Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC)

Creative Writing ProgramBegun in Summer 2010, E4FC’s Creative Writing Program teaches undocumented students to share their stories through creative writing.  The program creates a safe space and nurturing community that allows students to honor their immigration stories, grow and heal through their writing, and share their work with broader audiences. The program serves about 30 students yearly. These students shed light on what it is like to grow up as undocumented youths. They talk about not being able to return to their homelands, about wanting to be accepted as Americans, and about the fear of living in the shadows.

Visit www.thingsillneversay.org for more stories by undocumented students.

Writing Exercises Remember/imagine yourself at the age when you left your country –

maybe it was too young for concrete memories, so imagine your way into that little person. What was your life like? Where did you live? Who with? What did your family want for you?

Think of someone, some place, some thing left behind. Write a letter to that person/place/thing. What do you remember about he/she/it? Do you miss he/she/it? Is there more you wished you knew about it? What news of you & your life now do you want to pass back to he/she/it?

Write a letter from yourself now to the child-self just before immigration. What do you want to tell that child about what is to come? What reassurances, truths, warnings, encouragement might you want to pass on?

Suitcase exercise – write a list of things you brought to the US with you. This could be an actual list from memory, or an imagined list – things you wish you had brought, for example. The list should include concrete objects, but may also include emotions, dreams, memories etc. As always – be as specific, concrete & vivid as you can to bring the objects/states of mind to life.

Write a series of autobiographical sketches/vignettes inspired by photographs that are collected in one place, for one occasion, and in this way create a scrapbook in words. Or, write a series of autobiographical vignettes inspired by photographs from different times in your life.

Write a letter or series of letters to a public figure (President Obama, Newt Gingrich, Lady Gaga…) that you would never send. Include personal experiences and information that wouldn’t usually be “public.”

  “I Don’t Know Why I Remember…” – Think of things that have stuck in

your memory, but for no obvious reason. (Not the “important” or big events – go for the small moments.) Render them precisely on the page using vivid, concrete details. Don’t try to explain why these moments stuck with you, just put the reader right there in the moment.

Things to remember: Creative writing is a process of discovery. It doesn’t have to be

explained, and it doesn’t have to “add up”.

Use concrete, vivid details! Be as specific as possible. It’s not the accuracy of the story that we’re concerned with, but who

gets to tell it. It’s your story, you get to own it. Don’t get stuck on the minor details. Bring the reader right into the most important part of the story. You don’t necessarily have to give all the background information. Have fun with it!

Tips & Experiments in Re-Visioning Think BIG, don’t tinker – don’t get caught up in the small details,

save them for later. Instead, think about big picture questions – structure, character, exactitude, language.

Read your work aloud, or read it to a group – often by just reading your work out loud, you will notice lines that are confusing, difficult to read, or that just don’t flow right. This is even truer if you’re reading to a group!

Details, details, details – bring your senses fully into the scene you’re working with, and flesh it out with vivid, concrete details. What do you smell, taste, hear, see? What does it feel like inside your body?

Put it away for a while – it can be difficult to look at your work objectively too soon after you write it. Try putting work away for anywhere from a few days to months and then looking at it with fresh eyes.

Find the hot spots and write into them – don’t worry about how the material will fit into your work, just write into the electric moments and see what arises. These experiments don’t have to make it into your final version, so have fun with it!

Experiment with the narrator/speaker – yes, the Point Of View shift! Try moving from 3rd to 1st person to give the story more immediacy and to find the voice. You can always switch back, but you might discover something new by stepping directly inside your character’s shoes with an “I” view.

Time warp – does your piece feel too linear, too predictable? What might get unearthed with a dive into the deep past, or glimpse into the future?

Envision a specific person as your audience and write to that person

Radically alter the form – switch genres! – from prose to poetry, letter to story, etc.

Make a mess – resist the urge to polish too soon (i.e. in the first and second drafts). It is difficult to write well when you are worried about perfection. For many writers, early drafts are no more than a sketch of what the final product will be.

Think about how much you tell your reader – are you providing too much, is the piece too on-the-nose or over-determined? Do all the arrows point in the same direction? Or are you providing too little – are events rising out of the blue, or is the narration confusing and chaotic?

Cut away everything that explains the story or poem, leaving only action and description. Then add back a few key points that will orient the reader to the crucial pieces of information.

Be bold!

Creative Writing Workshop – Sample Agenda

Introductions (15 mins)o Name gameo What are we doing here?

Purpose: Provide a structure, support, concrete practice & a safe

space for you to share your personal experience through writing creatively

Support you in finding your own strongest material Share the stories – amongst this group, or with others if you

choose Goals for today:

To get to know one another To start learning and practice creative writing skills

o Go around and say your name, grade, what you hope to get out of this workshop, and one irrelevant or interesting thing about yourself.

o Group Agreements Confidentiality: Personal experiences / stories shared here, stay

here until the writer decides to share it elsewhere. Pass: Feel free to pass on sharing anything that you don’t feel

comfortable sharing. Other requests?

