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Creative writing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of
normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by
an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with
various traditions of poetry and poetics. Due to the looseness of the definition, it is possible for
writing such as feature stories to be considered creative writing, even though they fall under
journalism, because the content of features is specifically focused on narrative and character
development. Both fictional and non-fictional works fall into this category, including such forms
as novels, biographies, short stories, and poems. In the academic setting, creative writing is
typically separated into fiction and poetry classes, with a focus on writing in an original style, as
opposed to imitating pre-existing genres such as crime or horror. Writing for the screen and
stagescreenwriting and playwrightingare often taught separately, but fit under the creative
writing category as well.
Creative writing can technically be considered any writing of original composition. In this sense,
creative writing is a more contemporary and process-oriented name for what has been
traditionally called literature, including the variety of its genres. In her work, Foundations of
Creativity, Mary Lee Marksberry references Paul Witty and Lou LaBrants Teaching the People's
Language to define creative writing. Marksberry notes:

Witty and LaBrant[say creative writing] is a composition of any type of writing at any
time primarily in the service of such needs as

1. the need for keeping records of significant experience,

2. the need for sharing experience with an interested group, and
3. the need for free individual expression which contributes to mental and physical
health.[1]
Contents
[hide]

1In academia
o 1.1Programs of study
o 1.2In the classroom
o 1.3Controversy in academia
2Elements
3Forms and genres of literature
4See also
5Further reading
6References
7External links

In academia[edit]
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Unlike its academic counterpart of writing classes that teach students to compose work based on
the rules of the language, creative writing is believed to focus on students self-
expression.[2] While creative writing as an educational subject is often available at some stages, if
not throughout, K12 education, perhaps the most refined form of creative writing as an
educational focus is in universities. Following a reworking of university education in the post-
war era, creative writing has progressively gained prominence in the university setting. In the UK,
the first formal creative writing program was established as a Master of Arts degree at
the University of East Anglia in 1970 [3] by the novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson.
With the beginning of formal creative writing programs:

For the first time in the sad and enchanting history of literature, for the first time in the
glorious and dreadful history of the world, the writer was welcome in the academic
place. If the mind could be honored there, why not the imagination?[4]
Programs of study[edit]
Creative Writing programs are typically available to writers from the high school level all the way
through graduate school/university and adult education. Traditionally these programs are
associated with the English departments in the respective schools, but this notion has been
challenged in recent time as more creative writing programs have spun off into their own
department. Most Creative Writing degrees for undergraduates in college are Bachelor of Fine
Arts degrees (BFA).[citation needed]Some continue to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing,
the terminal degree in the field. At one time rare, PhD. programs are becoming more prevalent in
the field, as more writers attempt to bridge the gap between academic study and artistic pursuit.
Creative writers typically decide an emphasis in either fiction or poetry, and they usually start with
short stories or simple poems.[citation needed] They then make a schedule based on this emphasis
including literature classes, education classes and workshop classes to strengthen their skills
and techniques. Though they have their own programs of study in the fields
of film and theatre, screenwriting and playwriting have become more popular in creative writing
programs, as creative writing programs attempt to work more closely with film and theatre
programs as well as English programs. Creative writing students are encouraged to get involved
in extracurricular writing-based activities, such as publishing clubs, school-based literary
magazines or newspapers, writing contests, writing colonies or conventions, and extended
education classes.
Creative writing also takes places outside of formal university or school institutions. For example,
writer Dave Eggers set up the innovative 826 Valencia in San Francisco, where young people
write with professional writers. In the UK, the Arvon Foundation runs week-long residential
creative writing courses in four historic houses. In New Zealand, creative writing courses at
NZIBS are popular because they are home-study (worldwide) to diploma level. In 2015 an extra
service was added at NZIBS whereby creative writers get assistance putting their stories
on Amazon.com. Thus, earning royalties can become an outcome of the study programme.[citation
needed]

