Creative Writing Workshop

I attended a creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah last Saturday. It was organized by Jude Day, president of Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah(SPARKS), The invited speaker was Robert Raymer, a Sarawak-based American writer who is a lecturer of creative writing at Universiti Sarawak Malaysia. He is the author of 'Lovers and Strangers Revisited', 'Tropical Affairs', 'The Boy Who Shot Santa' and 'Spirit of Malaysia'.

It only took me ten minutes to get to Wisma Anglican, the workshop venue from my hotel on shanks's pony. I felt honored to have met Mr. Robert Raymer in person.He exuded a quiet air of confidence and patience. I bought a copy of his 'Lovers and Strangers Revisited' and got it autographed by him. I was thrilled and could not help smiling from ear to ear.

I picked up a lot of knowledge during the workshop. First, Robert Raymer expounded the essence of creative writing.Next, he showed us how to organize our thoughts using the techniques of clustering and listing. Then, he had us write short paragraphs on various themes . We were given only five minutes for each writing task. He wanted us to use our creative and critical thinking skills to the maximum. After that, he told us the do's and don'ts of writing a good story. He also gave us some handouts on the techniques of creative writing. I would photocopy them for my students.

I faced two problems during the workshop. First, I had trouble understanding the writer's rapid-fire American English. Second, I was not used to writing within a time limit. However, they did not kill my enthusiasm. I was able to grasp the gist.

Before the workshop ended, the organizer, Jude Day,gave us a special assignment. Each of us was encouraged to write a story and present it to Robert Raymer for improvement purposes in a follow-up workshop. We all agreed to take up the challenge. The date for the workshop had yet to be confirmed but it would be held in August.The English lady sitting next to me told me that she was highly inspired by the speaker. I could not agree more with her. He could really teach with panache.

When I returned to Miri, I told my colleagues about the wonderful moments I had had during the workshop. However, some of them poured cold water on me, saying that the workshop did not guarantee good results. They found creative writing an unproductive indulgence which was a waste of time. I was disappointed with them. As language teachers, we ought to attend courses like this to improve ourselves.

I applied Raymer's 'Tree Methodology' in my teaching this morning. My students loved it very much. It is a good learner-centred activity suitable for students of all ages. A few students amazed me with their well-chosen vocabulary like 'susurration', 'Interwoven branches' 'sprawling branches' and 'taperless trunk'.

In a few days, I will start writing a story in preparation for the August workshop .