Discussion: Personal narratives & prose (20 mins)o What is creative writing?

Process of discovery (sometimes subconsciously) It doesn’t have to be explained, doesn’t have to “add up” Can take many forms

Personal narratives can be told through various forms: poems, short stories, essays, autobiographies, journal articles, etc. For this workshop, we are going to focus on short stories (prose), and poetry – but students can write in whatever mode they like.

o What is personal narrative? Story grounded in personal experience What if I don’t remember all the details?

o Why are stories powerful? What impact do stories have? Should we share our stories with others?

o Prose Read example: “My name”

o What is this story about?o What struck you? What moved you? Why? Other initial

reactions?o What makes this a powerful story?

Concrete, vivid details! Be as specific as possible. Share examples of “show vs tell” from the story.

o Discuss fact. Vs. truth. It’s not the accuracy of the story that we’re concerned

with, but who gets to tell it. It’s your story, you get to own it.

Even in life, people who experience the same event may have different interpretations of it.

Don’t get stuck on the minor details. o Goal: to create a vivid snapshot that creates a moving

experience. Bring the reader right into the most important part of

the story. You don’t have to give all the background information.

Concrete, vivid details! Try to engage all 5 senses in every piece (What does it smell

like? What color/texture is it? What does it sound like? What does it taste like? What does it feel like?)

Specificity – be as specific as possible Generalities / abstractions don’t move us because they’re not

specific – we can relate to them intellectually, but rarely emotionally.

People connect more to specific images because they are easier to visualize and relate to.

Show vs Tell Example: “I almost got arrested.” (I’m telling you what

happened.) “The officer reaches for his handcuffs. I can already feel the cold metal pressed tightly around my wrists. This cannot be happening.” (I’m showing you what happened).

Put the audience in the story from the very beginning. Don’t worry about providing all the background information.

Writing (15 mins)o Freewriting

What is it? Our mind is always editing – What does this mean? How should I

start? This sounds dumb. The trick is to keep writing and ignore that voice in our head,

tune it out. PROMPT: Think about your own name. Where did it come from? What

meaning does it have for you? For others? Does it convey anything about who you are?

Write a ½ - 1 page reflection on your name. Include at least one specific incident or memory related to your name. You’ll share this with the group next week.

Closing (5 mins)o In a circle, go around and have each person say one word that

describes how he or she is feeling at this moment.

Piece inspired by “My Name” and “My Name Brings Me to a Notion of Splendor”.

Name

It is always prefaced with, “I know I’m going to butcher this.” Almost always a pause. There, that didn’t sound half bad.

JIR-A-YUT. With each syllable, I see the debt collectors waiting outside the gates of our home in Thailand. My parents’ faces displayed agony as they fought over what to do and where to go next. It seemed like there was no escape.

JIR-A-YUT. With each syllable, I return to that apartment in Milpitas where my brother, sister, and I crammed into the one bedroom while my parents slept on the floor in the living room—right next to the kitchen and dirty shoes.

JIR-A-YUT. With each syllable, I relive each time I had to ask others to repeat themselves as I tried to absorb and use as much English as I could.

JIR-A-YUT. With each syllable, I call my mom’s gynecologist to describe the sharp pains she still had months after surgery. There was no other Thai translator.

JIR-A-YUT. With each syllable, I remember why I must step forward. More than just a remnant of my past, I cling to my name through the most desperate of times. I see the goals I have yet to reach—they are in sight. I know how to change this. I will get papers, I will get scholarships, I will graduate, and I will become a doctor.

JIR-A-YUT. Perseverance, persistence, “long fighting.”

Piece inspired by Pat Mora’s “Sonrisas”:

Two Masks

I am a student by day

I spend hours in lecture halls“Nadia, did you understand what he was saying?”“No, I was having a hard time staying awake.”

I’m a waitress at night

I spend hours taking orders“Hi! My name is Ana, I’ll be taking care of you today, can I start you off with anything to drink?”“I’d like to order water with lemons, oh and can you bring sugar packets as well?”

I study and I take exams“that test was so unfair!”“I know! That question wasn’t in his notes!”

I handle customer complaints“How did everything come out with your food?”“My meat was undercooked. These mashed potatoes are cold. I need to talk to the manager.”

I dream like the others of the things I’ll do when I’m done“Nadia what are you doing when you graduate?”“I’m taking the MCATs, applying to medical school, trying to look for a new job”

Knowing deep down this is not within my reach

And like my coworkers at the restaurant I dream of the day I can get a new job“If you could have any job in the world what would it be?”“I’d like to be a doctor, work for myself—anything that’s not waitressing!”

Knowing deep down this is not within my reach.