Senior High School Department

UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING

“When I say be creative, I don’t mean that you should all go and become great painters and great poets. I simply mean let
your life be a painting and let your life be a poem.” -Osha
CREATIVE
 Its denotative meaning is relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in the
production of an artistic work.
 It is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to
perceive the world in new ways
WRITING
 This refers to an act of a writer that expresses his thoughts, feelings and emotions with the means of
letters and words.
 According to Aristotle, words spoken are symbols of affections or impressions of the soul; written words
are symbols of words spoken.
CREATIVE WRITING
 A form of writing that is made by original composition and which is written with the creativity of mind. The
purpose is to express something, whether it be feelings, thoughts, or emotions.
 Creative writing can be fiction and non-fiction. A writer sits down to commit an act of literature.
ROLES OF A CREATIVE WRITER
1. Give importance to relevant list, data and evidences of creative writing.
2. To share any experiences to others.
3. Express your own thoughts, feelings and emotions.

FORMS OF WRITING
IMAGINATIVE WRITING
A form of writing that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in a creative, unique, and poetic way.
 Examples: poetry, fiction such as short stories, and novels.
TECHNICAL WRITING
A form of writing technical communication or documentation in science and technology or applied
science that helps people understand a product or service. Technical writing uses technical vocabularies and
highlights processes, classification and interpretation.
 Examples: user manuals, legal analysis, summary of experiments for journal publications,
technological marketing communications.
ACADEMIC WRITING
A form of writing that writer expresses and shares ideas with critical thinking; it has vocabularies that are
brought out by critical thoughts. It presents proofs and reasons out of research. It broadens and strengthens
the quality of education.
 Examples: theses, term paper, reflection papers.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TECHNICAL AND IMAGINATIVE WRITING

Technical Writing Creative Writing
Content Factual, straight-forward Imaginative, metaphoric or symbolic
Audience Specific General
Purpose Inform, instruct, persuade Entertain, provoke, captivate
Style Formal, standard, academic Informal, artistic, figurative
Tone Objective Subjective
Vocabulary Specialized General, evocative
Organization Sequential, systematic Arbitrary, artistic

ELEMENTS OF CREATIVE WRITING (1.Language 2. Sensory Details 3. Theme 4. Diction 5. Diction)

1. LANGUAGE-It system of conventional, spoken, or written symbols by means of which human beings
express themselves.

OTHER FORMS OF LANGUAGE:

a. SLANG-This refers to words that are used informally and often only among subgroups. Slang is often
short-lived: it may go out of date among the group that uses it after a few months.
b. JARGONS-This is the language used in a specific field.
c. IDIOM-A fixed phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of the component words.

“Be brave with your life, inhale courage exhale fear”

Prepared: Ms. Ma. Rebecca S. Olorvida
SHS Humanities, Faculty Member
 Senior High School Department

MAJOR FORMS OF LANGUAGE:

a. LITERAL-This means exactly what it says in a statement or a sentence.
b. FIGURATIVE-This is a form of language that creates pictures in the mind of the reader or listener. One
meaning of "figure" is "drawing" or "picture".

IMAGERY-A figurative language used to represent objects, actions, and ideas in a manner that appeals
to the senses. It uses vivid descriptive language to add depth to work. Imagery creates mental pictures
in the mind of a reader.

FIGURE OF SPEECH-It is a figurative language in which words are used out of their literal meaning or
out of their ordinary use.

BASIC FORMS OF FIGURE OF SPEECH

a. Simile – It is a stated comparison (formed with “like” or “as”) between two fundamentally dissimilar
things that have certain qualities in common.
o Her smile is like a sparkling star
b. Metaphor – A figure of speech that is an implied comparison between two unlike things that have
something in common.
o Your eyes is a world to me
c. Onomatopoeia–It uses words that imitate sounds associated with objects or actions.
o Bells, bells, bells are jingling and tingling on the starry nigh
d. Personification–It endows human qualities or abilities to inanimate objects or abstractions.
o The flowers are dancing outside the window
e. Apostrophe–One figure of speech that addresses an absent person or thing that is an abstract,
inanimate, or inexistent character.
o Time! Please stop chasing after my life!
f. Hyperbole–It is the use of exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis or exaggerated effect.
o I am so hungry I could eat a horse
g. Alliteration–It is when an initial consonant is repeated.
o She sells seashells by the seashore.
h. Synecdoche–A figure of speech in which part of something represents the whole or vice versa.
o Those wheels are expensive. (Wheels are just part of a car)
i. Metonymy–It is when one word or phrase is substituted for another which it’s closely associated to or
when something is described indirectly by referring to things around it.
o The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen pertains to literature as written works and sword pertains to military force)
j. Oxymoron–It is a figure of speech where incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
o Beautiful disaster
k. Paradox–It is a statement that appears to contradict itself.
o “Making peace after war”

2. SENSORY DETAILS-This are used to intensify the writer’s expression and to beautify a statement, context
or a concept.
KINDS OF SENSORY DETAILS
INTERNAL EXTERNAL
Emotions Gustatory(sense of taste)
Judgment Olfactory(sense of smell)
Illusions Visual(sense of sight)
Humor Auditory(sense of hearing)
Memory Tactile(sense of touch)

3. THEME-It is the topic or central idea, which is universal in nature. It is an underlying truth. It may be what
the reader thinks the story is about or what the work says about a given subject.
4. DICTION- It is the choice of words used by the writers. Good writing makes good use of diction.
Poor: The first poem in the book is a masterpiece in itself and quite a work of art.
Better: The first poem in the book is a work of art.
5. SYNTAX-It is how the words are arranged in a sentence or a line.

“Be brave with your life, inhale courage exhale fear”

Prepared: Ms. Ma. Rebecca S. Olorvida
SHS Humanities, Faculty Member