Introduction to Creative Writing

What is ‘Good’ Writing?

© Sophie Playle, 2012www.sophieplayle.com

By the end of this session you will be able to...

Discuss and recognise the different ways of defining ‘good’ writing.

Activity

Feedback and group discussion

Subjective and objective viewpoints

Mini quiz

Today’s Lesson

Activity: Rank the Extracts

In pairs (or small groups), rank the three writing examples from ‘best’ to ‘worst’ writing. You should discuss the reasons for your decisions with your partner(s).

Remember: There is no right or wrong answer.

Time: 5 min

A Night City was like a deranged experiment in social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button. Stop hustling and you sank without a trace, but move a little too swiftly and you'd break the fragile surface tension of the black market; either way, you were gone, with nothing left of you but some vague memory in the mind of a fixture like Ratz, though heart or lungs or kidneys might survive in the service of some stranger with New Yen for the clinic tanks.

- Neuromancer, William Gibson, 1984

B The lucidity, the clarity of the light that afternoon was sufficient to itself; perfect transparency must be impenetrable, these vertical bars of a brass-coloured distillation of light coming down from sulphur-yellow interstices in a sky hunkered with grey clouds that bulge with more rain. It struck the wood with nicotine-stained fingers, the leaves glittered. A cold day of late October, when the withered blackberries dangled like their own dour spooks on the discoloured brambles.

- ‘The Erl King’ from The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter, 1979

C All that they gave me, my brothers, was a crappy starry mirror to look into, and indeed I was not your handsome young Narrator any longer but a real strack of a sight, my rot swollen and my glazzies all red and my nose bumped a bit also. They all had a real horrowshow smeck when they viddied my like dismay, and one of them said: 'Love's young nightmare like.' And then a top millicent came in with like stars on his pletchoes to show he was high high high, and he viddied me and said: 'Hm.' So then they started.

- A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962

Subjectivity – Personal Preference

Genre – elements that make up a predetermined formula

Subject – what the book is about (intrigue, character...)Style – how the book is written (language, narration...)Era – when the book was written & the perception of the

timesSocial influences – recommendation, prizes, movies...

Objectivity – Widely Accepted Criteria for ‘Good’ Writing

Ideas that are interesting/important/original Structure that is logical and effectiveVoice that is individual/appropriateLanguage that is specific, fluent and expressiveConventions that are correct and communicative

Super Fun Mini Quiz

1. 'Good' writing can mean different things to different people.True

2. The enjoyment of rococo (elaborately ornamental) prose, like the Angela Carter extract B, is an example of...

Subjective (personal) preference 3. Making up words is a trait of 'bad' writing.

False

Summing Up...

There are many subjective (personal) criteria of ‘good’ writing, e.g. style,

subject matter...

There are also more objective (widely accepted) criteria of what

constitutes ‘good’ writing, e.g. clarity, appropriateness of voice...

There is sometimes a lot of cross-over between the two categories. There

is no strict right or wrong answer. In order to create ‘good’ writing, the

writer must consider these points.

You should now be confident in your ability to...

Discuss and recognise the different ways of defining ‘good’ writing.

Thank You