INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING

: Advance Study

MODULE 1
Creative Writing
 Writing that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often
unique, and poetic way.
 Generally, the writing process is a series of basic steps that lead to an organized
thought communicated to a reader. It involves presenting your opinions, impressions,
and insights clearly about a preferred subject or theme.
 It is a form of artistic expression, drawing on the imagination to convey meaning
through the use of imagery, narrative, and drama. This contrasts with analytic or
pragmatic forms of writing. This genre includes poetry, fiction (novels, short stories),
scripts, screenplays, and creative non-fiction.
 Any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic,
academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on
narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with various
traditions of poetry and poetics.
 Also known as “the art of making things up”, creative writing is a vital art of modern
society. Traditionally referred to as literature. It’s writing done in a way that is not
academic or technical but still attracts an audience. It can for the most part be
considered any writing that is original and self-expressive.
 Imaginative writing is a mode of writing characterized by inventiveness of situation,
perspective, or story, and distinguished from other modes such as expository and
persuasive writing. The term is used synonymously with “creative writing”.

GENRES OF CREATIVE WRITING

 Poetry b) Creative Nonfiction
 Prose  Drama
a) Fiction: Novels, Novelettes, a) Tragedy
Short stories b) Comedy
TYPES OF CREATIVE WRITING
 Poetry  Speeches
 Plays  Memoirs
 Movie and television scripts  Personal Essays
 Fiction (novels, novellas, and short  Flash fiction
stories)
 Comic Strips
 Song
 Short stories
  Blog
ELEMENTS OF CREATIVE WRITING
: Unique Plot (Plot Development)
Without a plot, there is no story. Without a story, it is a mere writing of facts on paper
which is not creative writing but rather, journalism. Incorporating elements such as Vivid
setting, underlying theme, Point of View, Dialogue, Anecdotes, Metaphor and Emotional
appeal, Similes, Imaginative language, and Heavy description.
: Character Development
The process and execution of creating a fully rounded, complex, and lifelike character
within your fictional writing with the purpose of making readers invested in them and their
life or journey.
: Underlying Theme
Main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a novel, short story, or any
literary works.
: Visual Descriptions
To evoke the readers imaginations having to describe characters, features, places,
events, and the whole story itself.
: Point of View
The perspective in which the story is portrayed. First person; the use of “I” denoting
that the main character is the narrator of the story. Second person; when the narrator is
speaking to you and uses the word “you”. Third person; uses the words “he/she/they” when
talking about characters.
: Dialogue
Initiates the interaction between characters and therefore gives life to the story.
: Imaginative Language
To use expressions through words and figures of speech such as metaphors, similes,
imagery, and so on, to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.
: Emotional Appeal
Manipulating how the story is told to eventuate an intended reaction from the reader
whilst reading the story by using words or techniques that makes the story emotionally
appealing.

OTHER FORMS OF WRITING

Technical Writing
 A type of writing where the author is writing about particular subject that requires
direction, instruction, or explanation. This style of writing has a very different purpose
and different characteristics than other writing styles such as creative writing,
academic writing, or business writing.
  Most of the writing in the world is under this category. Web copy, advertisements,
product descriptions, textbooks, encyclopedias, letters, instructions, and manuals are
examples.
IMAGINATIVE/CREATIVE WRITING VS TECHNICAL WRITING
Technical Writing Creative Writing
Factual Fictional and imaginative
Informative, instructional, or persuasive Entertaining, provocative, and captivating
Clear, precise, and straightforward Artistic, figurative, symbolic, or even vague
Objective Subjective
Specialized vocabulary Generalized vocabulary

In creative writing, most of the part is self-created, although the idea might be
inspired, but in technical writing the facts are to be obliged and the note is delivered from
leading on what previously other greats have concluded.
Most commonly, creative writing is for general audience or for masses, but technical
writing is for a specific audience.
The creative writing entertains people as it has poetry or some illustrations or another
idea, whereas technical writing may cause boredom as it follows a strong pattern based on
facts and is just to relay the information to the audience.
In technical writing, the specialized vocabulary such as scientific terms are used.
While in creative writing, one can use slang or evocative phrases or anything that can be
understood well enough by the audience.
Humor or satire might be useful essences in creative writing, but no such thoughts can
be used in technical writing.

