Writing Fiction Vs. Writing About Fiction

I really enjoy writing fiction much more than writing about fiction. For me, the creative process will usually surpass the analytical because I feel like there are more doors open when writing something creative. While writing about fiction can also be enjoyable (I usually have a lot of ideas after reading any kind of fiction), for me the freedom that comes with being creative will always win out. The two, however, really can be to aid one another. Writing about fiction requires knowledge of terms and usage in order to point out how and why an author chose to implement them. These terms can then be applied to the creative process. If an author has a strong use of foreshadowing for example, the reader can take this example, analyze how it’s achieved and maybe work in something similar in his or her own writing. Creative writing can also help the analytical writing by allowing the writer to know what to look for in other writings. In future teachings of fiction, I will most likely do the analytical first in order to teach students the proper uses and techniques of successful authors. Once the students are able to locate terms and proper usage, I will then let them write creative fiction. Another idea is to try to implement both the creative and the analytical with maybe a paper that is written creatively and is an original story, but with strong ties to the reading I am having them read. Maybe have the students take characters from the story and write their own creative fiction in the same style of the author.

Myth Analysis Vs. Myth Creation

I really enjoyed creating the myth more than I enjoyed studying the other myths, but that's probably just because I like creative writing. I do, however, think the study of myths is incredibly important. In order to create a myth, one must first learn and grasp the basic story telling techniques of myths. I think it was crucial to study myths before we actually started writing them. In creating a myth, I learned a lot. I often found myself, going back and fourth between my own myth and the myths in the book in order to really create something unique. I think the creation of the myth website also enhances the original myth aspect. The website offers an added level of creativity that one can use to add to the myth.


I'll probably use myths in my teaching to show students the early uses of story telling and the oral traditions that they originated from. Studying myths is much different from creating myths however. The creation of myths can really only fit into a creative writing section of class, while the study of myth can be viewed from many standpoints, (historical, ect.) In the classroom, I would like to introduce the students to myths by showing them the various kinds of myths and letting them choose how they would like to look at them. I'd probably offer the students maybe an option of creating a short myth, then a short explanation of how it relates to the other myths. Then again, I'll probably just copy exactly what we did in this class, minus the website.

Writing Poetry Vs. Writing About Poetry

For me, the difference between writing poetry and writing about poetry is that when writing your own poetry, you are constantly aware of what you are writing and I think more crucial. Since poetry is more of an art of words and writing about poetry is more of an essay format, you are going to be much more critical of what you are writing for poetry.
Similarities between the two would be the forehand knowledge of poetic terms and techniques. You must know them to analyze poetry and to write poetry. I felt that writing about poetry first dramatically helped set a stage for what I would later attempt to write. By reading good poetry first and having to analyze and pick it apart I got to really see how poetry could impact and how each technique, when used specifically and purposefully, had its place. From this poetry experience, I have learned new techniques to get students thinking about and writing his or her own poetry. The found poem and wrecking poem were brand new to me and really good tools to allow me to gradually move into writing my own poetry. Instead of just telling us to write a sonnet or freewrite, we had specific rules to follow which I think helped the poetry newcomers dramatically.
In the future, when teaching poetry to high school students, I am going to first going to show the students some famous poems to have them analyze. After they have grown familiar with the artform, I will then have them write and I will try to structure their writing as to not box them in but also not leave them with too much to go on since that can be intimidating.

The First Ever Blog from Greg

Hi, I'm Greg Perry. I'm kind of a big deal. I 'm currently a student in my final semester at CSUN. I hope to eventually teach high school English to eager English loving students, and if they don't love English then I'll gradually get them to with the magic of my awesome teaching.

My hopes and goals for being a teacher are kind of basic. They're to be a "good" teacher. I don't want future students to talk about my class outside of school and say things like, "Wow, that guy's really bad," and "Trust me, you do NOT want to take a class with Mr. Perry, all he does is talk about (insert something arbitrary NO teens would or should be interested in hearing about, like the economy, the war on terror, or Dane Cook.)" I really just want to change the students lives for the better and have a positive impact.

My fears for my future teaching career is that I might somehow underestimate the sheer difficulty of being a teacher and end up being way over my head. I also have a fear of becoming that jaded teacher who just doesn't care and sits at his desk all day staring at the clock waiting for retirement.

I want to become a teacher because I enjoy working with kids. I've had a lot of great teachers in the past that inspired me from a pretty young age to become a teacher. I believe that technology will play a large role in my future teaching. I think that high school students now have technology so infused with their everyday lives that including it in the classroom is a natural progression and easily implemented.