Reflective Writing
We had a longish seminar last week on how to write the critical/reflective essay which is required to go with the creative piece submitted for assessment. I found it interesting and helpful, and am putting my notes here in slightly more coherent form for ease of access - don't feel obliged to read them.
This is put together from notes taken on the day, though I have left out some of the more navel-gazing stuff about my own story. I will probably post it here in due course, but not until I have done one heck of a lot more polishing and submitted it. oxfordia, you have seen the first draft of the first chapter already. However, here I'm writing about the essay, which has to be about a third of the length of the creative piece itself. Talking about navel-gazing...
The critical/reflective essay is expected to accompany the piece of creative writing submitted for assessment. If the module is part of the MA in English course, as it is for me, the creative piece should be around 6,000 words and the reflective piece around 2,000.
The seminar included several workshop exercises to help us get into the right frame of mind. The first asked us to write the “blurb” for the jacket back of our completed book. It should have biographical details but focus on aspects which might relate to the writing and its inspirations.
This is what I wrote (in about ten minutes - mock not!)
gillo has been a passionate fan of fantasy, science-fiction and Shakespeare since not long after she learned to read. In her teens she wanted to act, but ended up studying English at Durham, then spent thirty-four years at secondary schools in various parts of the country, doing her best to encourage her pupils to share her love of the weird and wonderful worlds of fiction and drama. For more than half her career she also taught drama and directed a lot of school plays, loving the buzz she got from creative teamwork. It must have been contagious, as both of her daughters acted at school, and one went on to drama school.
Her house is full of books, though her daughters have been known to steal them - her first copy of Howl’s Moving Castle was lost in Outer Mongolia. She is a great evangelist for Diana Wynne Jones, but even she felt that was going a bit too far! Gill particularly loves strong female characters, both to read and to write.
OK - it’s very rough, but the idea was to focus on important things which informed the writing. I suppose it did, though it hardly showed me anything I was unaware of!
The reflective essay is often seen as “tagged on” to the creative piece (ah, yes, I remember the Commentary section for AS Level English Language. Like getting the proverbial red stuff from gneiss that was.) - but it should be useful to us as writers, above all. (Yes, I’ve heard that one at A/L too, for the Portfolio that went with the Theatre Studies Practical.)
Sensible advice followed: try not to leave it till the last minute but compile notes and stuff as you write, so you remain aware of the process. (Is this the Rebirth of the Author, then?) The MA in Creative Writing Handbook apparently has detailed advice in it - something we mere students of English may not have known, so that was useful. We were also encouraged to show our tutor a plan for comment. The best essays show a blend of critical and reflective commentary.
It is particularly helpful to have a clear structure - use the “Christmas Cracker” model of Introduction, Thesis Statement, Body of text, Reiteration of Thesis Statement, Conclusion.
One should reflect on the aims and processes of the piece - again, so much for the Death of the Author theory - and place the work in its intellectual, social and aesthetic setting. (All this in about 2K words? You jest.) Think in terms of the concept that underneath all our writing is a question we are looking for the answer for.
We were then asked to try to sum up in one sentence the core question our piece of writing addresses - she gave an example from her own writing, which was “How is it possible to use language to express the reality of growing up with a chronic illness?”
I pondered. Indeed I pondered. Slightly to my surprise I decided that my story (a YA time-travel adventure still very much in the making) was about :How do you stay true to yourself while everything around (and in) you is changing?
We then discussed the difference between the “critical” and the “reflective” components. She suggested that a “critical approach” might ask how other writers have approached this question - and how have I responded to them? How is it regarded by wider society? How have others explored it in non-verbal ways - art, music, dance etc? How have the media affected the approaches taken to the subject?
We then noted down a few first ideas about how other writers explore the issues. No surprise, Diana Wynne Jones came to mind a lot - The Merlin Conspiracy feels really relevant suddenly. Lots of other YA writers too, of course - issues of destabilisation, helplessness. Yeah, it’s pretty much what being a teenager is about on several levels.
I have a page of notes after that, all linking elements of my story to my own family and background, with intriguing paths for possible research - music, body language, why certain things make me feel unduly uncomfortable. More to deal with there, I think.
The “question” can change - part of the function of the essay is to make one aware of that change, as that inevitably marks changes in the nature of the piece itself. It’s a good idea, therefore, to keep a reflective journal, either in a notebook or something like Evernote on a computer, or even recorded audio or video. Pictures, postcards - anything which sparks a reassessment or change in direction.
It’s also worth going back through what you have written at different stages, with different-coloured pens/notes, to mark how your thinking and response have changed.
The short essay form has constraints, but you can look at it like you might a sonnet - restrictions offer opportunities. (Methinks they also make the work take longer; being concise takes time.)
Specific advice, then:
Introduction -
AVOID using the essay to provide excuses for what is wrong with the creative piece. Fix that in the piece, not in the discussion.
Referencing and presentation matter - use MLA format and do it properly, following advice from the writing tutor and the module tutor.
If your tutor says h/she wants something slightly - or a lot - different from this, go with the tutor’s advice. A second marker will recognise and respect this.
Hmm.
We'll see how all that works out. I have about eight weeks, I think, though technically as a part-timer I could delay it till May.