In the classroom[edit]
Creative writing is usually taught in a workshop format rather than seminar style. In workshops
students usually submit original work for peer critique. Students also format a writing method
through the process of writing and re-writing. Some courses teach the means to exploit or access
latent creativity or more technical issues such as editing, structural techniques, genres,
random idea generating or unblocking writer's block . Some noted authors, such as Michael
Chabon, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kevin Brockmeier, Ian McEwan, Karl Kirchwey,[5] Rose Tremain and
reputed screenwriters, such as David Benioff, Darren Star and Peter Farrelly, have graduated
from university creative writing programs.
Controversy in academia[edit]
Creative writing is considered by some academics (mostly in the USA) to be an extension of
the English discipline, even though it is taught around the world in many languages. The English
discipline is traditionally seen as the critical study of literary forms, not the creation of literary
forms. Some academics see creative writing as a challenge to this tradition. In the UK and
Australia, as well as increasingly in the USA and the rest of the world, creative writing is
considered a discipline in its own right, not an offshoot of any other discipline.

To say that the creative has no part in education is to argue that a university is not
universal.[6]

Those who support creative writing programs either as part or separate from the English
discipline, argue for the academic worth of the creative writing experience. They argue that
creative writing hones the students abilities to clearly express their thoughts. They further argue
that creative writing also entails an in-depth study of literary terms and mechanisms so they can
be applied to the writers own work to foster improvement. These critical analysis skills are further
used in other literary study outside the creative writing sphere. Indeed, the process of creative
writing, the crafting of a thought-out and original piece, is considered by some to be experience
in creative problem solving.
It is also believed by some in the academic sphere that the term "creative writing" can include
"creative reading" which is the reading of something not typically understood to be a creative
piece as though it were creative. This expanded concept further addresses the idea of "found"
materials being of literary value under a newly assigned meaning. Examples of this might be
product assembly directions being considered "found poetry."
Despite the large number of academic creative writing programs throughout the world, many
people argue that creative writing cannot be taught. Louis Menand explores the issue in an
article for the New Yorker in which he quotes Kay Boyle, the director of creative writing program
at San Francisco State for sixteen years, who said, all creative-writing programs ought to be
abolished by law. [7]
According to one view, authors sometimes borrow character traits from real people. Eventually
these characters are transformed into unique creations by use of the authors imagination. Since
the resulting character is distorted from a real living person, it is hard to say for certain whether
there are any moral issues involved. The best way to make a story successful is to make it
personal and to have characters or actions that happen in the story relate back to the authors
life.

Elements[edit]
Action
Character
Conflict
Dialogue
Genre
Narration
Pace
Plot
Point of View
Scene
Setting
Style
 Suspense
Theme and Motif
Tone
Voice

Forms and genres of literature[edit]

Autobiography/Memoir
Creative non-fiction (Personal & Journalistic Essays)
Children's books
Drama
Epic
Flash fiction
Graphic novels/Comics
Novel
Novella
Play (theater)
Poetry
Screenplay
Short story

See also[edit]
Asemic writing
Author
Book report
Collaborative writing
Creativity
Electronic literature
Expository writing
Fan fiction
Fiction writing
High School for Writing and Communication Arts (in New York
City)
Iowa Writers' Workshop
Literature
Show, don't tell
Songwriting
Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)
Writer's block
Writing
Writing circle
Writing process
Writing style
Writing Workshop

Further reading[edit]
Brewer, R.L. (ed.). 2014 Writer's Market. Cincinnati: Writer's
Digest Books, 2013.
 Cox, M. "A Dictionary of Writers and Their
Works." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Everett, Nick. 2005. "Creative Writing and English." The
Cambridge Quarterly. 34 (3):231-242.
Fenza, D. "The AWP Official Guide To Writing
Programs". Fairfax, Va: Association of Writers & Writing
Programs, 2004.
McGurl, Mark. The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise
of Creative Writing (Harvard University Press, 2009).[8]
Myers, D. G. The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing since
1880. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Palmer, A.J. "Writing and Imagery - How to Deepen Your
Creativity and Improve Your Writing." [Aber Books]2010.
Republished as Writing and Imagery - How to Avoid Writer's
Block (How to Become an Author). [Aber Books 2013]
Roy, Pinaki. Reflections on the Art of Producing
Travelogues. Images of Life: Creative and Other Forms of
Writing (ed. Mullick, S.), Kolkata: The Book World, 2014
(ISBN 978-93-81231-03-6), pp. 11129.

