Creative Writing and Journalism, Essay Example

Looking back on my entire education, it has helped me through the years to discover my real passion: writing. The books, resources, and essays reviewed during my educational journey have provided useful information about what writing should be about. Creative writing, essay writing, book, play, and movie writing have been covered in the literature classes. Literature is any writing in which form and expressions are put together in connection with universal and permanent interest as essential and characteristic features. Literature classes have been an important tool to me in creative writing and journalism as a career. When writing essays, movie, play, book, and many other forms of writing literature knowledge and skills are used. It is because all these writings are about putting together different ideas and stories to form a meaningful article or information. The knowledge about literature and the process of putting ideas on paper was complemented by other studies, such as humanities; social sciences, economics, and philosophy. It is because, as a journalist or creative writer, one will interact with different people when collecting ideas, information, and opinions. However, the journalist should understand the cultures of different people he/she will interact and socialize with in the field. Journalist needs to understand the fundamental problems affecting people and how they are spending in various economic activities. I now understand that – in order to become a creative writer and journalist – I need to understand not only literary works, but also the mechanisms behind criticism, analysis, and readers’ motivation. The below review of curriculum and literature covered is not complete, however, it features some of the most influential works covered that have led me to my chosen major: journalism.

I started to understand that writing should never be viewed as a standalone art. Indeed, studying the works of Shakespeare, I understood that without researching the history, the author would never have been able to create authentic plays, such as Hamlet and Macbeth. From the work of Shakespeare, I learned that one should aggressive by researching in various disciplines and not writing what he/she knows. Shakespeare had research and come up with various ideas to enrich his plays. Further, the works would not be as “fit for the stage” as they are even today if the author were not an actor himself, knowing about theater and acting practices. It enabled me to understand that one needs to incorporate other disciplines related to his/her major career such that can perform to the required standards. For example as a journalist, one should learn about social sciences because he/she will be interacting with different people from different geographical areas. Shakespeare had to study not only contemporary theater, but also ancient drama and literature, in order to create a cathartic experience that is still present on the stage whenever Hamlet is played.

Social criticism is very important especially in journalism and creative writing. It is because it enables the writer to compare various reasons for malicious conditions in different cultures of the society at different times. It enables the writer to compare and make conclusions and recommendations to be released to the public. I learned a lot about social criticism, and now am able to compare early ironic writing about social issues in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with modern sarcastic journalism and literature. Studying the Canterbury Tales has made me realize the real purpose of writing: opening the eyes of the readers to the truth. Chaucer work enabled me to know the past cultural lives or events such that it can be compared to the current cultural events. Many people do not understand their past cultural lives and beliefs but through creative writing, they can understand them. Chaucer motivated me that it important to tell the truth to the public as a writer or journalist. It has strengthened my previous intention to become a journalist and serve the public by revealing the truth, or showing it from a different perspective. In a way, Chaucer is one of my heroes in literature, as he was not afraid to show people the discrepancies of the society, and he did as an entertaining. He was a brilliant writer and at the same time extremely popular in England, according to 14th Century measures. When I continue my education journey, I will try to achieve the same goals as Chaucer did: entertaining and revealing discrepancies at the same time.

Reading the Holy Bible as a literary work, instead of a religious book presented a challenge. People who grew up religious find it difficult to distance themselves from the spiritual meaning of the text. However, I discovered that hymns of the Bible are indeed poems for the supernatural while the parables are somewhat similar to the format of Aesop’s fables. Indeed, I discovered more about the purpose of each chapter and hymn than ever before. Studying the book has revealed a lot about how the social and ethical norms of the Western civilization were formed, based on Christianity’s values. Reading various books like the Bible and other storybooks enabled me to understand and interpret the poems contained in the books. It enabled me to understand how different messages are conveyed in the books using poems and hymns, and I can apply in my creative writing and journalism practices. It is when writing movies, plays, books, and other stories that the skills are applied.

Dante’s Inferno as part of the Divine Comedy has helped me understand the way 14th Century people thought about the world, religion, God, and sin. The experience was like living back in time, and I realized that if I will engage in creative writing and will decide to write about historical events. I would need to research the literature at the time, to understand people’s preferences, values, motivations, and the social system in general. Dante’s writings on sin, religion, and God in 14th century made me understand that it is important to research what was happening before and compare it with the current. However, the comparison will enable me to write books, plays, poems, and many other articles conveying a message, which will advise people in the current society as per the comparison. Similarly, reading More’s Utopia has helped me understand the social structure of the 16th Century, and revealed that every age and system has its limitations. I admired how the author used satire to reflect on people’s desire to become “superior”.

In humanities, we learned about the foundations of humanities, studying Plato’s work, Symposium. The author chose dramatic dialogue as the format of the book and aligned different arguments about issues, such as love, men’s role in life, and in particular the “theory of love”. It was an important work to study, as it reflected on human emotions in a way that sets an example, for authors of the future generations. Further, it features a unique concept to feature different views of life and emotions in one work. Palo’s work made me understand that it important as a creative writer and journalist to understand cultures if different people in the society. It is because as a writer and journalist, I will be writing about human culture, believes, how the families are set, and the roles of different members of the family. As a result, i should understand the past and the current human activities in the society.

