IDT1415 CW Entry 21 - Reflecting on my Progress on the Creative Writing Module

As I said in my previous post, this Creative Writing Module has been a true journey of discovery in terms of professional, academic and personal achievements. I feel I have come a long way, but at the same time that there is still a long way to go. This is not necessarily a negative aspect of this journey, but a rather exciting one as it means I'll have an endless array of possibilities for development and learning.

I have just shot a short video in which I look back on the initial video I created at the beginning of this module and reflect on the goals I set myself then and whether I have managed to meet them or not. It's only 6 minutes so, I can guarantee you will be able to endure it! :-)

IDT1415 CW Entry 20 - My Story has really been a 'Journey'!

When I started the Creative Writing & Technology module of my second semester in the MA in DTLT with the University of Nottingham, I was intrigued and also a little concerned about the whole idea of creativity and the idea that creativity is a synonym of freedom.  With this in mind I struggled a little to understand how it was possible to be creative and still have some boundaries which seems to be contradictory.  I soon reliased that being creative or a creative writer requires 'technique' and this provides the 'loose' parameters which, IMHO, allow the writer-to-be to become aware of the fact that bad creative writing is easy but good creative writing is as complex as trying to define creativity (WritersTreasure.com2015).

We started with a series of reallly interesting exercises which aims at raising our awareness of the different techniques amognst them we had to write a short piece of fiction. My initial story can be seen here. Please note the Entry 7 of my blog which has a link to the Storybird version of it, now shows the updated and final version of my story, which is also available here. Anyhow, I'm writing today to share my final draft and also to reflect a little on 'my journey'.

When posed with the question of what to write about I thought it would be a nice idea to write about how much my dog meant to me and to write about our relationship via a fictional story. The idea really caught me and so I started the process which was long but not tortuous! I must admit that understanding - and please see I am not using the word 'mastering' Point of View (PoV) was a real challenge. I know, some poeple get it straightaway and some don't, I'm fine with that. What really mattered to me was to be able to get it in the end. Now, as you read my story you may still think I still don't get it so it's ok, it's a process after all isn't it? I think that in my third draft - which obvisouly implies possibly a fourth one - I have managed to aligne PoV compared to the first draft where it was all over the place and managed to confuse my readers.The concepts of Plot, Character, Scene and the idea that a good writer doesn't tell but shows were friendlier to me. Time of course has been one of my major constraints in getting more done as being a student and having a full time job plus a few other part time ones does not help, so if you're planning on getting another MA while being employed, make sure you have only one job!

Anyways, one of the things I like best about this whole process is that initially I thought it was going to be so easy and then I realised in the making that creative writing is a craft and as such you need to write and write and write more and read and read and read more to 'see' these techniques - theory alone does not work, not for me so I'm grateful to Veronica, my tutor, for her patience :-). And even if I still feel that I haven't got there yet, it is my journey and I'm happy with how it's going.

References

Writer's Treasure. Creative Writing 101. 2015. [online] Last accessed 17 April 2015 at:  http://www.writerstreasure.com/creative-writing-101/

 

IDT1415 CW Entry 19 - Feedback in Creative Writing

What opportunities of feedback can be extracted from the creative writing activity in Veronica's PowerPoint presentation?

After watching the slide presentation, this was the question that resonated in my head and so I've decided to try and answer it with my context and students in mind. First of all, I believe that the different parts of the activity afford different opportunities for feedback. For instance, in the first part: The Elements, the tasks are open ended (Describe 2 different science fiction settings which could be used in a story;  Invent and describe three different science fiction characters; Design/sketch/describe three different modes of transport which could be used in a science fiction story; Think of and write down one problem which could happen in a science fiction story, and Think of and write also about one problem) and there are no rules, then the focus of feedback is totally up to us, the activity or even better then students. Why not ask them what they want feedback on? This would make them even more receptive as they would be agents in the decision making process. 

Secondly, in part two: Structure, the tasks focus on the different parts of the story: the start, the characters, potential problems and resolutions, and a conclusion. Again, here it is possible to negotiate what the focus of feedback will be and if manageable why not foci on different aspects. I can think of several possibilities e.g. feedback not only coming from the tutor but also from the  students themselves (peer feedback) with assigned foci for each group after the writing stage, or carousel feedback where students put their work up on the walls around the classroom and so they all read the different parts with the aim of finding at least one thing to give feedback on either positively or on possible improvement areas. 

Thirdly, I think that the editing stage could go smoothly hand in hand with the feedback stage as we pay more attention to the texts produced when editing. Here I think it would be important to dissect the difference between editing and giving feedback and the directions these can come from. We can use an editing written correction scheme or system which is popular in language teaching which the teacher uses to show where the problems are but without say which it is so that the student is then required to think more carefully about it and self correct. This I see as a hybrid between editing and feedback. However, feedback does not have to come only from the teacher so this would be a great opportunity to introduce peer feedback. This would require clear guidelines and student training as clarity and transparency is one of the keys highlighted by (Moon 2002) in terms of design of assessment criteria.

