Creative Writing - Why?
What are we trying to do when we teach creative writing? Some of the more pragmatic answers might include to improve students’ writing skills and to prepare them for exams. But creative writing also opens a window on the human experience of life, and I am grateful that I came across Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces a few years ago. I now think that it should be recommended reading for anyone involved in teaching writing. Campbell explores myths from around the world and identifies archetypal narrative situations such as ‘the departure’, ‘the call to adventure’, ‘crossing the threshold’ and ‘the belly of the whale’. Each one of these is enough for a whole module for a course on creative writing as well as offering opportunities to explore the cross-cultural themes of growing up, discovering vocations and coping with challenge. In my own work with students, I find there is an endless fascination with the wonderful opening of Dickens’ Great Expectati...