Creative Writing Workshop

Creative writing starts here!!

INTRODUCTION

Creative writing used to be called “literature “but has since come to mean a genre that involves writing that is personal, expressive and unencumbered by rigid rules of writing, say as compared to academic or technical writing. Although there is an opinion that opines creative writing is a gift and therefore not learnt, I believe, like any craft, it can be learnt and nurtured. Otherwise, we would not be able to produce the long list of academics, scientists and professionals who have to make writing their profession, albeit in different fields.

Most of those in academia and research, for example, painstakingly learnt their craft, as it is their means of upward mobility in their careers and self esteem. I believe that the same goes for creative writing, hence this short course.

Types of Creative Writing

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

Different cultures have a distinctive style to poetry and may influence the poetry of poets.

Plays

A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between characters and intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. The writer of a play is a playwright.

Fiction (novel, novellas & short stories)

Fiction generally is a narrative form, in any medium, consisting of people, events, or places that are imaginary—in other words, not based strictly on history or fact. In its most narrow usage, fiction refers to written narratives in prose and often specifically novels, though also novellas and short stories.

Memoir

A memoir, meaning memory or reminiscence) is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or moments or events, both public or private, that took place in the subject's/person's life. The assertions made in the work are understood to be factual events, both public or private, that took place in the subject's/person's life. The assertions made in the work are understood to be factual.

A person (usually a public figure) may have his/her memoir written by someone else.

Personal Essays

An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument — but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informal. Formal essays are characterized by "serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length," whereas the informal essay is characterized by "the personal element, humour, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme," humour, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme," etc.

There are other types of creative writing such as those listed below :

Movie and television scripts
Songs
Speeches

Entruss Creative Writing Workshops

Entruss offers these workshops to 2 groups according to age :

Group A : 13-16 years old

Group B : 17-20 years old

Group C : Adults

Packages Offered

Poetry
Play (Children’s Play)
Fiction
Memoir
Personal Essays

The packages consist of 4.5 hour modules each except for the children’s play slot which is 7 hours. Participants may ask for customised package amounting to one- day for each module if it involves younger children and includes a competition . Time is needed for judging.

Objectives

To introduce the basics of creative writing to non-specialists
To encourage people to enjoy creative writing
To give courage for those who love writing to develop further

Mode of Workshop

The preferred method is face to face but online sessions can include interactive lectures without break-outs and presentations.

Poetry Module

Introduction

Many people love to write poetry without ever publishing them. It is perfectly fine to do so ,however it is even better to share these gems with other people who will appreciate your work for various reasons. This workshop is intended for poets at every stage in their lives. Maybe you are a poet who has not written anything, maybe you have written a few lines , maybe you have filled up notebooks with your own poems. Perhaps some of you have even published a poem or two.

To all I say, welcome. This workshop is to accept everyone because it is not really to “teach” you anything, rather to tease out the poetic potential in you and perhaps share your work for the first time.

I would encourage those who have written something to bring their work. We will have a sharing session where you can share your work and how you wrote them, who your favourite poets are and so on so forth.

Plays (Children's Plays)

Introduction

A play is a piece of work that requires the writer, called a playwright to engage characters in dialogue, action and settings to evoke specific situations. It necessitates the writer to think of other genre such as sound and light to evoke the total atmosphere. Plays can be written for theatre, TV and movies and involves teams. Here Entruss offers a very specialised form of play from, the children’s play.

Writing for children is both fun and challenging. Some fundamentals remain the same, for example always write on something you love and know well. (And if you don’t, you must research) Others are specific, for example, the language you use, the situations. It is obvious that you have to make the dialogue believable and realistic and something young people identify with immediately.

When we write for young people, we have to be very sensitive to values. We have to be cognisant of the values we are imparting through the plays. Parents will definitely be very particular about the issues discussed and how they are portrayed. Lessons are offered, but plays must be engaging enough and must not sound like a sermon.

There are not very many books on children’s plays in Malaysia and so writing children’s plays can be very lucrative. The playwright will have to be very innovative in marketing the products.

Most important of all, this workshop aims to make participants enjoy a beautiful and fulfilling genre of creative writing and experiment with new forms such as traditional South East Asian forms of children’s plays.

Fiction (Novels, Novella, Short Stories)

Introduction

Fiction is any piece of work that is not actually totally factual, in a sense like a reporting but may be based on actual facts, experiences etc. It would be because, I believe fiction cannot be based on something not experienced by the author to be believable. Even if the places, dates, names are not actual ones, at the very least the emotions are. In fact, the challenge for the author is to engage the reader, to elicit their sympathy, empathy, anger, joy and so on . That is the only way to reach a work that is often described as ‘’unable to be put down”.

There are no hard and fast rules in the length of a novel, or a novella or a short story , but generally a novel has more pages than a novella and a novella has more pages than a short story. However there have been very slim tomes describing themselves as “novels”. And as if to vindicate this definition, they have won prizes too.

Even if one does not actually publish the stories one writes, the exercise would be a therapeutic one or if wishes a catharsis. In fact it is a form of treatment for psychiatry if one is unable to articulate one’s pain or even joy verbally.

Memoirs and Personal Essays

Introduction

Memoirs and personal essays are basically about an individual and so I have chosen to conduct a combined module. A memoir can be written by the individual himself or herself or by another person ( a commissioned writer). When written by a commissioned writer, the task can be a challenging one, particularly if the subject is one very far either in time or place. However, an able writer will be able to carry it off well, that is presenting the person as “authentically” close as possible to the real persona.

Personal essays must be written by the individual. Officially one must never admit the personal essay to be written by a commissioned writer, as it would be soon found out. The veracity and authenticity of the personal essay is of paramount importance, in this day and age, as it has become a requirement in application and promotion exercise. One cannot present an impeccably written personal essay only to arrive at the interview mumbling a few words in pidgin language. In fact the requirement for the personal essay has become very significant that there are specialised tutors for writing personal essays for very specific purposes i.e writing personal essays to apply for prestigious universities and so on.