Finally, I will conclude with another question for you all...

What are the different sources of writing (not written) feedback in your classroom?

References

Moon, J., 2002. Writing and using assessment criteria. The Module and Programme Development Handbook: A Practical Guide to Linking Levels, Outcomes and Assessment Criteria, pp.79–106.

IDT1415 CW Entry 18 - Collaborative Writing and Editing

I really liked the idea of Freewriting as presented in this week's materials and developed by Elbow (1998, 2000). I think that this kind of writing would be beneficial for our students as most of them (97%) are on exam preparation courses which are demanding and to  a certain extent a little prescriptive as there is a very clear path to follow.  Freewriting would provide some freedom from the set writing techniques and a good opportunity to explore language from a different angle. In my current context, both private and public freewriting would be possible, but I would argue that public writing would be a much better approach as Lave and Wenger (1991) suggest that learning requires social interaction and collaboration. Students would be more motivated to pay more attention to their writing as it would be read by others and this along with the possibility of integrating media so that their 'active learning experience ... is social, participatory and supported by rich media' (Mcloughlin & Lee 2008) as I argued in a blog post here.

The editing strategies suggested in the Thinking Writing materials for this week are also interesting both in terms of their applicability to my own story and in the classroom. However, I believe that for these strategies to be implemented in my context they would need some adaptation as our students as stated above mainly follow exam prep courses and so the changes to the Upper Main Suite exams, FCE and CAE, introduced this year means these strategies come in handy as all students are now required to write an essay as one of the 2 writing tasks.  I believe that some of the strategies listed are more challenging than others and this added to the fact that our students are still language learners at different levels means that they would have to be carefully selected and possibly diluted.  For instance, I could use the following strategies with a group of First Certificate students who have lessons twice a week for 1 hour and 45 minutes each time.

• Underline all the verbs you use - as they are familiar with this type of identification task. I think it would be beneficial for them to make them think and assess whether the verbs or other parts of speech do what they are intended to do as this will raise their level of awareness. However, I believe they would need a lot of support in the few lessons as the weaker students may not be able to 'see' how these parts of speech work as a whole. I would use it with both First and Advanced students, and possibly with lower main suite, Preliminary students.

• Summarising the main ideas - I believe this would be a very useful exercise as my Italian students tend to have difficulty summarising. As a lower order thinking skill, summarising requires students to be able to understand the text to be able to identify the main points and so writing the main ideas on the side of the paragraph would help them visually. Again, I would also model for and do this activity with the students so as to build their confidence. I could use this strategy both with my First and Advanced students, and possibly with Preliminary students. However, I can see the activity taking a lot longer in the initial stages because of their lower ability.

• Sentences of increasing length - I think this activity would really stretch my Advanced students and so I would be willing to try it out with then.  On the other hand, I think that it would not be appropriate for my First students as it may be too much of a stretch if not adapted somehow e.g. sentences an x number of specific cohesive devices or parts of speech. I would only use it with lower levels like Preliminary by using phrases carefully designed by me so as to show them how it works in a controlled environment and scaffolding guided experimentation.

The remaining three strategies (negative summary, a piece of writing in your field that you admire, and common patterns) would be used with advanced classes with examples in class and most of the work done for homework so as to maximise their speaking in class.

So what about your context? Which strategies could you implement?

References

Elbow, P. 1998. Writing without Teachers, 2^nd edition, New York: Oxford University Press (1^st edition 1971). [online] Last accessed 1 April 2015 at: moodle.nottingham.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1421309

Elbow, P. 2000. Everyone Can Write New York: Oxford University Press. [online] Last accessed 1 April 2015 at: moodle.nottingham.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1421309

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. 1991. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: Cambridge

                 University Press.

Mcloughlin, C. & Lee, M.J.W., 2008. Future Learning Landscapes : Transforming Pedagogy through Social     Software. Innovate, 5(4).

IDT1415 CW Entry 17 - Endings

Can you apply any of Chekhov's 'subversive endings' to your story?

As Barb mentioned in her blog post, writing a powerful ending to a story is an art and would like to think that since practice makes perfect as they say, then I need a lot of practice! While reading Jauss' article I was happy to see that it is also possible to end a story with everything going back to normal or as it was before. And yet, I think that simple as it seems, achieving it is not as much for Chekhov's intricate work would in its simplicity add complexity by creating an unexpected ending which is what makes them 'subversive' in my opinion. I really like how Kolpakov, in the Chorus Girl, goes from being passive to fully emotional in the end, showing life, or what Jauss implies in his article, returning alive. I find these subversive endings exciting and fascinating as they do reflect real life as Jauss says. Also,  because as he also says they do 'undercut our expectations' and can see my story having a subversive ending which brings in a pinch of chaos to an end that seemed predictable. This would make it even more memorable, I'd say, but this is yet to be decided. 

As it is usual for me, I decided to created a table summarising Chekhov's Closure Strategies as they're called by Jauss as it will help me to keep the options at hand when working on my third draft.