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Marksberry, Mary Lee. Foundation of
Creativity. Harper's Series on Teaching. (New York ; London:
Harper & Row, 1963), 39.
2. Jump up^ Johnson, Burges and Syracuse University. "Creative
Writing", 3.
3. Jump up^ https://www.uea.ac.uk/literature/creative-writing
4. Jump up^ Engle, Paul. "The Writer and the Place." In A
Community of Writers: Paul Engle and the Iowa Writers'
Workshop, edited by Robert Dana, 2(Iowa City: University of Iowa
Press, 1999).
5. Jump up^ JOHN SWANSBURG (April 29, 2001). "At Yale,
Lessons in Writing and in Life". The New York Times.
Retrieved 2010-10-15. Karl Kirchwey, who graduated from Yale in
1979, recently became the director of creative writing at Bryn
Mawr College, after having run the Unterberg Poetry Center at the
92nd Street Y for over a decade.
6. Jump up^ Engle, Paul. "The Writer and the Place," 3.
7. Jump up^ "Show or Tell - Should Creative Writing be Taught?" by
Louis Menand - The New Yorker, June 8, 2009, Newyorker.com
8. Jump up^ The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of
Creative Writing from Harvard University Press

External links[edit]
Wikiversity has learning
resources
about Collaborative play
writing

Wikiversity has learning

resources about Creative
writing
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Communication design
Creativity
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 Wiki Loves Earth photo contest: Upload photos of natural heritage sites in India to help
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World
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the human aspects of our planet. For planetary aspects, see Earth.
For other uses, see World (disambiguation).

"The Blue Marble" photograph of Earth.

A map of world shorelines and national borders under the Robinson projection.

The world is the planet Earth and all life upon it, including human civilization.[1] In a philosophical
context, the world is the whole of the physical Universe, or an ontological world. In a theological
context, the world is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual,
transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human
history, often in religious contexts.
History of the world is commonly understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of
about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present. In terms such as world
religion, world language, world government, and world war, world suggests international or
intercontinental scope without necessarily implying participation of the entire world.
World population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, world economy is the
sum of the economies of all societies or countries, especially in the context of globalization.
Terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags imply the sum or combination of
all current-day sovereign states.

Contents
 [hide]

1Etymology and usage

2Philosophy
o 2.1Parmenides
o 2.2Plato
o 2.3Hegel
o 2.4Schopenhauer
o 2.5Wittgenstein
o 2.6Heidegger
o 2.7Freud
o 2.8Other
3Religion and mythology
o 3.1Buddhism
o 3.2Christianity
3.2.1Eastern Christianity
3.2.2Orbis Catholicus
o 3.3Islam
4See also
5References
6External links

Etymology and usage

The English word world comes from the Old English weorold (-uld), weorld, worold (-uld, -eld), a
compound of wer "man" and eld "age," which thus means roughly "Age of Man."[2] The Old
English is a reflex of the Common Germanic *wira-aliz, also reflected in Old Saxon werold, Old
Dutch werilt, Old High German weralt, Old Frisianwarld and Old Norse verld (whence
the Icelandic verld).[3]
The corresponding word in Latin is mundus, literally "clean, elegant", itself a loan translation of
Greek cosmos "orderly arrangement." While the Germanic word thus reflects a mythological
notion of a "domain of Man" (compare Midgard), presumably as opposed to the divine sphere on
the one hand and the chthonic sphere of the underworld on the other, the Greco-Latin term
expresses a notion of creation as an act of establishing order out of chaos.
'World' distinguishes the entire planet or population from any particular country or region: world
affairs pertain not just to one place but to the whole world, and world history is a field
of history that examines events from a global (rather than a national or a regional)
perspective. Earth, on the other hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity, and distinguishes
it from other planets and physical objects.
'World' was also classically used to mean the material universe, or the cosmos: "The worlde is an
apte frame of heauen and earthe, and all other naturall thinges contained in them." [4] The earth
was often described as 'the center of the world'.[5]
'World' can also be used attributively, to mean 'global', 'relating to the whole world', forming
usages such as world community or world canonical texts.[6]
By extension, a 'world' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of
as inhabited, especially in the context of science fiction or futurology.
'World', in its original sense, when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain
of human experience.

