J. J. Torres

A Final Moment:

A Look Back at What Moved Me in Creative Writing

Coming into Creative Writing, I had in mind a weekly barrage of impromptu writings that we all had to somehow master. However we worked in workshop with the other students. I had never worked in any kind of workshop before, so this was a new experience for me. I did, however, believe that there was going to be sharing of writing, but just not in the workshop form. My idea, coming into the class, was that each student had to present at least once, and when one wanted to share one’s literature, it was up to the author. I was afraid that the class might have had one or two students who would have flooded the class with either their emotional poetry or sad stories. So I was very relieved when that was not the case. However I found a very stable schedule that I enjoyed much.

            With that stated, I will start with what I learned about the conventions of lyric poetry. I already had a standard of poetry that I held myself up to: the Vedic hymn. Since I can remember the Vedic hymn has been the poetry that was read to me and the poetry I mimicked. What makes the Vedic hymn unique from Western poetry is the use of metaphoric and ambiguous language, rather than the emotion driven poetry of the West. The Vedic language rarely speaks of negative emotion, because most hymns are honoring the Gods of the Vedas; so the terms and language reflect that reverence. So I had to separate my style from this ancient poetry.

            Creating a more concrete image in poetry (instead of the ambiguous language of the Vedas) was something I had to master in writing my poem for the class. The Use of Image and Heightened Use of Sound (3-5) sections in the reading helped me in how to create a more sense driven scene for my poem. In my poem Bell Street Lightning I used all senses to create a vivid scene. Use of image clusters, the sense of smell and taste in the smoke and alcohol, and the sound of the muffling vinyl record were all aided by what I learned in the first chapter: What Makes a Poem (1-12). Creating a more vivid image, as part of the conventions of lyric poetry, is a skill that I now value much in poetry writing.

            Writing fiction was the most difficult obstacle I had come across this semester. I had no clue what really builds a good fiction piece. However the lectures and discussions on merging narrative and dialogue helped me out a lot. Before I would have probably written fiction that would have been heavy on the narrative (like a fairy tale narrative). However the lecture of the use of dialogue with narrative helped me in my own fiction. The workshop of the other fiction authors helped me in molding my own fiction towards more verbal scenes. Christi, too, had suggested that instead of a narrative exposition, I should have some dialogue narrate the exposition. The workshops and exchanging my draft with Christi helped me in creating a better rounded fiction which included both dialogue and narrative.

            An element I liked in the reading was found in chapter 20: Creating Tension (217-225). Although I did not want too much drama, I did want some tension in my fiction. I originally wanted to have the protagonist fight with the woman he encounters at the end of my fiction piece. However because of my fiction (according to my friend Ashley) being geared more towards a female audience, she wanted to see a romance instead of violence. The sections Conflict: Struggling Against Adversaries (218) and Stressful Relationships (220) aided me in how to create tension through a conflict that occurs. The conflict in my fiction was the immediate meeting of the two characters. Both characters knew their destiny; however one did not want to be part of their destiny. The conflict never arose past an inner-conflict. But if I wanted to someday continue my fiction, I could create a more of an action conflict (such as a battle in a war, or the death of one of the main characters). This goes in hand about what we have always discussed about in class, the piece of literature as a work in progress. If a literature is seen as never completed there is always room to work with.