creative writing

Brent Israelsen

• Before joining the U.S. State Department, I worked for 22 years as a reporter and assistant city editor at The Salt Lake Tribune, the largest newspaper in Utah.

• I also worked one year as chief editor at The Tico Times in Costa Rica.

• Assignments in Italy, the Balkans, Cuba, The Hague, Kuwait, Iraq and about 12 states in the USA.

How to Write Creatively

How to write CLEARLY

Think of a time in your life when you were REALLY scared

OR…

Think of time in your life when you were REALLY embarrassed

Ce inseamna “creative?”

“A creative thing is marked by originality and imagination”

CREATIVE THINGS are:

artisticcaptivating

thought-provokingoriginal

imaginative

Some people

(McCartney-Lennon, Bob Dylan, Vincent Van Gogh, Steve Jobs)

are BORN creative

The rest of us

HAVE TO WORK AT IT !!!

How do we cultivate creativity?

How to cultivate creativity

• Reduce rules and limits

REMEMBER: Creative animals cannot breed in captivity

How to cultivate creativity

• Reduce rules and limits• Reward and praise

How to cultivate creativity

• Reduce rules and limits• Reward and praise• Show good examples

How to cultivate creativity• Reduce rules and limits• Reward and praise• Show good examples• Encourage playfulness with the language

EXAMPLE: “Cycle analysis” … “Suc de bere”

Being playful with the language:

• Ferry Schwartz’s job is to get bicycles out of the canals of Amsterdam. He has been doing this job for 12 years. He is not really sure why people throw bikes into the canals. He doesn’t care. His job is not “cycle analysis.”

The writer is playing on the term “psychoanalysis”

Being playful with the language:

• A young Moldovan woman is pictured on her Facebook page holding a glass of beer.

• A friend asks: “Este suc de mere?”

• She responds: “Nu. Suc de bere.”

How to cultivate creativity

• Reduce rules and limits• Reward and praise• Show good examples• Encourage playfulness with the language• Allow for failure

Think creativelyBackground

Mayor Smith yesterday listed law enforcement safety as his top spending priority for next year, shifting from his pledge of a year ago to make clean and beautiful streets his first objective in expenditures.

Think creativelyBackgroundMayor Smith yesterday listed

law enforcement safety as his top spending priority for next year, shifting from his pledge of a year ago to make clean and beautiful streets his first objective in expenditures.

How it was written Mayor Smith dropped his

broom and picked up a baton yesterday, setting law enforcement as the top priority in the city's spending plans for the coming fiscal year.

Think creativelyBackground

Ferry Schwartz’s job is to get bicycles out of the canals of Amsterdam. He has been doing this job for 12 years. He is not really sure why people throw bikes into the canals.

Example No. 2

Think creativelyBackground

Ferry Schwartz’s job is to get bicycles out of the canals of Amsterdam. He has been doing this job for 12 years. He is not really sure how or why the bicycles get into in the canals.

How it was writtenFerry Schwartz has never seen

anyone throw a bicycle into a canal. He has never seen a bicycle fall into a canal. He is aware, however, that bicycles do get into canals, somehow. When they get in, they sink. Schwartz gets them out. For more than 12 years he has filled every working day fishing for bikes.

Think creativelyBackgroundThe Bear River is one of the

most overused rivers in the state of Utah. There is a plan now to dam it once more, this time to help supply water to the population of Utah’s capital city.

How it was written:

The Bear River begins its journey as rain and snow in the wilderness of the Uinta Mountains. First meandering north, the river makes a horseshoe turn through Wyoming and Idaho before heading south again into Utah.Along its 500-mile route, it is dammed, pumped, diverted, piped and flushed repeatedly before it feeds into the northern wetlands of the Great Salt Lake.Soon, the river could be diverted once more, this time to end up in the taps and on the lawns of Salt Lake County, another 60 miles away.

Think creativelyBackground

A man was shot dead last night after he began firing a gun inside a fast-food restaurant that had just ran out of his favorite kind of chicken after he stood in line for a long time to get it. The man’s name was Gary Robinson.

Think creativelyBackground

A man was shot dead last night after he began firing a gun inside a fast-food restaurant that had just ran out of his favorite kind of chicken after he stood in line for a long time to get it. The man’s name was Gary Robinson.

How it was written Gary Robinson died hungry.

Some tips for writing clearly:• Avoid jargon and technical terms

BAD: The river’s biota exhibited a 100 percent mortality response.

GOOD: All the fish died.

Some tips for writing clearly:

• Use adjectives sparingly.

• Use verbs and nouns liberally.

Some tips for writing clearly:

• Be concise, precise and to the point

Avoid long-winded terms, such as “at the present time” when “now” will work just fine

“Book” is better than “tome,” “publication” and “volume”

Some tips for writing clearly:

• Use familiar language

A speechwriter for FDR once wrote:

“We are endeavoring to construct a more inclusive society.”

FDR changed it to: “We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.”

Acum la lucru !

Think of a time in your life when you were REALLY scared

OR…

Think of time in your life when you were REALLY embarrassed

Your assignment

• Write 4 or 5 sentences about the time when you were really embarrassed OR the time you were really scared.

• You CAN put your name on it but it is not required.

• I will choose some of your essays to share with the class here today.

Story Nr. 1

• When I was for the first time abroad• When I took the wrong decision• I was embarrassed when I spoke before a

group• I was embarrassed when I said something

wrong • I was embarrassed when I found out that I

have false friends

Story nr.2

• Two years ago, my oldest son scared me greatly. While at the playground, he climbed a rocket so high that it gave me severe stomach ache. Luckily for him – and for me -- he escaped safely. … he landed safely…. he came back to Earth safely.

Story nr.3

• As usual, Panama City Beach was the best place for me to sunbathe. People around there were daydreaming. Everyone was waiting for lunchtime when suddenly a shark came to greet us…. Showed up…. Appeared on the scene… came onto the stage… It was the most frightful moment in my life.

Story nr. 4

• One day in my English class, the teacher asked me to give a performance of Romeo and Juliet. It embarrassed me completely. Although my acting was awful, my fellow students spurred me on with applause. I felt a lot better after seeing the admiration on their faces.

Story Nr. 5

• I am not fond of reading. In my teens, I borrowed a book from the library and, amazingly, I read it. When I had to return it, I really needed to go to the toilet, which was outside. I accidentally dropped it into the toilet’s hole. Can you imagine how embarrassed I was after that? Well, you should have seen the librarian’s face when I told her! …. When I told the librarian, she was speechless…. at a loss for words.

• A long time ago, when I was a small girl, I was walking on a field close to a cherry orchard. Suddenly, out of the blue, a huge dog ran toward me. I froze from fear, and waited for it to jump on me, tear me to pieces and eat me for dinner. Just then, a little rabbit crossed the field and saved my life. Looking back, I can imagine the headline in the local newspaper: “Bunny Saves Girl From Vicious Dog.”

• The last time when I was scared was at my childhood. I was scared by a sname. It slipped across the path where I was walking. For some minutes I stand without any movement. After a few seconds, the snake walked forward and I continued my walking.

My most embarrassing – not to mention scary -- moment was when my husband, Richard Sillyname, asked me to marry him. I said, “On the condition that I keep my maiden name.” The scary part was that he might have said no. But he didn’t. We are happily married now. And I don’t have to carry around his funny surname.

• A bad dreamI was running too fast to stop immediately, no

words I was hearing no voices. Just my own step sounds and the fear was running near. I was scared by the night, night comes after every day. Tonight she was wearing the dress of anonymous.