Hillary Roth

Final Review on Course

            The experience of a creative writing course is memorable and leaves a mark on you after its conclusion. I had no real knowledge of creative writing except from my sister who received her master’s in creative writing. She told me it would teach me more about writing fiction and how to enhance what I have stashed away. Before this course I had never written poetry and truly detested any course where it was the main focus. I was challenged when I had to write a poem and once I started, I found myself unable to stop. It was a challenge to complete a fiction piece but this semester’s experience gave me the tools to do it. I had never let anyone look at my works before, much less stood before an audience to read it, but I completed both of these tasks. This class has left an impression on me and will continue to influence my writing.

            The course objectives were easily met and involved in most tasks assigned throughout the semester. Objective 1: To develop a friend but rigorous Workshop presentation to produce writing and model instruction; this occurred during each workshop that I observed from my classmates to my own. Objective 2: To use draft exchanges to learn disciplined routines and cooperative relations with other writers & authors; this was also part of the poetry and fiction development for each of us students. Each of the objectives, all 1-6 were incorporated into the classroom each Thursday as well as into our semester assignments.

            Stephen Minot’s Three Genres played a large part in the classroom since most Thursdays we had a reading quiz and highlight. These passages contributed to development of the poetry pieces to works of fiction. We learned not to use poetry as an emotional outlet and to consider your audience when developing your fiction piece. I learned more about lyric poetry through the passages of texts and classmates’ workshops then I had before. Always in courses such as British Literature you learn about a large amount of individual poems but rarely the development of the work is covered. This course enabled us to get down to the basics of this art form. In many ways we treated the extractions as workshop pieces and developed an understanding of Minot’s view on the genres.

            Workshops and lectures contributed to the majority of my works progression and evolution. The reading, discussion, commentary, and draft exchanges that were filled in with a myriad of ideas and suggestions, were very helpful. I was motivated by the class to add more to the story and delve deeper into the protagonist’s past. This process only enhanced the quality of the work.

            Through the poetry and fiction I have written during the course, I feel that the knowledge from this class will only better my future pieces. This class has restructured my way of writing and thinking when constructing a fiction piece. Also, I leave this course with more knowledge of the poetry process and fascination with lyric poetry. I find myself now looking deeper at words of poets from the past and present. Fiction takes a large amount of time and consideration from a person. It constantly changes, each time you walk away and come back you see and think of something new.

            Creative writing is a course that you can use in a classroom through the use of the objectives, structure, methods, texts, draft exchange and workshops. I would recommend this course to those who are not planning on teaching because it will only increase your writing skills and appreciation of those who do write poetry and literature. This course has not been easy because of the challenges, such as sharing and reading our works, but it will increase your experience as a poet or writer.