Abstract
Creative writing is a mentally taxing intellectual, artistic endeavour that requires special training in a formal setting. Besides the significance of experience in imaginative expression, there is the arduous job of craftmanship, where the creative writer perspires in bringing out the artistic beauty of the literary work. This accounts for why creative writing is taught as a course in different universities in the Global North and South. However, while universities in the Global North have well developed curricula for creative writing classes and degrees, there is hardly any of such efforts in Nigeria. In fact, there is a dearth of reference or resource materials on creative writing in Nigeria. Tanure Ojaide's handbook on creative writing is perhaps, one of the foremost efforts in Nigeria. National Open University of Nigeria has also made an appreciable effort by developing modules on creative writing. There is need for more materials on creative writing, especially from the perspective of creative writers. This will help underscore practical steps in the creative writing vocation. This paper, therefore, examines different principles and approaches that are indispensable in creative writing classes, with the aim of providing resource materials for students and tutors in creative writing classes. This study is anchored on qualitative methodology that deploys literary analytical tools. Besides the background discussion of relevant concepts in creative writing, this article also explores some practical reflections by drawing illustrative instances from texts, which are purposively selected from the three genres of literature— poetry, prose and drama. The analysis reveals different constituents of creative writing, which include: experience, inspiration, imagination and perspiration (craftmanship). The overall discussion demonstrates that creative writing is a practical exercise that requires a formal language and aesthetic training.
Introduction
Creative writing is a form of specialised writing that involves the imaginative and artistic deployment of the resources of language to convey human experiences in educative and entertaining ways. It is simply seen as an imaginative writing that characterises literature in the particular dimension, such as writing poetry, prose and drama. At the generic level, every written material is regarded as literature. Thus, we have religious literature, medical literature, chemical literature, geographical literature, historical literature, legal literature, and the like. However, at the particular dimension, literature refers to an artistic, fictional form of writing that is meant to inform, educate and entertain the reader. The practice of creative writing falls within the domain of literature in the particular perspective. For any writing to be stimulating, as we also have in journalistic reportage, it requires a touch of creativity. This implies that apart from the conventional practice of literary expression in the form of poetry, prose and drama, creativity is required in other related fields like journalism, auto/biographies, memoirs and historical narratives to captivate the attention of the reader.
Content
Over the years, creative writing has attained a significant place in the curricula of different universities in the world as a specialised sub-field of study, especially in America. British and African universities have also continued to adopt creative writing as a course domiciled in the Department of English. Scholars have continued to argue that since the technical and creative use of language constitutes the thrust of creative writing, it should occupy a significant place in the syllabi of universities. Tanure Ojaide (2005) notes that the enlisting of creative writing in the university system is pioneered by American universities. He observes that the delayed inclusion of creative writing in the curricula of African universities is because “African educational systems are generally modelled on European systems because of the colonial legacy” (p. 1). By implication, the influence of the European colonial system on African universities caused a delay in the formal teaching of creative writing in African universities. Ojaide further declares: “Africans who studied creative writing in the United States and returned to the continent must have influenced its inclusion in the university curriculum” (Ojaide, 2005, p.1).
Conclusion
The formal teaching of creative writing in the school or university systems is meant to enhance professionalism. As discussed, and illustrated above, creative writing is a serious, formalised skill that requires consistent training and practice. Apart from the constituents, features and elements that characterise the different literary forms, language learning and development occupy a significant place in the art of creative writing. The creative writer who wishes to write in the English language has to first learn rules of concord, tenses and punctuation marks. This is because in the business of creative writing, these grammatical and technical rules are indispensable. Also, creative writing is not a mere expression of ideas. It requires a creative expression of ideas to have both informative and entertaining effect on the reader. The various constituents of creative writing like experiences, inspiration, imagination and perspiration are applicable to all the genres of literature: poetry, prose and drama.
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Adebowale, B. 1987. Out of His Mind. Ibadan: Spectrum Books
Alaku, M. E., Akayi, I. Y & Okpala, N. V. (2024). “Creative Writing as a Teaching Strategy
to Effect Positive Changes in Primary School Pupils in Nigeria.” International
Journal of African Development and Sustainable Res 3(2): pp. 37-47.
Bamidele, L. O. (2003). Literature and Society. Ibadan: Sterling-Horden.
Clark, J.P. (1967). “Ibadan”. West African Verse. Annotator. Donatus I Nwoga. London:
Longman. 57.
Cole, S. (2018). Embers. Ibadan: Omojojolo Books
Coleridge, S. T. (1827). “Poetry: The Best Words in the Best Order.” The Socratic Method.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 'Poetry: the best words in the best order.' The Socratic
Method (socratic-method.com). Retrieved June 26, 2024.
Davis, L. J. (1998). “Who Put the 'The' in “the Novel”?: Identity Politics and Disability in
Novel Studies.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction Vol 31 (3): pp. 317-334
Egudu, R. N. (1979). The Study of Poetry. Ibadan: University Press
Iwuchukwu, O. (2010). Creative Writing II. National Open University of Nigeria (Noun), Lagos
Jonson, B. (1623). “To the memory of My Beloved Author, Mr William Shakespeare”.
Poetry Nook: Poem: To the Memory of My Beloved Author, Mr. William Shakespeare by
Ben Jonson (poetrynook.com). Retrieved June 27, 2024.
Kekeghe, S. (2020). Rumbling Sky. Ibadan: Kraft Books
Kekeghe, S. (2023). Broken Edges. Ibadan Kraft Books
McKeon, M. (2000). “Watt's Rise of the Novel within the Tradition of the Rise of the
Novel.” Eighteenth Century Fiction 12 (2): pp. 253-276
Ojaide, T. (2005). A Creative Handbook for African Writers and Students. Lagos:
Malthouse
Omobowale, E. B. (2004). The President's Physician. Ibadan: All Saints publishers.
Omoko, P. (2023). Kidnapped. Ibadan: Kraft Books
Piper, W. B. (1963). “The Large Diffused Picture of Life in Smollett's Early Novels.”
Studies in Philology 60 (1). pp. 45-56.
Reeve, C. (1785). The Progress of Romance. Bib. Note. Esther M. McGill. New York: The
Facsimile Text Society.
Soyinka, W. (1975). Death and the King's Horseman. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company:
Watt, I. (1957). The Rise of the Novel. California: University Press