The 12 Writing Crafts

8/13/2019 The 12 Writing Crafts

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The 12 Writing Crafts

and their Descriptions


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Creative writing is at the top of theeducational pyramid.All of our readings, observations,visits to interesting places,discussions and experiments have totake shape of some sort of creativewriting.It s what defines you.

It

s your signature, your identity andyou are remembered for what youwrite.


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There are 12 basic crafts ofcreative writing that we all needto know how to write.These 12 crafts make up thelanguage competency that everystudent must acquire by the timehe or she completes the primaryeducation.


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It must be prudent to say thatprimary education is all aboutlanguage competency, which, inturn, is the ability to write all 12crafts while following the fivesteps of creative writing

(Brainstorming, drafting,sequencing, proofreading, andpublishing).


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Following is a brief description ofthe twelve crafts. We hope thatthese descriptions will helpteachers in the classroom whilethey teach children how to docreative writing.


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1. Essay


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Essay is your point of view mixedwith some simple information arounda topic.The topic of an essay can be anobject, place, issue or a concept.Unlike research report which is moretechnical in nature, an Essay is alight reading.


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An essay should have one or moresentences for its opening.The opening statement shouldmotivate the readers towardsreading the essay to the end.


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The body of the essay should containinteresting information around thetopic.Rather than giving your informationdirectly, use examples and everydayexperiences to do the same.


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The closing few lines should makeyour essay memorable for a reader.That means well thought outstatements that should add someextra flavor to your essay.


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A story consists of: Plot Characters Setting


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The story starts with somethinginteresting that can grab a reader sattention.

The plot should have one or morethan one climax, depending on thelength of a story.

The story should end with an anti-climax, a point where a conflict isfinally resolved.


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The characters of the story should beinteresting.The characters should be suitable tothe plot of your story;therefore you should think of yourcharacters, their aptitudes and theirbehaviors before you start writingthe draft.


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The setting of the story should beconveyed to the readers directly orindirectly so they can imagine the timeand place where the story is taking place.A good story is a right balance betweennarrative (told by the story teller) anddialogues between the characters of thestory.Lengthy dialogue confuses the reader,whereas long narrative is simply boring.


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Diary


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A diary is written to list down all theinteresting things that may havehappened during the day.A diary has only the importantevents of that day.These events may be happy, sad or

just strange.


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You may write the diary of anunusual object (a traffic light, anoven or a board marker) or you can

write the diary of a living thing (atree, a guard dog or a honey bee).In each case you need to think of anumber of interesting events thatmay take place in a day of an objector a living thing.


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4. Letter


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A letter has three major parts.On the top left side you write the name,title (if any) and the address of the person

you are writing it to.Then comes the body of the letter andfinally you give your name.

The first and the last parts of a letter aresimple; it s the middle part the body that you need to be creative with.


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The body of the letter is usually made ofthree parts or paragraphs.The opening paragraph defines the

purpose for which the letter is written.In friendly letters, the opening paragraphshows warmth, whereas in a businessletter this paragraph states the purposefor which the letter is written.


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The second paragraph provides thedetails of the point raised in theopening paragraph.

It may include some numbers, datesor other evidences to support yourpoint of view.

It is important not to drift too faraway from the topic of a businessletter (more so than friendly ones).


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5. Poem


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A poem is a unique way of expressingyour feeling of joy or sorrow.The structure of language used should be

different from our everyday expression, asit has lots of images, similes, metaphorand yes some poems rhyme as well.You may think of a pair of rhyming words

and then try thinking of a pair ofsentences that may end with these wordsand you will have a poem that will rhyme!


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6. Autobiography


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Autobiography is the life of a personor an object from beginning till theend or the most recent times.

You start by conducting researchabout your subject.Find out everything about him or her

first.Then brainstorm and start writing inchronological order.


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Mention only the important events ofthe character s life and skip theminor details.You may write about the excitingmoments of the person s life as wellas his or her accomplishments.An autobiography is made moreinteresting by adding feelings to it.


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Sorrows, grieves, happiness, andlaughers make an autobiography apleasure reading.You can try writing autobiographiesof objects, animals, plants and otherobject found in the nature.The key is to see and feel thingsfrom you characters vantage point.


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7. Narration


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It provides details of a particular scene orevents to a reader just the way it was.A good narration has all the details, big orsmall, but it doesn t include any opinion orfeeling of the one who is writing it.The purpose is to provide as much detailto the readers as possible so they can

imagine the scene or the eventthemselves, without being influenced bythe writer s opinion.


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It is also important to usemeasurements instead of wordswhen narrating quantities.

For example instead of very tall say35 meters tall, and instead ofextremely heavy say 300 tons.

We may start with a brief descriptionof the event or the place or theobjects we are about to narrate.


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Then we can start describing eachsegment of the scene or the event one byone.

