Essay topic 2: Overall description of your learning experience in LITR 3731 Creative Writing and its potential applications to your writing / teaching career.

Bethany Roachell

Importance of Acknowledgement

I did not realize that I still had a lot to learn about writing when I signed up for this class. There were other creative writing classes I have taken before and taking this class—I thought—would be a comfort zone from the rest of my classes. However, I soon realized that there was still a lot for me to learn.

Focusing on my short story piece, I realized that I had a tendency for author’s intrusion. Sometimes my sentences were confusing and awkward. With the help of classmates I was able to open my story with a dynamic opening; an opening where the “stories create tension at the very start” according to Minot on page 221. The book also helped when I was stuck closer to the end of the story and I didn’t know where to go. There is a section about “dramatic questions” on page 222 that give examples about questions to ask yourself which can help move the story along.

I have learned that anything you write there is a tendency for it to always be unfinished. For example, my poem “Ambivalence” has come a long way from the very first draft but it could still be worked on. It is not perfect and I believe it never will be—and I do not think I would want it to be. I say there is a tendency for it to be unfinished because sometimes it looks finished but you come back to it later and realize that there is a word here that might sound better or a sentence here that would make more sense.

Sometimes a piece of literature needs to take a break before it is picked back up and looked over. Then again, sometimes you might never find a way to change it and it is the best it may ever be.

After this class, I now have more of an appreciation for those who are able to write and publish their work. More so than I ever have. While I have taken a creative writing class before it never really dawned on me that true writers do let others read their work while it is in progress instead of hiding it until it is finished. The writer allows people point out his mistakes and help him figure out which way to go if he gets stuck.

Before this semester, I have always skipped over the acknowledgements the author writes at the beginning (sometimes end) of his or her work instead of reading them. However, now I realize that the acknowledgements are somewhat of the writer’s workshop. Even if it is just a doctor who helped the writer apply the right terminology for a scene in his book or a daughter who helped him get the lingo of the younger generation right in dialogue, the acknowledgements prove that even those who write for a living have help from other people. It never dawned on me until this semester.

While I had the basic gist of poetry and short stories, I learned that I can still fall into traps like author intrusion or believing something cannot be helped out anymore when in fact it can. The most important lesson I learned though, is I will never be able to write a hundred percent to the best of my ability without a workshop. And, with that said, I hope to return the favor for someone else.