1 Insert Creative Title Here: A Discussion on Creativity Within the Writing Process Writing scholars and writing teachers

have discussed the writing process through narrow eyes (Langer, Perl, and Sontag). They discuss the drafting, prewriting, writing, reading, editing, and finalizing over and over again often neglecting an important part of the process. The writing process is often described as if it were a set of directions, and if you follow all the rules, you will have the desired outcome. Some scholars have complicated process descriptions by noting that there are many different processes, but even these still seem to imply that the individual processes are sets of directions to be followed (Hairston, Harris). Process is not as simple a concept as everyone has made it sound. In most descriptions of writing processes, creativity, if discussed at all, is limited to invention or prewriting. The implication that at the very beginning when writers think of their idea is the most creative part of their piece and then from then on it is all about, simply following the steps of the writing process. Of course everyone talks about their writing process and creativity and writing differently, and it shows how different writing can be for each individual: however, scholars and teachers might benefit from focusing more of their attention on creativity. There is a fine line, however, between creative and completely outlandish, and when no one has a clear definition of what creativity is, it starts getting thrown around very loosely. On occasion definitions will use the word creative/creativity and another word such as insight, and use them as synonyms making no distinction between the two words; making it seem that the two can be used interchangeably (Gtz). According to dictionary.com creativity is defined as, the state or quality of being creative and then

2 creative is defined as having the quality or power to create. So thanks dictionaries, you really didnt define anything at all. Robert Epstein, in his article Defining Creativity, explains how a behavior is creative when its variables are unknown and how creativity is put in a natural category making it impossible to define (Epstein, p. 65). According to Epstein then, the source of your ideas from is not a textbook, an encyclopedia, a magazine, or an image on television but from somewhere in your mind that is unknown to others. But then, Epstein, unfortunately, concludes that is cannot be defined because it is a natural category since it comes from the mind and is entirely subjective. In the end he also really does not make his definition of creativity any clearer. Creativity, however, can be defined. Pieces of work whether a painting, sculpture, writing, or other forms of art can be clearly determined to be creative or not. In his article, Intertextuality and the Discourse Community, James E. Porter argues what intertextuality is and how it affects discourse communities and creativity is deeply threaded with these concepts but first lets define what creativity is. For the purpose of this paper, I will define creativity in writing as; a subjective piece that does something different than originally expected; it is personal to the writer but also personal to the reader, and also has the ability to be complex through combining multiple ideas making variables unknown and limitless (Epstein). If creativity decreases, intertextuality increases, and interest within the discourse community decreases. However, if creativity is increased the opposite occurs. This is because creativity gives you something new to say to your community that violates what they were expecting, and when something is new the interest in that subject, topic, or object increases. So focusing more on creativity

3 generates newer ideas and makes the writing more successful because people will gain interest on this new idea and start reading and formulating there own ideas. In writing courses and English classes teachers seem to focus more on the writing process instead of creativity. Most of the time the teacher barely mentions creativity in discussing an upcoming paper, and that makes students focus on the basics: how many paragraphs, how many sources, how many words, having an introduction, body, and conclusion, discussing main points, etc. This is a major problem because the main focus of writing as a whole is the creativity in it and the writers ability to express something new and different. It should not be about following steps or checking off things on a rubric. Writing should be about being creative. The fact that so many authors do not even mention creativity in their discussions of writing is very interesting to me, coming from a school that is focused on the fine arts and deeply involved in creativity. I collected some very interesting data while taking a poll from students around my campus about whether or not their high schools English and writing classes focused on writing process or creativity. I went around campus housing approaching any student that would let me and asking, Do you believe your schools English/Writing courses focused more on creativity or the writing process? then once they gave me their answer I asked what their major was, out of curiosity. The results of this poll were that 72% of the students asked said that their classes were all about criteria and fitting the criteria, 18% stated that they thought they were a mix of both, and 10% of the students said they were focused more on creativity. So when I read all these articles about the writing process and the formula for a good paper, or when I sit in a class where the professor is telling the students that they

4 need an introduction, body, conclusion, 2500 words, 5 pages, and 10 sources I want to scream, That is not what helps students reach their full potential! I have had incredible teachers throughout my schooling, ones who have taught me a lot of things that I would need for the real world such as how to calculate compound interest or how much I need to exercise and eat in a day to maintain a healthy weight but some teachers have taught me things without even knowing they were teaching it to me. My sophomore year of high school I had a teacher named Mrs. Pavely, and she was beyond crazy. She was the first teacher I had that seemed to bend the rules with how an English class was meant to be. She is the teacher that made me want to write, the teacher who instilled a burning passion for writing in me. She had no book of tricks, no guideline on how to get students to write, all she had to do was take away that grade hovering above our heads. She made us write these crazy things called OPs, and occasional paper, and the guidelines we had were: write, about anything at all, just write and read it to the class by the end of the month. Focusing on creativity and not worrying about the formal issue [grades] helped students branch out to new things [unassigned reading, fictional and nonfictional stories, comedians, etc.] giving an intrinsic motivation to the students to help create better papers. These OPs got so interesting, everyone wrote about something different, everyones voice was different, every thing was different making it new and interesting for the audience. This is where the argument of what a good paper is comes up. Writing itself is something that is very unique to the individual: some people love papers that seem to relate exactly to them, some like papers that are factual and leave personality out of it, so what is a good, well-written paper? Many scholars focus on

