Cainta Catholic College
Cainta, Rizal
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Academic Year 2020-2021
First Semester
UNIT 1 – CREATIVE WRITING: AN INTRODUCTION
Module 1: Defining Creative Writing
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the module, you should be able to:
1. Differentiate creative writing from the other forms of writings.
2. Learn the various genres in creative writing.
3. Explore creative writing as an art and how different it is from the other forms.
I. WARM UP (PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY)
Taking off the premise of the “word”, immerse yourself in a constructed reality of a world without
words. What would be it like? What forms of communication would arise? Write a paragraph on this
imagined situation.
II. READING ACTIVITY:
Read the two paragraphs below and answer the question that follows:
1. You may be gone but certain smells you had on you are still present today-your mother’s
carefully selected fabric softener that made your shirt small of lavender, freshly laundered and
then pressed. The damp earth after a heavy rain, that mix of acacia tree leaves and wet grass,
the dreamy scent of possibility. Your skin alive, and though hard to describe, pheromones that
when breathed, made one mad with desire.
2. Excerpt from “Concerning Odours” by Theophrastus
Odours in general, like tastes, are due to mixture: for anything which is uncompounded has no
smell, just as it has no taste: wherefore simple substances have no smell, such as water air and
fire: in the other hand earth is the only elementary substance which has a smell, or at least it
has one to greater extent than the others, because it is more composite character than they.
Answer the following questions:
1. Which of the two did you enjoy reading more? Why?
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2. What is the main purpose of each paragraph?
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3. Which of the excerpts would you say is literary? What are the characteristics of this text that make
it creative?
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4. In your own words, come up with one to two sentences describing the sense of smell.
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III. LEARNING DISCUSSION:
Defining Creative Writing
Creative Writing is considered an art form, but that might be too general in its definition. In the
same way that visual arts, music, and performance art are broadly categorized as art, the subject of
literature’s artfulness lies not just in the artist’s intentions, but also in the way that artwork is
received. The merits of using words instead of oil and canvas, or dancing need to be discussed –
there are as many ways of achieving art as there are forms of human expressions.
Genres of Creative Writing
Creative writing can be found basically everywhere, from TV commercials to funny signs like “God
knows Hudas not pay”, but for a piece of writing to be regarded as literary, one usually writes in
one of these genres: poetry, fiction, drama and creative nonfiction. This does not mean that forward
thinking writers do not blur genres’ but for a piece of writing to be considered literature, an output
under these classifications is accepted.
a. POETRY – literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a
specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and
rhythm. Poetry is a vast subject, as old as history and older, present wherever religion is
present, possibly—under some definitions—the primal and primary form of languages
themselves. The present article means only to describe in as general a way as possible certain
properties of poetry and of poetic thought regarded as in some sense independent modes of the
mind. Naturally, not every tradition nor every local or individual variation can be—or need be
—included, but the article illustrates by examples of poetry ranging between nursery rhyme and
epic. This article considers the difficulty or impossibility of defining poetry; man’s nevertheless
familiar acquaintance with it; the differences between poetry and prose; the idea of form in
poetry; poetry as a mode of thought; and what little may be said in prose of the spirit of poetry.
b. FICTION - created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a
true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and
novella. The word is from the Latin fictiō, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.”
c. DRAMA - the texts of plays that can be read, as distinct from being seen and heard in
performance. The term dramatic literature implies a contradiction in that literature originally
meant something written and drama meant something performed. Most of the problems, and
much of the interest, in the study of dramatic literature stem from this contradiction. Even
though a play may be appreciated solely for its qualities as writing, greater rewards probably
accrue to those who remain alert to the volatility of the play as a whole.
d. CREATIVE NON-FICTION - Creative Nonfiction, defines the genre simply, succinctly, and
accurately as “true stories well told.” And that, in essence, is what creative nonfiction is all
about. In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz—it’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and
techniques, some of which are newly invented and others as old as writing itself. Creative
nonfiction can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, or a poem; it can be
personal or not, or it can be all of these. The words “creative” and “nonfiction” describe the
form. The word “creative” refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques fiction writers,
playwrights, and poets employ to present nonfiction—factually accurate prose about real people
and events—in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner. The goal is to make nonfiction stories
read like fiction so that your readers are as enthralled by fact as they are by fantasy.
IV. ACTIVITY
Observe your family members’ conversations and take note of the words and expressions they
frequently use. Choose five of these expressions.
1. Part one of your output will involve writing a definition for each word or expressions using your
own words, as if you are explaining them to someone who has not heard them before.
Expression Meaning
2. Part two will ask you to defamiliarize yourself from what you know are the denotations or
connotations of these words and use them as if you were encountering them for the first time.
There is no one around to tell you what the words mean. You must rely on how the words sound
or even “smell” like to you, and incorporate them in your language.
REFERENCES:
Vasquez, LMV., Lee, G., Creative Writing. Manila City: REX Book Store. 2017
Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) “Definition of Poetry”. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry/Poetry-and-prose
Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) “Definition of Fiction” Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/art/fiction-literature
Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) “Definition of Drama” Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/art/dramatic-literature
