SVSU’s English Major: Creative Writing
http://www.svsu.edu/english.html
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Writing in the Creative Writing Major
Why Writing Matters in Creative Writing
Creative Writing IS writing--with multiple
dimensions. Creative writers create experiences,
characters, and worlds out of written language.
Without good writing, creative writing does not
exist.
Typical Writing Assignments
Typical writing assignments in Creative
Writing include short fiction, poetry, and
creative nonfiction (which may be personal
essay, memoir, travel writing, or any form of
nonfiction) in which the author’s persona is
important. Although play scripts on the page
are also creative writing, SVSU's program has
not offered this category in the past.
Qualities of Good Writing
Good creative writing starts with the basics – the ability to write correct and clear standard
English. However, each piece determines its own special needs. In general, good creative
writing is specific, concrete, oriented toward the physical senses, made of perceptions and
actions rather than ideas and abstractions. Fiction tells stories; poetry creates experiences;
creative nonfiction may do either of these.
When a good creative writer departs from standard English or from the characteristics
indicated above, that departure is intentional and serves the purposes of the piece, although
the writer may not always be able to articulate the reasons.
Appropriate Types of Evidence & Support
Creative writers have to do significant research when
imaginative exploration points beyond the writer’s direct
personal experience. A writer may need to know such
details as the way a particular animal behaves, the exact
wording of a quotation, the technical name of an object,
or table manners in a particular culture.
The same skills used in
writing research papers,
including library and
Internet searches, personal
interviews with experts,
etc., may be required to
provide the writer with fullycredible details.
However, scholarly citations are rarely appropriate.
Occasionally an author will choose to write a footnote or end note to explain a particularly
obscure reference. However, the explanation is usually best contained within the main text
(for instance, as part of dialogue or a component of an image). Because the content of
creative writing is the imaginative experience the author creates for the reader, the test is
whether most intelligent readers experience the work as convincing in its own terms.
Citation Conventions
When necessary, most creative writers use a loose form of
MLA citation format because they are most familiar with
that style. However, the form of a citation depends most on
what the reader needs in order to understand the reference;
notes do not always contain bibliographic citations, and intext citations are very rarely used. Students should ask
instructors what is expected in their particular class.
References and Resources
See T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land,” for an example of copious and idiosyncratic use of notes in a
canonical poem. Read any good historical novel (a novel about a period before the author’s
birth) to see how important credible details are in creating an imagined world, whether based
on historical fact or not.