Creative Writing Brainstorming And Pre-Writing Activities

Creative writing does not come easily for many students. Some are not sure how to proceed, others are worried about the lack of rigid rules. All students can benefit from pre-writing activities that encourage students to have fun, collect ideas and relax.
When some of the stress is removed students are better able to learn from the creative writing lesson. The following activities allow students to begin the writing process without the structure of the assignment and while relaxing so that their own creativity can come forward.
Brainstorm Ideas for Creative Writing
Brainstorming is a creative problem solving technique that relies on the background and experiences of students in the group. It can be performed as a classroom, small group, or individual activity. One of the key objectives of brainstorming is to write down whatever comes to mind, not focus on what the correct answers might be.
When using brainstorming to create a list of ideas for a creative writing assignment it is important that students recognize that their imagination is more important that worrying about what makes sense. Small groups may be more productive than individual or class-wide brainstorming if the group is chosen so that at least one member is comfortable sharing ideas or contributing unconventional answers.
An example of creating ideas using brainstorming would be to divide students into small groups of no more than four, with one designated as the idea recorder. Then, give them one to two minutes to write down everything that comes to mind about a topic, such as, “sailing.” At the end of that time instruct students to arrange their ideas in order from dullest to silliest, craziest to most boring, or another order that will enforce the idea of creativity without looking for a right or wrong answer. Students would then choose one of the top three ideas around which to create their writing assignment.
Pre-Writing Activity Collects Unusual Word Pairs
Students in creative writing courses or lesson units could benefit from creating a notebook of unusual word pairs. This is a pre-writing activity that would occur during the first few minutes of class each day. Students will need a book, textbook or reading book, notebook and writing utensil.
To create the collection of word pairs, students open the book to a random page and select the first word they see. They repeat this for a second word. The two words are written down, in order, in the notebook. Then, they switch with a classmate who puts a star next to any of the ten that look interesting and possibly useful; at least one star per day. Ten pairs of words would be created at the beginning of class each day.
The collection of unusual word pairs can be used as part of small creative writing assignments, such as poetry. Students can be directed to select one they created today, last week, or a favorite starred one.
Pre-writing activities, such as brainstorming and word pairs, can help students find an idea for creative writing assignments. These activities can be incorporated as part of the classroom culture, which can help students relax. When students are relaxed when starting a creative writing assignment the writing process can become more enjoyable.

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