Creative Writing for College Students
by
Babcock, R. W. (Robert Witbeck), 1895-1965; Horn, Robert Dewey, author;
English, Thomas H. (Thomas Hopkins), 1895-1992, author.
Many
years of facing students in several universities have
indelibly impressed on us that the main thing a college
writing course should do is to teach students how to write. By
teaching them how to write, we mean simply to place the main
emphasis on the more important forms, chiefly the expository
and narrative, and thus stimulate young undergraduates to think
in terms of whole creations, not of unrelated fragments, such
as relative pronouns, attributive adjectives, finite verbs,
correlative constructions, and topic sentences. In general, then,
the point of view of this book is that most writing is
essentially creative in intent, as is evidenced by the effort
of mind it demands. This is true of bad writing as well as
good since the former is only creative failure.
The
purpose of this book is to discuss the types of discourse as
directly and suggestively as possible and to set forth as
attractively as possible what may be done with them. In order
to accomplish these aims, we present, along with the discussion,
first, student themes as illustrations of what other students
have actually done with the types. Then, for comparison, we add
examples from recognized writers, including both classical and
modern masters. The primary purpose in printing the themes is
to stimulate creative rivalry, for it has been our experience
that most students do far better work if you put before them
papers written by other students — papers which represent positive
achievement in certain forms — and ask them if they can do
anything like that. Then you are inviting them to attempt
something clearly within the range of their own possibilities,
and you will find them rising immediately to meet the
challenge.
We do not mean to imply, though, that
classical illustrations and handbooks should be thrown overboard.
We have, as we have said, paralleled the student papers with
professional illustrations and we assume, throughout, the use of
a handbook of grammar and rhetoric. What we do want, however,
is to see both classics and handbook subordinated to the main
purpose of releasing the impulses and powers of these young
students to write! “Writing out” is of supreme importance; to
encourage it is our main objective in this book.
A word
should be spoken about the narrative chapters. They are not
intended to teach students to turn out marketable short stories,
nor are they particularly concerned with the rhetorical features
of narration. We have always thought that there is a middle
ground between these extremes, and in these chapters we try to
point it out. The student is told frankly that the ability
to put people down on paper plastically cannot be taught by
any instructor; it is a specific talent, which the most gifted
novelist cannot quite explain. But it is possible to teach
undergraduates the structural aspects of story writing and so
lay a foundation for the play of imagination. Thus the chapters
on narration develop the mechanical basis of plot by means of
exercises on chronological plotting, climactic plotting, plotting
a single characteristic, and plotting the effect of a given
setting. By the time the embryonic writer reaches the end of
this section, his attention has been focused separately on the
three main elements of any story. The last chapter then suggests
how plot, character, and setting may be put together; the
student is not told to write an actual short story, combining all
three elements, till the very end of his study of narration.
We believe that this gradual progress toward a definite,
artistic form provides a practicable writing program even for
the student who has no special talent for narrative.
We
have tried to keep constantly in mind the fact that this
book is written for young college students. We have tried to
remember the limitations of their experience. Our precepts and
exercises are intended to be suggestive, to open avenues of
possibility. This book aims mainly, therefore, to encourage
college students to teach themselves to write by writing.
R. W. B.
R. D. H.
T. H. E.
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
PART I
Formal Exposition and Informal Argument i
I
Types of Formal Exposition 3
II
Exposition of a Process 10
III
The Classified Summary 28
IV
The Summarizing Resume 47
V
Definition of the Abstract Term or
Idea 67
VI
Generalized Description 98
VII
The Character Sketch 117
VIII
Expository Biography 139
IX
Criticism i 63
X
Short, Informal Written
Argument 196
XI
The Term Paper 227
PART II
The Informal Essay, Narration, and Description 275
XII The Informal Essay 277
XIII Linear Narration 320
XIV The Plot Story 347
XV Expansion of the Plot Story 421
, XVI Description 459
XVII The Three Elements Together — The Short Story
XVIII The Fully Developed Form 540
Index 587
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