Descartes’ work was extremely educational, as it was written in the 17th century, and he is considered the father or modern philosophy. The open attitude of the author tries understanding the world around him; discover the true nature of people and plants is remarkable. His moral psychology was based on the freedom of people’s thoughts and subjectivity. While he is also considered to be the father of rationalist thought, he was also a great mathematician, who used unique methods to understand physics, laws of mathematics, and the natural world. From Descartes’ work of 17th century, I learned that as a writer and journalist, one should understand the nature of the people, fundamental, and general problems affecting them. For example, in the community, the writer should know how the people affected by different problems and how the problems started in their earlier lives. It will enable the writer produce articles, which will help the public to understand the problems better.

It was also interesting to study Saint Augustine’s political works. His main concept that he defended in every work was that people were born with free will, and choosing between God and evil is what makes people good or bad. Indeed, the theme of contrasting good and bad is the focus of many contemporary books, movies, and plays. He described Utopia in his work, and many future philosophers used his ideas to develop new concepts of the society and order. The political work of Saint Augustine enabled me to understand how to approach various options of differentiating good and bad in relation to God and evil. To acquire better skills as a writer and journalist, it is important to research on various philosophies written by different writers in the past.

In the light of the previous works, it was interesting to read Nietzsche’s account on the fight between good and evil. His concept of freedom was something that struck me the most, as he went against all of the previous philosophers who tried to explain it. He provides the readers with some life-truths, such as “Help you: then everyone will help you”. He also reflects on morality, and states that Christianity became a leading religion because it “spiritualized passions”.

In social sciences, we covered a number of important works from Freud, Karl Marx, and Kahneman. For me, discovering how the course of politics, ideologies, and inventions depend on human nature was an important part of the learning journey. Freud’s ideas about the development of civilization, as well as his experiments and findings on human thinking, the history and process of thought were revealing. In that, there is indeed a connection between people’s attitudes, psychological features, and their motivation to understand the world. While Freud stated that people are all unique, Marx was more interested in creating general rules for society that can benefit all in the society. In his “Communist Manifesto”, he invented the term “social justice”, and assigned the responsibility of maintaining it to governments and leaders. However, today, in the neoliberal world, all people should be working on creating social justice, based on consensus. His ideas on positive and negative liberties are still debated today by sociologists. From the work of the three writers; Karl Marx, Kahneman, and Freud, I learned the importance of social sciences. I realized the current social justice, politics, interventions and ideologies developed. Since the debate is still going on about social justice, the understanding will help me in writing about politics, interventions and ideologies and how it developed.

Kahneman’s discovery on the human thought process has helped me understand how people can understand ideas, and it has greatly helped me adjust my writing style to the needs of the readers. He stated: “”Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you’re thinking about it.”  – Something he called the “focusing illusion.” Kahneman’s writing on human though made me to realize that it is important to take the readers perspective on how he/she will understand the ideas and opinions in the play, book, poem, and any other writing article. However, in my writing I will write my work in a way that the reader will understand and interpret the message in the article.

As I neared closer to finishing my degree whilst in Gallatin, I focused more on writing as a process, engaging with the audience and different genres. King’s work: “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days” have not only taught me about creating a storyline, but also how to build up a movie systematically. The author described the “inner movie method”, a creative approach that is no only useful in writing movies, but also any creative activity. I liked the chapter that was describing the “brainstorming” process creative people engage in to get ideas for a movie. Again, this method can be used for every genre. King’s work on how to write a movie made me understand better about creative writing. It is because when writing a movie, book or any other play, one should be more creative because everything will be written from scratch by engaging in extensive research to collect opinions and ideas.

I finally understood feminist criticism from the work of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism”. I understand more about the issue from a historical perspective and the connection between humanist ideology and feminist approaches. Indeed, this liberal ideology still has a lot to provide for authors and critics alike. Further, I can now see a close connection between postmodern art and feminist movements. The understanding will help me in writing and approaching human and feminist ideologies in future.

Miramar is a story that is also focusing on people’s individual perspectives. Just like symposium, it features different accounts of the events. The book uses a unique and creative solution to make sure that the author does not provide the reader with an opinion and does not influence their judgment. From the book, I learned that it is important to influence the judgment of the reader in the process of reading a book, watching, a play or a movie and not leaving him/her in suspense.

Studying the “The Spectacle: Media and the Making of the O.J. Simpson Story” helped me understand how mass communication and media operate in modern society. At the same time i learned about the responsibility of reporters, journalists to reveal both sides of the story, and not to omit important details. Since I aspire to be creative writer and journalist in the current society, the study enabled me to understand better how to balance both sides of the story when reporting without elimination of important ideas.

Starting my major in journalism and creative writing during my first year at Gallatin, I planned on learning more about postmodern art and feminist approaches. I was hopeful to review contemporary writers’ and artists’ methods of combining mass communication effects with artistic features; deconstructing common objects and giving them a new meaning. Hence, why I chose to study visual arts, feminism, and scriptwriting/journalism, combined with a few internships (Scriptwriting & Finance). Looking at my first year at Gallatin where I studied ‘Writing for Television’, ‘Sound Art’, ‘Woman’s Textiles’, & ‘The Post Colonial Arabic Novel’, these classes have all helped immensely with my area of concentration. Now, in my final year, studying ‘Gender Undone’, & ‘Objectivity and the Politics of The Journalism Criticism’ will enable me to know better, what is happening in the current society boosting my writing activities. Creative writing and journalism are about extensive research on what was happening in the past and currently in various human disciplines.