Chekhov's Closure Strategies
1. Anti-epilogues	'he typically returns the character, and us, to the uncertainty of life, leaving us wondering what will happen next'. 'How will it end?' Grace >Paley: 'The open destiny of life'.
2. Reverse epilogues	There is a shift to the past when we expect a move to the future. It says what 'has happened' not what 'will happen', implying no future change as suggested by Frydman. Clear example in Pasha's ending where she is humiliated and one would expect she'd learnt her lesson and this to trigger change but instead Chekhov finishes by remembering her previous humiliation implying no future change.
3. Echo endings	Chekhov 'conveys the essential changelessness of those lives—... by echoing in the ending the events, imagery, and/or language of the story’s opening.' e.g. in A Strange Land he finishes with the sentence: 'The same performance begins over again, and Champoun's sufferings have no end'. In short, the story would end in the same way it began.
4. Chiastic endings	Are those where the ending repeats the words and/or actions of the opening in reverse order. 'Cathy Popkin compares such endings to the rhetorical device chiasmus, in which the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases are reversed.  The example given in The House with the Mezzanine where Monsieur X describes in reverse order the path he walked when he initially approached Zhenya and how this represents
5. False climaxes	Where the conflict remains unresolved, the character ultimately unchanged. In 'Misery' Iona fails to find someone who will listen to his story and in the end he tells his story to his horse, which is a false climax as even if he finds an audience -the horse - it is not a real audience.
6. Omitted climaxes	Conrad Aitken: these stories which do not ... conclude at all - they merely stop.' However, conclusions are not premature. Conflict cannot be resolved. These are in Frydman's terms 'dead end stories'.
7. External climaxes	'An epiphany is more powerful if the reader experiences it rather than witnesses it'. He does it through an unreliable narrator e.g. The Little Joke, the narrator recounts a joke he claims not to understand but the readers do - that in reality he did lover her and missed one chance at love. He also does it through analogy: in 'Fortune' he compares the shepherds to the sheep and the implications of this analogy are an epiphany to the reader.
8. Temporary climaxes	Or 'relapse endings' show the protagonist back where they started. '... relapse plot is perhaps Chekhov’s most common solution to the conflict between the desire for narrative closure and his belief in the relative changelessness of human beings...'. In a Gentleman Friend, Vanda has an epiphany which does not last as she ends up in the same conflict (being a prostitute) at a club called 'Renaissance'. The Darling is an example of the relapse plot on steroids as there are repeated relapses as in a 'novella-like fashion'.
9. Complication-creating climaxes	In this type of ending characters do change without relapsing but this change makes things more difficult. In Neighbors, Pyotr's resolution to whip Vlassitch for seducing his sister Zina dwindles as the story progresses making the story more 'falling action' rather than 'rising action'.
10. Conflict-creating climaxes	Endings which resolve one conflict by creating a completely new one. In Sleepy, Varka strangles the baby (solves the conflict preventing her from sleeping), but knows that when she wakes up the new conflict awaits her: going to jail.
11. Extended anti-climaxes	The climax is given so early in the story that it becomes literally anticlimactic. In The Teacher of Literature, the story builds toward the conventional happy ending of a wedding, but then goes beyond it to the mundane disappointment that follows. In The Story of an Unknown Man Chekhov builds toward the narrator’s transformation into a new person very early in the story, but what happens next deflates that climax and extend the character’s anticlimactic return to the “small print” of life. This is one of Chekhov’s masterpieces. The climactic scene in Ward No. 6 sees the narrator ready to kill his enemy but fails. Then for 35 pages he focuses on the questions the protagonist's change raises.
12. Shifts in address, tense, and/or PoV	In The House with the Mezzanine the narrator changes from addressing the audience to his lots love Zhenya. In A Boring Story this happens too and there is also a change of tense to past tense revealing a sense of loss which was kept at bay by using the present to describe past events using the present. In Expensive Lessons the shift is to the present showing how the protagonist has failed to master French and chronicled everything in the past tense up to then. In a Trifle from Real Life Chekhov changes abriptly from Nikolai to Aliosha's PoV in the story's final sentence. The shift shows the story was about the child, Aliosha and not the adult, Nikolai. In Gusev, the PoV shifts from Gusev after his death to the sea creatures not other characters.

What's your experience of writing subversive endings?

Unfortunately, I have very little experience of writing subversive endings as this is the first time that I've come across them. I plan to use the table above to add one to my story, but I haven't decided yet which one it will be. I think they all have a different appeal and as Zac (2012) mentioned in his video, stories can cause different reactions to listener/reader - empathy being my preferred option over distress. 

References

Jauss, D., 2010. Returning Characters to Life: Chekhov's Subversive Endings. [online]. Last accessed 25               March 2015 at: http://www.writersdigest.com/jauss-article.

Zac, Paul., 2012. “Empathy, Neurochemistry, and the Dramatic Arc.”  [online]. Last accessed October 16 April 2015 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHeqQAKHh3M