5 making sure teachers are teaching strategies and helping students be strategic in the ways in which they approach a task (Langer, 842). But, how in the world are these formulaic and strategic strategies combining all the different styles of writing? Theyre not. This idea that I will call Plugging and Chugging, where you plug in your information into a formula then it chugs out the right answer, is not what makes writing good. This makes the papers all the same and boring as hell to read, the complete opposite of what well-written writing is. Creativity in writing on the other hand benefits students in multiple ways, and if teachers were to focus more on creativity not only would students want to write, but it also helps the students build problem solving skills, teaches them to be more complex, it makes their writing more unique and successful, and it also teaches them to take risks. Once writing is focused on creativity the change within the students can be remarkable. Michael Steinberg while discussing his involvement in, An experimental course required(ing) students to read and respond to a variety of personal essays, to write their own essays, and to keep a weekly response journal to the readings, their writing, and the course itself, notes that within a few weeks, it was easy to see not only the changes in the students own writing, but also in their attitudes toward writing (35). These students were focused not on grading, but the act of writing and getting involved in all types of writing. This broadens their minds to see all the types of creativity out in the world, and lets students find their own kind of creativity/nitch. This helps show that when it isnt about a grade, or a rubric, students get more involved and have a desire to write.

6 Another way that creativity helps broaden the mind, and thus, since writing is a type of thinking, can help students improve their writing, is discussed in a video on the TED network called, The Surprising Science of Motivation, by Daniel Pink. He discusses the Candle Problem, and how finding the solution requires you to broaden your mindset and think creatively. In this problem, subjects are given a box of tacks, a candle, and book of matches and instructed to attach the candle to the wall in a way that the wax does not drip on the floor. The solution is to use the box that the tins come in, tack it to the wall, and set the candle on the box. However, this requires the subject to think of the box as one of the available resources. Pink uses this problem to explain how extrinsic motivation negatively affects creativity, because once you are given a motive [grades] it limits where your mind goes, making it difficult to find the solution. He discusses a study done on MIT students and notes that one of the scientists says, once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skills, a larger reward led to poor performance(Pink Time quoting Ariely, Gneezy, Lowenstein, and Mazar). Once a student is offered a high reward they preform worse. Businesses are acting on this idea all over the world; people are trying to figure out ways in which they can get higher productivity, without incentive. One way that this has been done is by Google Inc. they have the Twenty Percent Time, it is this idea that 20% of their time should be dedicated to something other than work (Pink, 14:50-15:15). If Google had not done this many things that we use today would have never been invented like Google News and Gmail. This concept indicates how creativity can help students productivity in the classroom. Having that little bit of wiggle room gives them the ability to create new things and to get the gears in their head turning.

7 For myself, I have noticed that when I am involved and in-touch with my creative side, I have incredible problem solving skills. Thinking creatively is about being able to see not just one angle of an idea but also multiple sides, being complex with your ideas and finding multiple directions in which the subject could be taken. Once exposed to creativity you can think on so many levels and your options can be limitless. Exposure of creativity also helps facilitate productive risk taking. Within writing communities taking risks is a minefield (Johns, 515). Once you have broken a rule there are many negative and positive consequences that could happen. Part of writing a good creative paper, however, is taking those risks, bending the rules, testing the limits. Not only does this benefit your writing skills but it also helps you gain the skill for out of the classroom type situations. Taking risks makes your writing unique, making yourself unique, building character, and not being cookie cutter (Johns 515). This is an important concept not only writing, but for yourself as a person. No one wants to be just like everyone else. People want to stand out and be seen as an individual and with taking these risks in writing you are making yourself stand out. You are the person who was brave enough to break a rule that so many people hide behind because they have been taught that it is the correct way of doing something. Lastly, creativity involves a whole new level of complexity. Having the ability to tie scenarios, thoughts, images, and words all into one piece of writing is a very difficult and sometimes in the eyes of pessimists, impossible. With creativity being instilled in students they learn to do this with ease just from involving themselves as a whole and really diving into the writing that is for them.

