Of Creative Writing and the Development of Self

Dig it! I bind myself to the theory that young minds have within them the capability to grow exponentially through the discovery of Self. Duh, right? Well, bear with some of the rhetorical jargon for a moment, put on your thinking cap and, perhaps, utilize a nearby dictionary or Wikipedia. In the end, you’ll get it. For, the method by which such an invaluable contrivance can be attained is through the intrinsic and wholly human ability to write language, to express oneself unreservedly by way of introspection then moving into extroversion of thinking. How, you may ask? Simply put- to teach creative writing, and through the literary view of Expressionism, guide young minds in reaching inside themselves to find freedom through prose, poetry, fiction and/or non-fiction; to unveil that which is sincerely their very own. That is to say, to discover their imagination and, therefore, their own voice through the power of the Word. I have been enlightened into the cleverness and skill that is involved with such an occupation as teaching written language as I have substitute taught such courses.

As I’ve already mentioned, my methodology of teaching writing is by way of Expressionism – literally to express – and synonymous with Expressionism is freedom. That is, by giving as much freedom (without forfeiting some semblance of structure) to students as possible. I have found that students enjoy writing about those things they know. Together with a snug push of inspiration, a teacher can motivate thinking “outside the box”. Sculpted writing assignments that demonstrated my desire to do this in an unproblematic and creative writing atmosphere proved to be quite successful if not outright empowering to those students who would have otherwise shunned away from picking up a pencil. Once more, free writing (with guidance) leads to imagination, which results in powerful words, ideas and realizations. In other words, it rouses students to advanced ways of thinking about language. In a proverbial nutshell, language is thinking and thinking is language.

Until narrative composition assignment in college, I hadn’t given much thought as to when I knew I, myself, was a writer. To me, it was what it was, and reflection back into that period of great personal academic turmoil truly brought out to me the sacrifices I have made over the years to develop my writing, my imagination and my words into a voice and style completely and utterly my own. These narratives on Self-definition were not just assignments to me. They were journeys into whom I could become and, more importantly, why I would choose to take the trek in the first place, to inevitably make a positive and constructive difference through my words.

Later, this would become my mantra, and along side imagination, this is one of the threads that will continue to weave its way through my work. For, if not for imagination, the purpose and force behind all great literary works would be nullified and void of any true command. They would be hollow. Hence, literary philosopher Jacques Derrida’s theory of Deconstruction would be horribly valid- that words have no significance; words are nothing more than applied meanings to otherwise dead symbols. To me, this is a magnificent untruth and worthy of philosophical rebuttal not valuable enough for further discussion at this moment in time. Perhaps some another day I’ll tackle that ugly monster. In the end , words are everything in the macrocosm of Humanity. To youth struggling with the idea of Self, creative, free writing can help them find innumerable answers to who they are, where they fit in and how to build that complex scaffold needed in today’s challenging world.