Creative writing is a skill valued by few, and some may believe it is only for those who dream of being poets or novelists. A survey of students conducted by The Paw Print found that the majority of students had received few creative writing opportunities. However, I would argue it is a skill relevant to anyone, and should be more regularly taught in English classes.

Practicing creative writing teaches essential skills that can be used outside of an artistic field. Coming up with characters, settings, conflicts, and descriptions teaches creativity, which is a valued trait in a number of careers and extremely important in the preparation of college applications. This trait is not encouraged in most academic classes, despite the demand for it, so its introduction to the English curriculum would be valuable.

Some may think that it is difficult to tie creative writing into the English curriculum, or that it is irrelevant to what is being taught, but this a bit short-sighted.

It could be very easily tied into the curriculum if the teacher gave a prompt that had to do with the assigned reading, such as putting certain characters from the reading into new, hypothetical scenarios, exploring an interesting setting from the reading through the eyes of an original character, or some other variation of the reading.

Not only would this tie into the curriculum, it could encourage a better understanding of the characters and setting and force the students to make inferences from the text about any detail that would be relevant to the story they wish to tell.

“Allowing students to explore the setting and characters on a more personal level could also encourage engagement with the text better than a formal, impersonal analytical essay.” 

Allowing students to explore the setting and characters on a more personal level could also encourage engagement with the text better than a formal, impersonal analytical essay. In fact, more than half of surveyed students said more creative writing in class would increase their engagement.

This is not even mentioning the practice it would give the students in the uses of elements of fiction and grammar.

It also has the potential to be more enjoyable for students than essay writing. 93.1% of students report at least somewhat of an interest in creative writing.

Giving creative writing a larger role in the English curriculum would be beneficial to learning and make class more enjoyable for students.