中文
HOME
HOME / LATEST NEWS / Content

Creation: a Personal Carnival?

June 19, 2017

Creation: a Personal Carnival?

Among the creative courses in SHSID, there are two Gemini-courses: Chinese creative writing and English creative writing. They were opened to allow students to enter creative courses through their clubs. When students choose these courses, their understanding of creativity and writing is very raw and tender. They are young, simple, and sometimes, perhaps, naïve. But upon completing the course, they truly expressed their love for writing, which was really great for the teachers to see.

Some people compare writing to brocading, and some compare it to building a house. However, writing may be more like a caterpillar in a cocoon. We can assemble people’s physical power to get a gorgeous brocade, or to build a strong house. But writing, seems to be a silkworm, bound to turn from pupa to butterfly, experiencing all the processes. Loneliness, shock, joy, pain, sublimation– like a desperate knight: lonely and tragic, fighting on while the outcome of the war is still unknown.

Taking the experience of our Chinese creative writing students’ one year of learning creative writing as an example, our students felt excited when they took on a pen-name, but they also faced some problems. They had to deal with unintelligible literature, confusion, dissatisfaction, excitement and other turbulent emotions. From their own plot design to the outline of their characters, they felt rather drained by the sum of their creative efforts.

In our community, there is also much controversy surrounding creative writing. While most people think that writing needs talent and cannot be taught, in our opinion writing classes seem to be able to create an effective writing atmosphere, regardless of prior talent. So we consider our optional course to be very precious, because it can give our students a unique writing experience.

The original intention of the book we put together was to show the students’ writing processes: five students, five completely different experiences. Hua Ling Hui's story was complete, her characters set clear. The more she wrote , the more she could experience the freedom and fluency of writing. Gong Yiqin chose a relatively alienated subject matter, which was difficult to handle. She experienced the deepest torture of repeated revisions. Yang Wenlin has an open and great mind, but guided by the course was able to draw her net tight enough to focus. Gu Jiayi has a wild psychology, so her writing subject matter and styles placed a large imaginary space alongside daily life. Li Aiming grew together with her novel’s characters, and solved her own doubts by writing.

Our Chinese creative writing achievement show is not for one person to enjoy. We are very grateful to the Middle school and Primary School principal Mr Liu Lian for applying his vision to the creative optional courses so that we could have this platform. Thanks to the director of Grade7-8, Mr Ni Minxue, for his support and encouragements. Thanks to Ms Liu Qiong for always standing firm behind us, thanks to our language group colleagues Ms Liu Suqiong & Ms Jin Jing, and Ms.Xu Chen for her selfless dedication at the time of final reviews and comments. As we all stay exploring in the classroom and writing at home, we would also like to give thanks for the parents’ support.

(Text: Chen Fan Editor: Lijiao Tian，Winter Liu Picture: Chen Fan)