Narration of an event will move in achronological order, with the details ofevery new person or object as it appears.Whereas, the narration of a place will bedone with description of objects morecommon to uncommon.


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8. Interview


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Anyone can conduct an interview butnot everyone knows how to ask theright questions!In order to conduct an interesting aswell as informative interview, youfirst need to find out everythingthere is to be found about the personyou are about to interview.


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Then start thinking of questions thatmay be revealing and intriguing.It s important to find out the favoritecolor and the place of birth of theinterviewee but that s only thebeginning.What s more important are the factsand feelings hidden from others.


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Here are some types of questionsyou may ask: Personal information including family

education Achievements Ambitions

Memorable moments in life


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You may also try to answer questionsby putting yourself in the place ofthe interviewee.That would need careful study of thepersonality of the interviewee.Try to look at things from thisparticular person s point of viewwhen answering these questions.


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9. Dialogue/Drama


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Dialogue is an everyday conversationtaking place between two or more thantwo people.That s why the dialogue is written in an

informal or spoken language style.It is important to converse a dialoguebefore writing it.Without talking it out first, a writtendialogue doesn t sounds like aconversation, rather it starts soundingmore like an essay.


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A dialogue doesn t necessarily have to bebetween two human beings only.It may be done around animals, plants,things found in a home or heavenlybodies.The topic of the dialogue may varyaccording to the characters involved in it.

A dialogue may start with greetings andintroduction (if the characters are notknown to each other previously).


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After these opening sentences thedialogue should turn towards a topicof common interest.The characters may agree on aparticular theme or debate around itif they don t agree.The dialogue ends with good byesand a promise to meet again.


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10. News Story


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A good news story is based on 6 W: What Where When Who How


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The writer explains the event in a concisemanner keeping in mind the 6 w.The news story also includes some

quotations of the people involved in theevent.The writer s job is to make the news seemimportant and explain the more intriguingor interesting parts of the event to thereaders.


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It is important to report the unusual partof the incident rather than saying theusual things about it.As the saying goes: It is not a news whena dog bites a man, but it surely is a newswhen a man bites a good!Write the heading for your news story atthe end.Highlight the most important events of thenews in your heading.


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Research Report


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Research report is written to discussa particular theory, idea invention orthe problem.A research report consists of threeparts: Opening statement Body of the report Conclusion


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State the problem or the idea precisely, inthe first part.If you are about to address a problemthen it should be put forth clearly.In few sentences explain the whole issue,invention or development.Then, in the second part, use data,

surveys, and other information from yourresearch to support the point you havehighlighted in the opening paragraph.


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The information you provide in this part shouldbe verifiable, and specific.You may use charts, graphs and other tools topresent the data you have gathered for this

purpose.If the information you are placing in this sectionis not part of your original research then thosesources should be properly cited.Finally, in the conclusion part, you sum up thediscussion by making recommendations orsuggesting the utility and it should be practicaland relevant.


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12. Advertisement


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An advertisement has four parts:Heading Body Closing

Art or picture Contact informationHeading is written to get attention of the reader.It shouldn t be too long or too difficult to read.Also, it s not necessary to cover all the featuresof a product or a service in the heading.


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It is also important to write the headingwith the targeted audience in mind.For example a heading written for schoolchildren will be different from the one

written for old people.The body is written to give more details ofthe product or the service you areoffering.

Once again, it has to simple and to thepoint. Sometimes it is not possible toexplain everything, so you should writewith most important first!


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The language of the advertisement has to beinteresting and active.It has to be motivating and convincing.You should highlight the features of the product

by making good use of adjectives.Keep your sentences simple and to the point.By the end of the body of the advertisement, youshould be self-assured that you have convincedthe readers about the product you have to offerand now you just need to request them to availthe service or buy the product.


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Therefore, at the end, you ask them toappropriate action.The closing consists of one or two sentences andit contains words like: buy, order, visit us, calletc.A picture is worth a thousand words.Therefore we should be very careful whenchoosing it.A visual (that s what the picture appearing in anad is known as in the world of advertising) shouldbe selected as carefully.As a matter of fact, at least 30% of the space inyour ad should be taken by the visual.


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Finally there should be some contactinformation in your advertisement.If you would like people to come to

your place of business then give thelocation, but if it s something thatone can order on phone then aphone number with be sufficient.And what an ad without a websiteaddress, so don t forget to add it!


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Students in primary classes should go throughthe five steps of creative writing under ateacher s supervision (collectively or in smallgroups) when practicing the writing of each craft.

Meanwhile, the students of middle and secondaryclasses should practice writing a craft while doingall the five steps of creative writing independentlywithout much help from others.You may contact the EAST, if you are interestedin getting any further information regarding thewriting of these crafts.

Thank You

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The 12 Writing Crafts