Creative writing - Mike Sanders 2014

All writing is autobiographical
Reading and writing
You, the writer

In Part 1, you get an introduction to the practice of and most essential elements of writing, including craft and details. It covers the basic characteristics of what writing is and how to conduct it in a manner that’s convincing and will relate to as many readers as possible.

The most central of principles is that all writing is both autobiographical and invented. Although you can imagine other people and places when you sit down to write, you cannot escape yourself. You draw on your own knowledge and experiences that are particular to you. Simultaneously, everything you write is an invention. Even the most faithful account of an event is made up in the sense that it’s filtered through the eyes, feelings, beliefs, and memories of one person.

Before writing courses came to exist in higher education during the 1960s, writers learned to write predominantly by reading other writers and then trying out the techniques they noticed. Because the point of this book is to maximize your writing ability without necessarily having the benefit of a class or mentor, it underscores the importance of reading widely and deeply on your own. It is also a book about doing, about educating yourself and generating good writing on your own through the use of a journal. Chapters 2 and 3 cover the use of craft and details, respectively, in helping you to create and judge your writing.

Part 1 puts you firmly on course to begin your promising writing adventure.

CHAPTER 1 Reading and writing

In this chapter

·  You write from your life

·  Everything you write is made up

·  Learning from reading

·  The “doing” of writing

·  Retaining ideas with journals

·  The benefits of habitual journaling

Creative writing is an art, and a living one at that. Language constantly is changing, and creative writers are participants in that change, whether we realize it or not, by virtue of what we write. Creative writing, therefore, can serve as a means of improvement, both for yourself and your culture.

In this chapter, you learn about the fundamental nature of creative writing and reading, what they can teach you, and how best to begin the practice of creative writing. In doing so, you, the writer, not only improve yourself, but also participate in the expression and recording of collective human existence. That’s kind of a big deal.

All writing is autobiographical

Think of any story, novel, or movie you’ve read or seen. Some may have been set in other universes and incorporated highly eccentric characters. However, unless they were co-written, they emerged from the mind of a single creative writer.

You and I are shaped by the backgrounds and socialization that make us the ever-changing people we are. Your writing reflects your distinctive personality and is somewhat autobiographical, even if you as a writer remain unaware of it.

DEFINITION

An autobiographical piece of writing is created by the writer and is about her or his own life.

The wonderful and exciting aspect of this fact is that although many individuals may share certain experiences from your life, no one else on the planet is precisely like you. Thus, even with a minimal reading background, you possess a deep well of unique knowledge to draw from in your writing that others have yet to articulate.