The world of work describes paid work and the pursuit of

a career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life
and academic study.
 The fashion world describes the environment of the
designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up
the fashion industry.
historically, the New World vs. the Old World, referring to the
parts of the world colonized in the wake of the age of discovery.
Now mostly used in zoology and botany, as in New World
monkey.

Philosophy

The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1503) shows the "garden" of mundane
pleasures flanked by Paradise and Hell. The exterior panel shows the world before the appearance of
humanity, depicted as a disc enclosed in a sphere.

In philosophy, the term world has several possible meanings. In some contexts, it refers to
everything that makes up reality or the physical universe. In others, it can mean have a
specific ontological sense (see world disclosure). While clarifying the concept of world has
arguably always been among the basic tasks of Western philosophy, this theme appears to have
been raised explicitly only at the start of the twentieth century[7] and has been the subject of
continuous debate. The question of what the world is has by no means been settled.
Parmenides
The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' work is that he argued that the everyday perception
of reality of the physical world (as described in doxa) is mistaken, and that the reality of the world
is 'One Being' (as described in aletheia): an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole.
Plato
In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between forms and ideas and imagines two
distinct worlds: the sensible world and the intelligible world.
Hegel
In Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy of history, the expression Weltgeschichte ist
Weltgericht (World History is a tribunal that judges the World) is used to assert the view that
History is what judges men, their actions and their opinions. Science is born from the desire to
transform the World in relation to Man; its final end is technical application.
Schopenhauer
The World as Will and Representation is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Schopenhauer saw the human will as our one window to the world behind the representation; the
Kantian thing-in-itself. He believed, therefore, that we could gain knowledge about the thing-in-
itself, something Kant said was impossible, since the rest of the relationship between
representation and thing-in-itself could be understood by analogy to the relationship between
human will and human body.
Wittgenstein
Two definitions that were both put forward in the 1920s, however, suggest the range of available
opinion. "The world is everything that is the case," wrote Ludwig Wittgenstein in his
influential Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1922. This definition would serve as
the basis of logical positivism, with its assumption that there is exactly one world, consisting of
the totality of facts, regardless of the interpretations that individual people may make of them.
Heidegger
Martin Heidegger, meanwhile, argued that "the surrounding world is different for each of us, and
notwithstanding that we move about in a common world".[8] The world, for Heidegger, was that
into which we are always already "thrown" and with which we, as beings-in-the-world, must come
to terms. His conception of "world disclosure" was most notably elaborated in his 1927
work Being and Time.
Freud
In response, Sigmund Freud proposed that we do not move about in a common world, but a
common thought process. He believed that all the actions of a person are motivated by one
thing: lust. This led to numerous theories about reactionary consciousness.
Other
Some philosophers, often inspired by David Lewis, argue that metaphysical concepts such as
possibility, probability, and necessity are best analyzed by comparing the world to a range
of possible worlds; a view commonly known as modal realism.

Religion and mythology

Yggdrasil, a modern attempt to reconstruct the Norse world tree which connects the heavens, the world,
and the underworld.

