Creative writing can be everyone’s cup of tea

Nagalakshmi Balasubramanian

When I started teaching creative writing, I was very much aware of the stark reality that helping learners reach their creative peak is an uphill task, at which I was failing miserably. Can creative writing not be taught at all? According to Alan Maley, ‘linguistic creativity is not simply a property of exceptional people but an exceptional property of all people’. Deriving inspiration from this, I started to think more creatively about my own approach to teaching and devised ways to pull my students out of their comfort zones and approach creative writing with enthusiasm.

Curating materials for classroom activities

When it comes to creative writing classes, students are either overwhelmed or disinterested. This is why I am constantly looking for interesting materials to teach my students. I keep a collection of newspaper reports, pictures, magazines, and videos, which I feel can inspire my students to bring out their creative best. In my quest for good learning materials, I found this video of master storyteller Jan Blake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPBjbW4L3ko

In this 20 minute video, Blake narrates the story of an old woman who visits her daughter, who lives atop a mountain. On her way up the mountain, she encounters some animals who want to eat her. The old woman promises to be their feast on her return journey, but tricks the waiting animals by hiding inside a pumpkin shell.

After watching the video, I asked my students to write similar stories, but set in their own context using characters, names, and places they are familiar with. Such an exercise will enable students to relate the unfamiliar to the familiar and build on their knowledge.

To generate further interest and get them to use AI purposefully, I also asked the students to illustrate their stories with images. The students could use Dall. E, Copilot, or any other AI tool to generate their images. AI is a wonderful learning tool, for it teaches you patience, precision, and hones your writing skills. In order to achieve the best result, it’s important to know how to craft a prompt and how to continue prompting the AI tool and honing its responses. This activity of creating the illustration with AI develops digital interactive skills.

Below is a story that a student created and illustrated with the help of AI.

To Share is To Care

By Dharani Subramanian, II BSC Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, SDNB Vaishnav College for Women (SFS), Chennai

There once lived an old woman and her daughter, Sarala and Kamala respectively. They both lived in a village near a forest. One day, the daughter decided to go on her own and fill some pots of water for the household so that her ageing mother could get some rest. She embarked on the short trek through the forest to the river. When the mother woke up and discovered her daughter gone, she followed her daughter in order to help with the pots. While walking through the forest, the mother encountered a large banyan tree.

 “O mother! I need water as I feel parched!” The tree cried out to her.

 “O tree, do not worry! I am going to fetch water from the lake with my daughter. I shall return with a pot of water for you.”

The mother continued her walk until she reached a shrivelling vine, withering away.

“Please, I need help! I need water, please!” The vine bleated for anyone to hear.

“Worry not!” The mother reassured the vine, “I shall return with a pot of water for you.” Saying so, the mother continued her trek till she reached an apple tree.

The apple tree looked rather forlorn, wishing almost to itself, “If only there was a small rivulet nearby….”

The mother took pity and declared to the apple tree, “Do not worry, I shall return with some water for you.” The mother was close to the river when she saw two seemingly infantile bushes huddled together, the younger one crying as it was starved of water, while the older one trying its best to console it. The mother’s heart broke and she promised to return with water for them too.

The mother finally reached the river and spotted her daughter alongside other womenfolk, she cried out, “My child!” The mother embraced her daughter, even as the daughter said, “Mum! You shouldn’t have. I’ll take care.”

“Nonsense, my child, I’m quite fit to take two pots of water.”

“But you-”

“Be a dear and carry the remaining three pots, won’t you?”

The daughter resigned herself to carry the remaining three pots of water, one on either side and the third on her head. As they walked back with the other womenfolk who gathered water, the daughter noticed that the mother diverted from their usual path.

“Mum, I don’t think this is our usual way.”

“I am aware, my child. It is just that I have promised some aid to some folks here.”

“Very well mum.”

The daughter followed her mother to the two bushes. The mother used her two pots of water to rehydrate the bushes, who immediately squealed in joy. The daughter and mother then reached the apple tree, wherein the mother requested her daughter to spare one pot of water for the tree.

“Oh, my gratitude knows no bounds, my good madam!” The apple tree shouted happily.

“Mum, we might need to keep the remaining two pots for ourselves, as we too require water.”

“Worry not, my dear child. I am quite sure all will work out in the end.”

They then come across the shrivelling vine, now gasping for water. The daughter left a pot of water for the vine, who cried in joy, gratefully quenching her thirst.

“Mum, I really do think this last pot of water should be kept for ourselves, else we could-”

But before she could finish her sentence, the giant banyan tree, sprawling in its roots, was already before her. The daughter left the last pot of water for the banyan tree, but asked her mother worriedly,

“Mum, now we are the ones without any water. What do we do?”

The banyan tree overheard this and reassured the daughter

“O child! Do not worry! Trek back the same way you came, and you shall find your answer!”

On the way back home, the mother said,

“I noticed you were at first hesitant to part with the pots of water.”

The daughter kept quiet.

“I would like to think you have the answer to my query.”

“It’s because…I believed selfishly that they could make do without water for a little longer…but we could not.”

“And why did you believe that my child?”

“Because…because I prioritized myself over their needs, mum.”

The mother held her daughter close.

“My child, there is nothing wrong with prioritizing your needs over others, however we must realize that whilst self-help is necessary, it wouldn’t hurt to help others every once in a while, especially if it doesn’t cost much.”

The daughter nodded. “But…but mum, we really don’t have any water for ourselves n-”

She cut herself off seeing two pots of water near their house.

“We observed how you helped the plants and trees. As a token of their gratitude, they asked us to give these to you.” Some of the womenfolk who went to collect water with them chorused.

“Mum! That’s-!”

The mother smiled and hugged her daughter.

“Yes, my child. Help without asking too many questions and surely you will be rewarded.”

References

• Byrne, D (2024). Is it time to incorporate AI skills into our writing lessons? Modern English Teacher, Volume 33 | Issue4 | July/August 2024, Pavilion Publications. www.modernenglishteacher.com
• Maley, A. (2015) Interview with Alan Maley on Teaching and Learning Creative Writing. By Ruzbeh Babaee published in the International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies ISSN 2202-9451 Vol. 3 No. 3; July. Australian International Academic Centre, Australia 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.3n.3p.77

The author is an Assistant Professor at SDNB Vaishnav College for women, Chennai. She is a passionate, reflective teacher and lifelong learner. She can be reached at nageethirumalai@yahoo.co.in.