Academic Writing
 Conveying data, knowledge, and information. It is orderly, organized, and procedural.
It can be very dull because it uses formal language and minimizes slang terminologies
as much as possible. It does not use pronouns like “I” or “We” because it uses an
impersonal tone. There isn’t style, and structure prevails. Examples of academic
writing would be books and book reports, translations, essays, and research paper or
research articles.
Imaginative Writing VS Academic Writing
Style is the chief difference between academic and creative writing. While creative
writing does not need to adhere to any specific style parameters, it is inspired, artistic, and
entertains with words, pictures, concepts, and meaning. Academic writing, on the other hand,
needs to be structure and executed according to a series of guidelines, it is rigid, procedural,
purposed purely to convey knowledge, data, and information. It is orderly, organized, and
follows a formula.
 Creative writing allows for a more personal expression whereas academic/scholarly
writing aims to explore an idea, argument, or concept, requiring factual evidence to support
and present challenges.

Journalistic Writing
 Used to report news in newspapers, broadcast in televisions, on radio or on the
internet. Journalistic writing has shorter sentences and paragraphs and gets on the
point quickly. It uses bold headlines to attract readers’ attention and the first sentence
or paragraph already includes what the story is about, these are some of the common
elements of journalistic writing.

IMAGINATIVE/CREATIVE WRITING VS OTHER FORMS OF WRITING

Creative Writing Other Forms of Writing
Fictional Factual
Personal Tone Professional Tone
Expressive Informative
Uses Figurative Language Uses Technical Language
Indefinite Structure Definite Structure

CREATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES

 Write about what you know.  Get your characters talking.
 Write about what you don’t know.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
 Read widely and well.  Keep polishing.
 Hook your readers.  Have fun!
MODULE 2
Imagery
 It means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a
way that it appeals to our physical senses.
 Needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification,
onomatopoeia, etc. in order to appeal to bodily senses.
 Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in literary work. Imagery can
best be defined as descriptive language. If you take that definition one step further and
apply it to the five (5) human senses, then the definition simply becomes descriptive
language that can appeal to the human senses. That does not necessarily mean that
imagery applies to all senses collectively. It merely means that imagery is the use of
descriptive language that can be appealing to one (1) or more of the five (5) human
senses.
TYPES OF IMAGERY [NOT NECESSARY]
1. Visual, sense of sight.
2. Tactile, sense of touch.
3. Gustatory, sense of taste.
4. Auditory, sense of hearing.
5. Olfactory, sense of smell.
Diction
 Can be defined as the style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words
by a speaker or a writer.
 A style of speaking or writing that is dependent upon word choice. It involves how
words were arranges, its appropriateness, effectiveness, accuracy, and distinction with
which they were used.
TYPES OF DICTION [NOT NECESSARY]
1. Formal Diction
Words used in formal situations such as press conferences and presentations.
2. Informal Diction
Uses informal words and is conversational. For writing or talking to friends.
3. Colloquial Diction
Uses words common in everyday speech, which may vary from different regions or
communities.
4. Slang Diction
Words used that are newly coined or even impolite.
5. Pedantic Diction
Used when writers highlight detailed or academic words in their writing.
6. Poetic Diction
Uses lyrical words that relate to the theme of a poem and creates harmonious or rhyming
sounds. It involves the use of descriptive language and figures of speech, as well as rhymes
and rhythm.
MODULE 3
In Reading and Writing Poetry, words need to be precise on several levels at once:
 They must sound right.
 They must have a meaning.
 They must be arranged.
 They must probe.
Sound Devices
 Words or portions of words can be clustered or juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of
effects when we hear them. The sounds that result can strike us as clever and pleasing,
soothing even. Others, we dislike and strike to avoid. These various deliberate
arrangements of words have been identified.
1. Alliteration
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected
words—repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually
on the same or adjacent lines. A looser definition is that it is the use of the same consonant in
any part of adjacent words.
Example: “The big bad bear bored the baby bunnies by the bushes.” “Shut the shutters before
the shouting makes you shudder.” “fast and furious” “Peter and Andrew patted the pony at
Ascot.”
In the last example, both P are reckoned as alliteration. It is noted that this is a very obvious
device and needs to be handled with great restraint, except in specialty forms, such as
limericks, cinquains, and humorous verses.
2. Assonance
The resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables either between their vowels or between
their consonants. Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the
same adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are accented, or stressed, rather than in
vowel sounds that are unaccented.
Example: “Rise high in the bright sky” “He’s a bruisin’ loser”
3. Consonance
Occurs when the same consonant sound repeats within a group of words. (Consonance occurs
when sounds, not letters, repeat.) Repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed
near each other, usually on the same adjacent lines. These should be in sounds that are
accented, or stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unaccented. This produces a
pleasing kind f near-rhyme.
Example: “boats into the past” “cool soul”
4. Cacophony
A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sounds helps to convey disorder. This is often
intensified by the combined effect of the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation.
Example: “My stick fingers click with a snicker And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light-footed my steel feelers flicker And pluck from the key’s melodies.
5. Repetition
The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer
phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a
central part of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their
unifying elements.
Example: “I was glad; so very, very glad” “Half a league, half a league, half a league
onward… … Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d…
6. Rhyme
This is the once device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words
that have different beginning sounds but whose ending sound alike, including the final vowel
sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme.
Examples: “time, slime, mime”
Double rhymes include the final two syllables: “revival, arrival, survival”
Triple rhymes include the final three syllables: “greenery, machinery, scenery”
Slant rhymes/half rhymes is if only the final consonant sounds of the words are the same, but
the initial consonants and the vowel sounds are different. When this appears in the middle of
the lines rather than at the end, it is consonance: “bald, held, mold”
Eye rhyme is when the words are spelled the same yet are pronounced distinctly. This creates
an illusion to the reader that the words would rhyme: “thorough, cough, bough”
7. Euphony
A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony and beauty to the
language. It is the opposite of a cacophony.
Example: Than Oars divide the Ocean, Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.
8. Onomatopoeia
Uses words to describe the sounds made by all living things including people, animals, birds
and all inanimate objects. Words that sounds like their meaning.
Example: bang, boom, crash, tinkle, crinkle, pop, crack, sizzle.
The Meaning of Words
 Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the
poet’s job to find words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will
carry the precise intention of thought. Often, some of the more significant words may
carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once. The ways in which meanings of
words are used can be identified.
1. Allegory
2. Allusion
3. Ambiguity
4. Analogy
5. Apostrophe
6. Cliché
7. Connotation
8. Contrast
9. Denotation
10. Euphemism
11. Hyperbole
12. Irony
13. Metaphor
14. Metonyy
15. Oxymoron
16. Paradox
17. Personification
18. Pun
19. Simili
20. Symbol
21. Synecdoche
FIGURE OF SPEECH
1. Simile
Describes something by comparing it to something else with the words like or as. Example:
“He was as quiet as a mouse”
2. Metaphor
Describes an object or action in a way that isn't literally true but helps explain an idea or
make a comparison. Example: “Life is a highway” “He is a shining star”
3. Personification
Occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of
anthropomorphic metaphor. Example: “Lightning danced across the sky” “My alarm clock
yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
4. Hyperbole
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. Example: “I'm so hungry, I
could eat a horse” “I've seen this movie a hundred times.”
5. Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt
when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Example: “Passed away” instead of
“died”
6. Alliteration
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected
words. Example: “The big bad bear bored the baby bunnies by the bushes.” “Shut the shutters
before the shouting makes you shudder.”
7. Anaphora
A figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or
sentences. Example: “Be bold. Be brief. Be gone.” “Give me liberty or give me death.”
8. Assonance
The resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables either between their vowels or between
their consonants. Example: "Rise high in the bright sky"
9. Consonance
Occurs when the same consonant sound repeats within a group of words. (Consonance occurs
when sounds, not letters, repeat.) Example: “Paddy's potatoes were prepared to perfection”
10. Apostrophe
Perch in which a speaker directly addresses someone (or something) that is not present or
cannot respond in reality. Example: “O moon, give me moonlight.” “Little lamb, who made
thee?”
11. Onomatopoeia
Uses words to describe the sounds made by all living things including people, animals, birds
and all inanimate objects. Example: bang, boom, crash, tinkle, crinkle, pop, crack, sizzle.
12. Irony
The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal
meaning. Example: “A fire station burns down.” “A pilot has a fear of heights.”
13. Allusion
Using statements as an indirect reference. It can be a historical, mythological, biblical, or
literary reference. Example: David was being such a scrooge! He is the Samson when it
comes to strength.
14. Litotes
Affirming by negating the opposite of the word. Litotes is a form of understatement, the
intentional presentation of something as smaller, worse, or lesser than it really is. Litotes
always involves negation. Example: Understatement: “it’s edible” Litotes: “It’s not inedible”
Verbal irony: “Well, that went smoothly.” Litotes: “Well, that wasn’t the best dinner party.”
15. Oxymoron
Uses two words that have contradictory meanings. Example: "Act naturally" "Alone
together"
16. Paradox
Occurs when a statement contradicts itself, it is paradoxical. Example: "This is the beginning
of the end" “Deep down, Anna is really shallow.”
17. Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the
specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
Example: “He has just got some new wheel.” “There were many hired hands in the factory.”
18. Metonymy
A word or phrase is used to represent something related to a bigger meaning. It is a
substitution of the thing names for the thing meant. Example: “I remain loyal to the crown.”
“The White House asked the public to remain calm during the crisis.”
Synecdoche vs. Metonymy - Synecdoche is very similar to metonymy, but these figures
of speech are not the same. Where synecdoche is the part of something substituted for the
whole, metonymy refers to a word associated with something used to represent the thing
itself.
19. Understatement
Occurs when something is said to make something appear less important or less serious.
Example: "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on
the brain."
20. Rhetorical Question
A question someone asks without expecting an answer. The question might not have an
answer, or it might have an obvious answer. Example: “You didn't think I would say yes to
that, did you?” “Do you want to be a failure for the rest of your life?”
21. Pun
Also known as a “play on words.” Puns involve words with similar or identical sounds but
with different meanings. Example: “Is rain wet?” “What do you call a bear without any teeth?
A gummy bear.”
Sensory Words for Describing Animals and People