Mythological cosmologies often depict the world as centered on an axis mundi and delimited by a
boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar. In some religions, worldliness (also
called carnality[citation needed]) is that which relates to this world as opposed to other worlds or realms.
Buddhism
In Buddhism, the world means society, as distinct from the monastery. It refers to the material
world, and to worldly gain such as wealth, reputation, jobs, and war. The spiritual world would be
the path to enlightenment, and changes would be sought in what we could call the psychological
realm.
Christianity
In Christianity, the term often connotes the concept of the fallen and corrupt world order of
human society, in contrast to the World to Come. The world is frequently cited
alongside the flesh and the Devil as a source of temptation that Christians should
flee. Monks speak of striving to be "in this world, but not of this world"as Jesus saidand the
term "worldhood" has been distinguished from "monkhood", the former being the status of
merchants, princes, and others who deal with "worldly" things.
This view is clearly expressed by king Alfred the Great of England (d. 899) in his famous Preface
to the Cura Pastoralis:
"Therefore I command you to do as I believe you are willing to do, that you free yourself from
worldly affairs (Old English: woruldinga) as often as you can, so that wherever you can
establish that wisdom that God gave you, you establish it. Consider what punishments befell us
in this world when we neither loved wisdom at all ourselves, nor transmitted it to other men; we
had the name alone that we were Christians, and very few had the practices."
Although Hebrew and Greek words meaning "world" are used in Scripture with the normal variety
of senses, many examples of its use in this particular sense can be found in the teachings
of Jesus according to the Gospel of John, e.g. 7:7, 8:23, 12:25, 14:17, 15:18-19, 17:6-25, 18:36.
For contrast, a relatively newer concept is Catholic imagination.
Contemptus mundi is the name given to the recognition that the world, in all its vanity, is nothing
more than a futile attempt to hide from God by stifling our desire for the good and the holy.[9] This
view has been criticized as a "pastoral of fear" by modern historian Jean Delumeau.[10]
During the Second Vatican Council, there was a novel attempt to develop a positive theological
view of the World, which is illustrated by the pastoral optimism of the constitutions Gaudium et
spes, Lumen gentium, Unitatis redintegratio and Dignitatis humanae.
Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Christian monasticism or asceticism the world of mankind is driven by passions.
Therefore, the passions of the World are simply called "the world". Each of these passions are a
link to the world of mankind or order of human society. Each of these passions must be
overcome in order for a person to receive salvation (theosis). The process of theosis is a
personal relationship with God. This understanding is taught within the works of ascetics
like Evagrius Ponticus, and the most seminal ascetic works read most widely by Eastern
Christians, the Philokalia and the Ladder of Divine Ascent (the works of Evagrius and John
Climacus are also contained within the Philokalia). At the highest level of
world transcendence is hesychasm which culminates into the Vision of God.
Orbis Catholicus
Orbis Catholicus is a Latin phrase meaning Catholic world, per the expression Urbi et Orbi, and
refers to that area of Christendom under papal supremacy. It is somewhat similar to the phrases
secular world, Jewish world and Islamic world.
Islam
Main article: Dunya

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by adding to it. (April 2017)

See also
 Globe
List of sovereign states
Universe
Ocean

History portal

Earth sciences portal

Geography portal

Environment portal

References
1. Jump up^ Merriam-webster.com
2. Jump up^ American Heritage Dictionary
3. Jump up^ Orel, Vladimir (2003). A Handbook of Germanic
Etymology Leiden: Brill. pg. 462. ISBN 90-04-12875-1.
4. Jump up^ Record, R (1556). Castle of Knowledge. cited in The
Oxford English Dictionary. World, sense 8. (Subscription required
(help)).
5. Jump up^ e.g. Sacrobosco (1230). Treatise on the Sphere. trans
by Lynn Thorndike, 1949.
6. Jump up^ World Canonical Texts
7. Jump up^ Heidegger, Martin (1982). Basic Problems of
Phenomenology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
p. 165. ISBN 0-253-17686-7..
8. Jump up^ Heidegger (1982), p. 164.
9. Jump up^ Contemptus mundi
10. Jump up^ Parish Missions

External links
Media related to World at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to World at Wikiquote
"World". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.

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