Here are the guidelines:
- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I’ll be honest, this reading overwhelmed me a tad. In the beginning, it started to feel a bit like a repeat of the first reading; telling us how to add a personal touch to our writing and to not try and force a blanket format for writing but instead, be free-flowing with it. But then it started to get more in-depth. The reading started to progressively get more detailed. At one point, Starkey starts to say to “allow flexibility” but to also write about something that the reader can verify and do your homework with events that you write about. Luckily, though, Starkey ensured that you must do your homework only when writing creatively as part of a narrative and my life is so boring that I won't even go down the route anyway. There was a point where when he was talking about the fact-checking of your memories as you write and how everybody’s memory of an event won't be the same and how a writer has to learn how to be as truthful to your memory as possible but also make it believable enough so the reader doesn’t have to question in. It was a bit overwhelming but it helps to know that even though creative writing is a more freeing type of writing, there is some sort of rules that should always be taken into consideration when writing.
ReplyDeleteBethanee Campos
Before this class, I had never heard of Creative nonfiction. The reading read like a story, flowing like The Sein. I have written in the creative nonfiction format but never realized that that was what it was. For past year or so, I have written ethnographic reports which include the same key factors of creative nonfiction. I involve myself in them, describe the scene, tried my best to never make stuff up, and tried to include as many visuals as possible.
ReplyDeleteEthnographic writing was enjoyable for me, as it gave me flexibility in the way I would present problems or statistics that affected the public en masse. I would be able to include my own self into the narrative as I would take part in the events that occurred in researching and or observing the problem itself and the community that surrounded it.
I do not know whether I created characters, but dialogues did occur. I think, to protect the identities of the observed, I did create a persona, but that persona would embody everything except the name of the observee.
This chapter gave me a better understanding of how I would want to write in the future. To be able to make the reader feel that they are a part of the story will not only aid in the understanding but keep them engaged.
Jonathon Morin
The author David Starkey argues in Chapter students will be able to introduce themselves in a new genre called Creative Nonfiction. He says students will not write essays again as they use to write in High School. I think it is a good idea for studentss to be expose to different genres of writing and not the same essay structure that teachers taught in school. Journalism is not reliable like a common report because is wrote by an individual who give their concept to the reading. The author highlight important stuff for creative nonfiction genre like the writer have to organize ideas, be truthful with the readers, be creative and entertainment for the readers. I am impress how writing short creative nonfiction is less writing than an essay and a witer may ask how can I stay in one page having many ideas in the head. I like how the author in the textbook chooses many personal essays from other authors to taught a creative writer techniques and give ideas on how to perform a short creative nonfiction. Like I say at the beginning a good writer will have a good organization like finding a good title for the short creative nonfiction, have a strong thesis, good plot, characters, what is being discuss and a strong conclusion. It is important to be truthful to the writer so they can know what they are reading is a reliable source. In the creative writing the author says the writer have to engage the reader, be more creative using another genre like poetry, speak more about the opinion because its more like an opinion base writing assignment and being ethical is important element as well because writer can break the readers you can brake their feelings by not handling the situation in a proper way.
ReplyDeleteOscar Alberto Jacome Serrano
After reading this chapter, I have learned more about creative nonfiction in an hour than I ever did in high school or from my previous English classes. For starters, David Starkey does a fantastic job of explaining that creative nonfiction is not your typical essay that students have written. What I really liked about this reading involved Starkey’s integration of another author’s work to distinguish the difference between creative and regular nonfiction. Creative nonfiction is all about letting your imagination take you on a journey and share it with others using distinctive components. These components involve self-exploration, veracity, flexibility, and personal presence that Robert Root and Michael Steinberg mention on page 171. I liked that Starkey discussed Root and Steinberg’s creative nonfiction piece because many readers will have trouble understanding what the main differences are. That is something that Starkey did well: he actually used the works of multiple authors to basically explain that creative nonfiction is thriving and understood by so many different people. Personally, I have never written creative nonfiction and Starkey was right about that; most people like myself have not even heard about that genre. After fully understanding what creative nonfiction has to offer, I look forward to writing a story to see what I can come up with.