Eyes Stature/Body Build Hair/Body Covering Sounds

Beady, Black, Blue, Bent, Big, Bulky, Bald, Black, Bark, Bawl, Bleat,
Bright, Brilliant, Chubby, Colossal, Blonde, Brown, Cackle, Coo,
Brown, Clear, Crooked, Enormous, Brunette, Coarse, Crook, Cry, Groan,
Dazzling, Dark, Fat, Gigantic, Graceful. Crinkled, Curly, Dark, Growl, Hoot,
Dreamy, Dull, Grotesque, Heavy. Feathered, Fluffy, Howl, Hiss, Peep,
Enormous, Huge, Immense, Large, Glistening, Golden, Purr, Scream,
Expressive, Flashing Light, Little, Long, Green, Gray, Long, Snarl, Snort,
Flaming, Glaring, Massive, Minute, Multicolored, Red, Tweet, Wail, Shine
Gleaming, Petite, Portly, Short, Scaly, Short, Smooth,
Glistening, Skinny, Small. Stout, Spotted, Straight,
Glowing, Gray, Tall. Thin, Tiny, Thick, White, Yellow
Large, Laughing, Towering
Oval, Radiant,
Shimmering,
Sparkling, Starry,
Wide

Ears Tail Complexion Personality

Droopy, Floppy, Flat, Long, Short, Black, Blushing, Dark, Bold, Ferocious,
Huge, Pointed, Stubby, Thin Light, Pale, Radiant, Fierce, Generous,
Rounded Ruddy, Tan, White, Gently, Happy,
Wizened Kingly, Mean,
Shy, Vicious

Sensory Words for Describing Objects

Size/Weight Color Texture Sound

Bulky, Colossal, Flaming, Dart, Bumpy, Crinkled, Thumping,

Enormous, Gigantic, Bright, Glowing, Fluffy, Muddy, Squeaking, Tinkling,
Huge, Tiny, Flashing, Dull, Pale, Rippling, Shear, Ringing, Clanging,
Immense, Huge, Flickering, Glaring, Wispy, Cold, Icy, Sizzling, Screeching,
Massive, Minute, Dazzling, Radiant, Hot, Warm, Smooth, Hissing, Humming,
Towering, Light Colorful, Shiny, Rough, Grainy, Rustling, Buzzing,
Multicolored Sandy, Moist, Dry, Popping, Splashing,
Satiny, Silky, Velvety, Thudding, Snapping
Oily, Slippery,
Uneven, Jagged,
Prickly, Hairy,
Shaggy, Cool,
Cuddly, Elastic,
Tickly, Damp,
 Downy, Hard, Slimy,
Sharp, Sticky, Sofy,
Gooey, Gritty, Dull,
Fury, Greasy, Earthy,
Lukewarm, Rubbery,
Tepid, Slushy, Wet

Shape Odor

Broad, Crooked, Antiseptic, Burning,

Curved, Deep, Clean, Fresh,
Shallow, Square, Fragrant, Medicinal,
Round, Oblong, Musty, Pungent,
Tapered, Many sided, Putrid, Strong, Sweet
Indiscriminate
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https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/sti-west-negros-university/creative-writing/sh1630-
creative-writing-01-handout-1/48887613
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/ateneo-de-davao-university/creative-writing/creative-
writing-notes-intro/17211154
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/holy-angel-university/creative-writing/11-creative-
writing-introduction/20664076
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/olivarez-college/creative-writing/cw-finals-reviewer/
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