as I am on myself. While they might be right, I also know that analyzation requires readers to bring enough to the table that my intentions might not always be clear. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It seems clear that the solution is to not share my work with anyone, right? Nope. You can never improve if you don\u2019t get feedback. Another person reading and telling you what they see happening is the only way to learn what a reader might see. It\u2019s a practice we use here at the Center, but it\u2019s the same process for creative writing. This usually leads to trying to figure out the best combination of words to put a specific picture in the reader\u2019s head. A goal like this requires read, after read, after read and drains the life from a person., especially the author. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now the question becomes, what do you want the reader to take from what you\u2019re writing . Is it the perfect image of the ceramic mug you use that has your alma mater\u2019s logo on it with your name inscribed or is it that you\u2019ve never felt love once in your life? Could it be the feel of the cotton, polyester blend of your hoodie or the complete emptiness left from a friend replacing you? The answer is that \u00a0each experience and feeling is unique and difficult to explain. Evoking such things in prose can take anywhere from four words to four pages and then it\u2019s time to wonder if it\u2019s worth it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prose seems like the normal way to write. We can use as much space as we want and even separate it into long sections that go together; you know, chapters. But, it\u2019s easy to fall into Polonius-esque paradigm. There is the option to sacrifice specificity for length in poetry. The form also allows for a wider variety in interpretation. Does that mean that one is more valid than the other? Is one closer to the truth than the other? If so, which would it be? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I write prose and poetry; once in awhile, it might even overlap. Being aware of the audience and what you want them to understand has been helpful for me to decide how to write things, but I\u2019ve also figured out that you can\u2019t be afraid of where it might take you. It\u2019s an interesting thing to learn. I say this because it happens more frequently in my writing. Hell, I started writing this blog post with the intention of discussing how writing poetry has helped me to funnel some of my personal issues into something productive and I\u2019ve ended up with a strange philosophical\/advisory piece about writing stories. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think the most important thing of all is to write (as cheesy as that sounds).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This semester, I did something crazy: I signed up for a creative writing class, on purpose.   The reason this is insane is because while I do some creative writing, I, like many writers, do not want to share it. My creative writing is personal more often than not and it can be tough to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[10,14,22,23,2,53,4,32,52,35,23451,43],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stress-relief-2","category-uncategorized","tag-author","tag-creative-writing","tag-english","tag-flash-fiction","tag-getting-started","tag-help","tag-quick-tips","tag-stress-relief","tag-therapy","tag-tips","tag-writers-block","tag-writing-process"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}