This is put together from notes taken on the day, though I have left out some of the more navel-gazing stuff about my own story. I will probably post it here in due course, but not until I have done one heck of a lot more polishing and submitted it. oxfordia, you have seen the first draft of the first chapter already. However, here I'm writing about the essay, which has to be about a third of the length of the creative piece itself. Talking about navel-gazing...
The critical/reflective essay is expected to accompany the piece of creative writing submitted for assessment. If the module is part of the MA in English course, as it is for me, the creative piece should be around 6,000 words and the reflective piece around 2,000.
The seminar included several workshop exercises to help us get into the right frame of mind. The first asked us to write the “blurb” for the jacket back of our completed book. It should have biographical details but focus on aspects which might relate to the writing and its inspirations.
This is what I wrote (in about ten minutes - mock not!)
gillo has been a passionate fan of fantasy, science-fiction and Shakespeare since not long after she learned to read. In her teens she wanted to act, but ended up studying English at Durham, then spent thirty-four years at secondary schools in various parts of the country, doing her best to encourage her pupils to share her love of the weird and wonderful worlds of fiction and drama. For more than half her career she also taught drama and directed a lot of school plays, loving the buzz she got from creative teamwork. It must have been contagious, as both of her daughters acted at school, and one went on to drama school.
Her house is full of books, though her daughters have been known to steal them - her first copy of Howl’s Moving Castle was lost in Outer Mongolia. She is a great evangelist for Diana Wynne Jones, but even she felt that was going a bit too far! Gill particularly loves strong female characters, both to read and to write.
OK - it’s very rough, but the idea was to focus on important things which informed the writing. I suppose it did, though it hardly showed me anything I was unaware of!
The reflective essay is often seen as “tagged on” to the creative piece (ah, yes, I remember the Commentary section for AS Level English Language. Like getting the proverbial red stuff from gneiss that was.) - but it should be useful to us as writers, above all. (Yes, I’ve heard that one at A/L too, for the Portfolio that went with the Theatre Studies Practical.)
Sensible advice followed: try not to leave it till the last minute but compile notes and stuff as you write, so you remain aware of the process. (Is this the Rebirth of the Author, then?) The MA in Creative Writing Handbook apparently has detailed advice in it - something we mere students of English may not have known, so that was useful. We were also encouraged to show our tutor a plan for comment. The best essays show a blend of critical and reflective commentary.
It is particularly helpful to have a clear structure - use the “Christmas Cracker” model of Introduction, Thesis Statement, Body of text, Reiteration of Thesis Statement, Conclusion.
One should reflect on the aims and processes of the piece - again, so much for the Death of the Author theory - and place the work in its intellectual, social and aesthetic setting. (All this in about 2K words? You jest.) Think in terms of the concept that underneath all our writing is a question we are looking for the answer for.
We were then asked to try to sum up in one sentence the core question our piece of writing addresses - she gave an example from her own writing, which was “How is it possible to use language to express the reality of growing up with a chronic illness?”
I pondered. Indeed I pondered. Slightly to my surprise I decided that my story (a YA time-travel adventure still very much in the making) was about :How do you stay true to yourself while everything around (and in) you is changing?
We then discussed the difference between the “critical” and the “reflective” components. She suggested that a “critical approach” might ask how other writers have approached this question - and how have I responded to them? How is it regarded by wider society? How have others explored it in non-verbal ways - art, music, dance etc? How have the media affected the approaches taken to the subject?
We then noted down a few first ideas about how other writers explore the issues. No surprise, Diana Wynne Jones came to mind a lot - The Merlin Conspiracy feels really relevant suddenly. Lots of other YA writers too, of course - issues of destabilisation, helplessness. Yeah, it’s pretty much what being a teenager is about on several levels.
I have a page of notes after that, all linking elements of my story to my own family and background, with intriguing paths for possible research - music, body language, why certain things make me feel unduly uncomfortable. More to deal with there, I think.
The “question” can change - part of the function of the essay is to make one aware of that change, as that inevitably marks changes in the nature of the piece itself. It’s a good idea, therefore, to keep a reflective journal, either in a notebook or something like Evernote on a computer, or even recorded audio or video. Pictures, postcards - anything which sparks a reassessment or change in direction.
It’s also worth going back through what you have written at different stages, with different-coloured pens/notes, to mark how your thinking and response have changed.
The short essay form has constraints, but you can look at it like you might a sonnet - restrictions offer opportunities. (Methinks they also make the work take longer; being concise takes time.)
Specific advice, then:
Introduction -
- should set up what you are going to look at
- Explain how you are going to address it
- Signpost the critical and reflective elements
- every paragraph should link back to the question you have set yourself
- Link the opening sentence of each para to the question.
- Use the Point - Evidence - Explanation/Analysis - Link structure. (Just like the signs we used to have on the wall to advise GCSE coursework-writers!)
- Every paragraph should contain some evidence - but this can be really quite personal.
- Always question how your experience applies to this - how is it RELEVANT?
AVOID using the essay to provide excuses for what is wrong with the creative piece. Fix that in the piece, not in the discussion.
Referencing and presentation matter - use MLA format and do it properly, following advice from the writing tutor and the module tutor.
If your tutor says h/she wants something slightly - or a lot - different from this, go with the tutor’s advice. A second marker will recognise and respect this.
Hmm.
We'll see how all that works out. I have about eight weeks, I think, though technically as a part-timer I could delay it till May.