Like many of you, much of my love of writing comes from using writing and language in fun and interesting ways. Whether it’s been journaling, poetry, short stories or other genres, expressing yourself creatively is cathartic and one of the best ways to develop your skills as a writer.
As I imagine many of you have noticed, creative writing makes up only a small number of appointments that come through the writing center. Because creative writing tutoring appointments are not as common, it can be a challenge to conceptualize, build, and implement tutoring skills for creative writing. Many people believe that due to the personal and subjective nature of creative writing, it takes a particular set of skills to effectively give feedback to creative writing, or that it takes an extensive creative background to do so.
Luckily, the UCWbL gives us a great foundation to think about tutoring and the ways we engage with writing in the writing center. So, as tutors, we can draw on the UCWbL core values, beliefs and practices, as well as scholarship about creative writing to best inform our role as tutors in a creative writing appointment. Here, I’ve compiled what I think are a few effective practices that we can use moving forward to help us tutor creative writers and creative writing projects at the UCWbL.
GENRE
For the purposes of having a concrete base to work from when discussing creative writing, the University of Vermont Writing Center’s general definition of creative writing is “the pursuit of artistic aims through written word.” Just like any other forms of writing that we encounter at the writing center, creative writing has conventions that it must follow to be effective in conveying writers’ artistic aims. So, as with any piece, genre is a great place to start when tutoring creative writing. As we can learn from Charles Bazerman, genre can help guide content, style, audience and form of writing. Although some creative writing can bend the rules in ways academic and professional writing cannot, the most effective texts still adhere to genre conventions. This can be a great starting point in discussing a piece with a writer.
In discussing genre with a writer, a tutor could bring in examples, speak on their own experience with the genre, or look to outside resources for common conventions. This is also a great opportunity to ask the writer questions about how they believe the genre informs their writing and how their writing may or may not fit into the conventions of the genre. As a creative writer, they are likely making an intentional choice in selecting genre as to best express their ideas artistically. Creative writing can take many forms, and interesting, engaging genre conventions can really set it apart from other forms of writing in the writing center.
DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE
Descriptive language is also something that sets creative writing apart from other writing, and it is definitely something that we should look out for as tutors. Descriptive language helps build key components in creative writing, such as scene, mood and image. Effective and rich, descriptive language can result in a feeling of deep immersion and can really change the impact of a creative writing piece.
As a tutor, you could really focus in on word choice and sentence structure, as these are necessary components of descriptive language. Utilizing a thesaurus or similar resource with a writer can be really effective. You could even consider asking, “How would you best describe that to me in your own voice?” so that they are thinking about developing that language in an authentic authorial voice.
As a tutor you can also bring in or develop examples of descriptive writing to show the ways it can impact a readers experience.
For example:
I like chocolate.
or
My passion for chocolate burns with the power of a great fire.
The second example clearly changes the readers’ understanding of my love of chocolate and can impact the understanding of the whole piece of writing. Descriptive language can guide the reader through a piece of creative writing and can build toward impactful moments in the piece.
THE MOMENT
A question tutors can ask during creative writing appointments is “Does the piece build to a moment?” A moment is crucial in creative writing, as this is what is going to impact the reader the most while reading it. An effective creative writing piece has a sense of movement; a movement toward this big moment that will leave the reader with something to think about after reading the piece. It could be a single line or phrase from a poem, or an entire scene from a novel. Your role as a reader can really prove useful here in helping that writer find the moment. Thinking back to the Elephant and Piggie from orientation, our role as a reader in validating a writers’ creative work can be really important in the development of a piece and its moment. If you feel that a piece is lacking a moment, this could be a great place to utilize some brainstorming techniques or a simple conversation.
A few concrete strategies to try in your next creative writing appointment:
Mind-mapping: Loose outlines can be super helpful in showing ways that imagery and ideas connect to form engaging, creative ideas. Keep in mind that mind-mapping looks different for everyone.
Drawing: Drawing is a great way to help the writer visualize description. Symbols are a great way to engage with creative ideas and can even transfer over into text.
Freewriting: Just putting writing on the page can help you develop ideas.
Word Association: This can be a great way to engage the writer in thinking about word choice and description. Exercises can build upon the existing words to help writers get more creative with wording and imagery.
OUR CORE AT WORK
As tutors at the UCWbL, we always strive to incorporate the UCWbL core beliefs when working with writers. However, there are a few that I think particularly apply to creative writing.
Respect:
Creative writing can be really difficult to share, as it is distinctly personal and tied to our identities. Always be respectful of this when reading and providing feedback. Keep in mind that it also takes a great deal of respect and trust to arrange an appointment of this nature, and the writer likely chose you because they believe you have expertise or have an existing professional or personal relationship.
Collaboration:
Some of the best creative idea generation happens in discussion with others. Build together.
Writers produce written texts in many different contexts using many different genres of writing. Understanding these contexts & genres can help writers as they write.
This ties back into the ways genre can help inform our appointments and provides a great point to jump off of in discussion with a writer.
Ask Questions:
Never shy away from asking questions. Creative thoughts and ideas are very personal, and the writer will be the best resource in developing these thoughts and ideas. Asks questions and actively listen to the answers you are given.
Tutoring creative writing can seem like a daunting task. In my experience as a tutor here at the UCWbL, these areas have helped me guide myself through creative writing appointments, and I hope that they can provide you with a foundation or at least some food for thought in appointments to come.
Sources
Bazerman, Charles. “What Do Sociocultural Studies of Writing Tell Us about Learning to Write?” MacArthur Handbook of Writing Research, June 2015, pp. 13–23.
Tutor Tips: Creative Writing, www.uvm.edu/wid/writingcenter/tutortips/writing.html.