8 Hypothetically many people will bring up arguments about creativity in writing classes. They could say that systematic writing teaches the basics and students learn to build off that, but in reality it should be the opposite. The idea of teaching kids to be all out of control and all types of crazy and then being able to pull it all together and create a paper that makes sense is brilliant. It is easier to be given a box and fill it up, then to have all of these items you want in the box and then trying to find one big enough to hold it all. In one of my classes there was the discussion that if you let kids break the rules and do whatever they want in writing, they will take that same idea and apply it to real life. In reality, if you start going around breaking laws and not following rules there are consequences, very harsh consequences in some cases, but in writing, breaking rules and doing what you want the consequences are more lenient. Such as not getting published, not being understood, not getting into the school of your dreams, or not getting a job; all fairly important things, however they are not set in stone. Going on a whim, trying something new, breaking the rules in writing, doesnt always end in these consequences. If you are doing what you want and enjoying it nothing happens except the development of a new thought or idea. If you are not creative however, you have nothing new to say; everything has already been done and said before. This is that concept of intertextuality; how everything we say, write, and do is linked with what other people say, write, and do (Porter). This is what makes being successful difficult because no one wants to read what they have already read a million times just by other writers unless you do it differently or creatively. What makes writing successful is if people are reading it. Depending on what you are writing about determines what discourse community you will be put in. Scholars have

9 many takes on what a discourse community is and how it is to be set up as, but the general idea is that a group of people have the same motives and goals, they have communication between the members, and want to support the common interest (Swales, Gee, & Porter). One problem that may occur with this idea of discourse community and creativity is that if you are too creative there will not be a discourse community for what you are writing about. Since there is no discourse community, there will be no readers, and no one reading your piece means it is unsuccessful. This is where the criteria of what creative is comes into play. Giving creativity a definition and a clear set of rules prevents a piece that is completely outlandish being classified as creative. Within your discourse community their will be certain forms of language and jargon that is acceptable and unacceptable, and whether or not you use it correctly and effectively will help make your writing more successful (Porter). So is it possible to be too creative, but saying that it could be a problem is not based on the fact that you cannot judge if something is creative by whether or not you like it, but that there are criteria within discourse communities by which they, as in the members of the community, will judge it. Some people would say that if we focus more on creativity students would not be learning anything at all. Their work would never make sense and theyd say it is creative to validate that it is not just junk. This is not true. Students can always fill a paper with nonsense to get the paper done. This is nothing new and teachers who are focused on teaching it correctly will know the difference between a creative paper and a paper that was written the night before. Creativity is also something that cannot be taught which is where teachers start having problems with this idea. Creativity is not something that a PowerPoint can

10 explain. On the contrary, that pulls away from the whole idea of being creative. This is something that can only be focused on and learned by a student if the teacher allows students to channel themselves. I am a student who is going to school to be a teacher, and so I know both parts of this argument. I want to be a teacher who instills in my students that creativity is what matters not whether your writing fits a set of criteria. I want to inspire my students to be writers not people who can write. Ive had all kinds of teachers; the strict one, the laid back one, the artsy one, the weird one, the one who youre not sure is even certified to teach, and the one that inspired me and made me who I am supposed to be. Those ones, are the teachers that I remember the most, and those teachers who encouraged me to go out on a whim and break the rules, do something different, and pushed me to my limits were the teachers who taught me all about creativity and they are the ones that I am forever thankful to. Creativity is a powerful thing, and if instructors focused on it more when in class we could be doing great things. It is not about getting a good grade; it is about doing something new and different. There are many pros and cons with doing this, but the pros outweigh the cons. So in theory, if creativity we focus on creativity we are not only creating better writers, we are helping create better people.

Works Cited Creative. (n.d). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/creative

11 Creativity. (n.d) Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/creativity D. Ariely, U. Gneezy, G. Lowenstein, & N. Mazar, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Paper No. 05-11, July 2005; NY Times, 20 Nov. 08 Epstein, Robert. "Defining Creativity." The Behavior Analyst 3.2 (1980): 65. Print. Gotz, Ignacio L. "On Defining Creativity." The Journal of Aesthetic and Art Criticism 39.3 (1981): 297-301. Print. Hariston, Maxine. Different Products, Different Processes: A Theory about Writing. College Composition and Communication 37 (1986): 442-452. Harris, Muriel. Composing Behaviors of One- And Multi-Draft Writers. College English 51.2 (1989): 174-191 Johns, Ann M. Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity. Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. 51-70. Reprinted in Wardle and Downs, 499-517. Print. Langer, Judith A. "Beating the Odds: Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write Well." American Educational Research Journal 38.4 (2001): 837-80. Print. Perl, Sondra. The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers. Research in the Teaching of English 13.4 (1979): 317-36. Print. Pink, Daniel, adapt. The Surprising Science of Motivation . Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y>. Porter, James E. "Intertexuality and the Discourse Community." Rhetoric Reviews 5.1 (1986): 34-47. Print.

12 Sontag, Susan. Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed. New York Times. 18 Dec. 2000. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. Steinberg, Michael. "Teaching Composition, Writing Creative Fiction: A Personal Narrative." Writing on the Edge 18.115 Oct. (2011): 34-40. Print.