ReplyDeleteAlec De La Garza
To be honest I never really was a fan of non-fiction, usually I associate it with history or someone else own telling. So reading this really opened my eyes about the genre and really explain the differences between a non-fiction genre and a creative non-fiction. I think when most of us hear the word non-fiction we all groan and sigh. What reading this has taught me that it really can be exciting and that I’ve been misjudging this genre for a while now, that it should has some positive recognition just as any other genre. Honestly after this I started to search up the word non-fiction and realized there is a lot of interesting books and writing out there for this genre! I feel that most readers and writers need to be more open about the genre, I’m sure there is a lot of us out there that have never written non-fiction before. I’m really looking forward into trying to do that for this time, I think Starkey has really opened a new door for me when talking about creative non-fiction. Now I’m not dreading it so much anymore and really looking forward to what I can write about in this genre.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Rangel
After looking at this selection, I feel more familiar with creative nonfiction due to Starkey brilliantly explaining that creative nonfiction is not really your everyday essays that have been written before. What I found interesting was how Starkey strived to use other author’s work to really show the difference between regular and creative nonfiction. Obviously a characteristic that creative nonfiction has is that it allows the author to let their imagination run free but is able to lay it out in a way that could be shared with readers. This involves many other characteristics such as flexibility, self-exploration, and many others that could be found on page 171. Overall, I believe what Starkey did very well was use pieces from different authors that creative nonfiction can be used and seen different in many different point of views. Like I mentioned, I am just becoming familiar with this type of genre for I have yet to write a piece like that. When Starkey mentions that this genre is rare and never really usually heard of, he is correct. With that said, with the knowledge I have picked up from this piece, I am curious to see what kind of piece I could possibly put together.
ReplyDeleteClarissa Partida
Starkey said it perfect that writing a another descriptive or research essay would make me queasy! I have not written a creative nonfiction story before. It is something that I am looking forward too! Two things stood out to me when talking about the book of Robert Root and Michael Steinberg. First, requiring a personal presence in our essays. I feel this can be a great way to express emotions we have kept inside of us and put them into paper. I always feel when reading novels that it is great for the writer to reveal a great deal about themselves. Even if it is in a beginning or ending of a novel. I feel the author always makes a great impression on me when I read his personal presence in the novel. Second, the demand of self-discovery and self-exploration. This is the most important thing I want to do in my writing is discover and explore myself and others work. I feel like I'm trying to find my lane in writing and where are my strengths and weaknesses. I want to explore these emotions and put them into the perfect words. A creative nonfiction story will be a perfect way to reflect on my personal experiences I put into paper.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Sanchez
Reading this selection expanded my knowledge on what Creative Non-Fiction is and allowed me to be aware that non-fiction is not always an autobiography nor a history book. It shows to me that I have never written a Creative Non-Fiction writing before and am excited to dabble into it. The characteristics found on (page 171) are flexibility, self-exploration, personal presence and self-discovery. This genre is quite fascinating because it is something I have never worked on and these characteristics are all things that I stand by. To be a flexible writer is to take risks and a leap of faith with confidence in one’s writing. Self-exploration is simply being a creative being willing to explore with oneself and self-discovery is finding out more about one’s self. Creative Non-Fiction writers are like Robert Root and Michael Steinberg. Personally, I am not familiar with their work at all, but I plan to do my research to see what they are all about. Writing in this genre will allow me to reflect on my personal life experiences. Starkey has shown my classmates and I that it this is not really a talked about genre, but should be and is something I feel really encouraged to try.
ReplyDeleteKrista Olivarez
After I read this selection, it made me think back about my senior year in High School and when my English/Literature/Rhetoric teachers would tell us some of their stories, poems or chapters of something they were writing. A lot of the times when someone writes something personal I don’t think they say everything they experience word for word. Some things they exaggerate, or they change names, or leave out some parts. This connected me with creative non fiction because it happened, its not fiction, but it is creative in the sense that some things are different.
ReplyDeleteIn page 190 memory is mentioned, and it talks about how your memory isn’t always right but it’s coming from you and how you saw things, or how you feel about certain things. This means that your point of view could be different than someone else's, which is also mentioned in this page. When in a situation you see things one way but the person standing across the room might be seeing them differently because of the angle they are in, the situation, the people involved etc. Everyone remembers a story differently even if it is something small because everyone takes everything differently, emotions come into play as well.
When I think of non-fiction I think about History or autobiographies, but creative nonfiction does not necessarily have to be that, it’s facts stated differently in a more fun way and I liked that I was able to learn about a genre that I might have read before but did not know the term for it.
-Cecilia Cantu
As far as informative academic texts go, this is probably one of the best I’ve read. It is certainly well composed and does an excellent job of conveying its information. I doubt many people could have accurately defined the creative non-fiction genre prior to this reading. Even though the concept is simple I think most would come up with a different definition for it. Starkey came to the same conclusion I did with regards to what creative non-fiction is. From the stories, I provided I assumed that creative nonfiction describes a self-informative piece with a poetic flair meant to entertain. These are, at least for someone like me, the easiest things to write. Most other forms of literature bear themselves in a way which requires extensive analysis and revision. This usually only satisfies the need for a story to be somewhat enjoyable. In no way would it guarantee you’ve produced a good work. Creative non-fiction is different. Virtually all people are incredibly interesting. If you’ve any talent for it, you can translate most of these scenes from your life with a flair. Most of us could certainly pan out to telling compelling tales of our life. It is a solid aspiration.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Hinkle