Howdy Fellow Creative Writing Teachers! Here's a place where we can share tips about teaching creative writing. Why not begin with the oldest of the oldest: creative writing can't be taught.
My response: writing is a skill, like playing baseball. A coach can make a player a better player. A coach can teach techniques and strategies for the game, among other things. Can a coach take a player and make him into a Yankee? Or even make him into a Cub? No, that's all a matter of inborn talent.
It's lengthy, but I use a sport metaphor to explain what a creative writer can do.
I wonder if I can comment on my own post. I wrote, at the end "creative writer can do" because I think creative writing teachers should think of themselves first as writers. Perhaps I should have written "creative writing teacher can do." Sumerset Maugham, in Of Human Bondage, suggests that a bad artist can be a good teacher. Being bad, they're more patient with students' slow learning. I add this to create discussion, not that I agree with it.
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