LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Student Journal / Portfolio Sample Submission 2005
Alissa Tupa
Introduction
Creative Writing was the class that I could not wait to take, but when I got in there I was really nervous. I felt like dropping it (but I knew I couldn’t). I did not realize that we would have to share our work with the class—I thought we would only show it to the instructor. However, after being worried for weeks, I realized that showing our work to the class was the best thing! Everyone was really helpful and helped me to see things that I didn’t see and offered opinions on how it might work better. It is better to get an opinion from more than just one person. I wish that we would have had to show all three of our pieces to the class instead of two. I think that I have really benefited from showing my work. I think that now I am less of a chicken and that I received some really good ideas.
Although I could not wait to take this class, I really did not know what to expect. I did not know if we were going to be given prompts like: “Write a poem about your favorite season” or what we were going to be told. I do have to say that I like how we were told what genre to write and that was it. I like how we got to come up with our own ideas for our work. You could really see a difference in people’s interests when we read each other’s work in class.
I really think that the Three Genres book really helped. To be honest, I’ve never actually read a textbook before whether it was required or not. I found the book to be really helpful in inspiring ideas and instruction of what is right and wrong or good and bad. I also thought it was easier to read than most textbooks are. I do not think I could have written my poem without it.
I am really proud of my poem “Beach Days.” When I turned it in, one thing you asked me was “where was it going?” I had never thought about it—it was just supposed to be about what I see and feel when I’m at the beach, but since you raised the question, it has often been on my mind. I find myself driving in my car wondering what I could do to give it more of an ending. Finally, this morning an idea popped into my head, but due to time, I cannot work on it now. I was thinking of saying something about the sun setting or trying to show that the day is getting later and it is time to go home. I do not know just yet. Honestly, although it had been on my mind, I really did not think that it would ever get changed, but now there is a possibility that it might. Maybe this summer when I am sitting here with my baby, I will find the right ending.
I could not wait to write my fiction scene. I’d had the idea of what I wanted to write for a long time and I had all these scenes in my head, but when it came down to writing them down, it was harder than I thought. I got my inspiration by thinking about what would have happened if my husband and I did not stay together at the time and what would have happened after all those years apart. I had wanted to start working on my fiction as soon as the semester started, but I did not get the chance. When I finally did sit down to write it, I was a bit rushed. However, I think that it came out pretty good. You told me to look at the parts that seemed to slow the story down, but again, I just have not had time to look at it again. After writing it, I was not sure if I would continue to work on the story or at least not for a long time. I decided to graduate with a Bachelor’s in Lit. instead of getting my teaching certification, (but I did not decide on this until after the graduation application deadline and I have to wait until summer) so after this semester I am finished with school and will stay home with the baby for a few years. I am hoping that in my spare time (if I have any!) I will get a chance to continue on with my story.
From the criticisms I received in class, I learned where my story did not make sense and what I could do to make it clearer. I also learned what people wanted to know more about and what types of things may be interesting in the story.
This was the hardest thing for me to write. It was hard because I could not think of what to do. Every time I told my husband and idea he would say, “That’s dumb.” (Real nice, huh?) Finally, one day I was talking to Tara and I told her one of my ideas and she thought it sounded good, so I decided to go with that one. This play is what has happened to me on several substituting jobs combined. Needless to say, these were my last days subbing for elementary. I started my play with the teacher speaking just as if you were in a real classroom and went from there. I also tried to make the students sound like they really were young. After hearing it in the class, I thought it was better than I did when I was passing them out. I could not believe that people actually laughed! It also felt good that some people seemed to get into the roles (like they did in every play). I do not think my play was as bad as I had originally thought.
This is the hardest revision for me because I hardly received any criticism. Almost everything in class was, “I really liked…” Not that it does not seem nice, but I really did not know what to change. I took Bonnie’s advice to have the teacher come in at the end, but also took your suggestion to keep you (the principal) at the end too. I thought the idea of one of them messing in their pants seemed like a good idea, but it did not go with being sick. I added a few more directions than in my original play because I realized when we were reading it that maybe it should say how they say the line. Besides those things, there was nothing written on my paper to change. Plus, after seeing / hearing it acted out, I like the way it turned out.
Conclusion
When I signed up for this class I thought it was going to be a breeze even though I had not written anything except for papers in years. It has been a long time since I have had to write for creativity. I found that it was harder than writing papers because it all had to come from my imagination—nothing that I might have heard in lecture or read in a book, but I do have to say that it was much more fun than writing papers!
This was my favorite class this semester, both to sit through and do the work for. Class was so much fun. I actually never wanted to miss it. I loved hearing people’s poems, stories, and dramas. On the days that I was not there I would get on the website and print out the stories so that I could read what I missed. I think the dramas were the best. Everyone’s plays were so funny and I cannot imagine how some of them came up with the ideas that they did. I always tell people who have not taken this class to take it because it is so much fun.
I learned a lot about myself as a writer in this class. I learned that I am not the best writer, but that I can always improve and that it just takes practice and maybe other’s to read it. Our class was a really good class and never said anything rude to anyone, they always had something positive to say.
I was really nervous about writing this journal, but after looking at Jessica Bacon’s and Giselle Hewitt’s, I had more of an idea of what you wanted. I was completely confused, but theirs were nice and simple, but seemed to contain everything you asked for.
There was so much that I want to say about this class, but I just can’t get it all out. I just wanted to say again how much I enjoyed this class and how I will always remember what I learned in it.