I think at some point everyone in high school had that English instructor that gave them the “creative writing” exercises that come in big books of student activities that teaches like to turn to when they run out of ideas. I probably have a little more experience than some with these as I was always a member of a creative writing club in middle school and high school. The question always remains: Do these actually do anything?
As usual, the answer isn’t simple. For me, the exercises are too cheesy to call for any progress in writing on a thematic or even structural level. You write them too quickly and play to a gimmick: “You’re late for class and need to come up with a ridiculous excuse” or “Write about the last person that made you laugh.” Of course, some of them can be more profound (a mentor of mine gave our afterschool writing shindig the assignment to write about a second-hand item we own and discuss what we think the owner may have been like), but even these tend to lead the writer too much and teach them that being clever is the only thing necessary for good writing.
On the other hand, these exercises do serve the purpose that the teacher giving them to you usually intends: they get you writing and they get you thinking creatively. While some kids have notebooks of limericks from five years old on, most young students would never even think of creating an imaginitive text and thus need prompting. It allows children (and yes, even adults) to understand that the written word is not simply for informational purposes but can serve to reimagine and reexamine reality.
My verdict? Basically, I see writing exercises as something that should be used only for very targeted purposes. When tackling a new genre (say… screenwriting!) you may want to try some to get the hang of the format and other pecularities of that genre, but overall a “creative writing exercise” will probably do little or nothing to inspire ideas or improve you as a writer.
Of course, that’s not to say you shouldn’t exercise your writing. Write something original everyday and – more importantly – rewrite something everyday.
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August 28, 2008 at 4:39 pm
gilliebean
In martial arts, they say you need to throw a punch at least a thousand times to get the form right! And that’s just the form. That’s not speed and power. And it’s throwing punches certainly doesn’t seem to do much for the intellect necessary to have a successful fight. Different exercises and skills come into play after you’ve mastered the punch (strike) and once you begin to spar with an opponent – it’s then a mental battle of strategy where you need to trust that your body will do what your mind wants it to do. And so, along with form and strategy, you must ensure that your aerobic and muscular health is also up to par – and so we add running and weight-training. So too, in writing, you need different exercises for different reasons. Write a sit-com spec for practice to get the format correct. Write a stream-of-consciousness story about the previous owner of your used bike to make the simple action of creativity stronger (like throwing a thousand punches). Learn the programs to know how to use them. At some point you put all these things together and hopefully write a screenplay of great significance – or at least one that will sell. But I do think that exercises have their place. Blogging helps.
August 30, 2008 at 1:00 am
T.
Thanks for the insightful comment! I definitely agree with you. It’s like when Kerouac would write sketch after sketch as practice in “creative” form so that his stream-of-conscious writing would have good technique.
The only thing I worry about is that prompted writing exercises make people feel that they are being original or exceptionally creative when really they’re playing into cliches. After all, what makes a writing prompt work for everyone is that it appeals the universal, which is often watered down into the cliche.