Carlson, Ron. Assignment. Creative Writing in America.

In this short chapter I gleaned just a few nuggets of information, mainly that some students come into creative writing classes expecting them to be not rigorous. Here Carlson advises starting students off by immediately assignment a 1,000-word story for the next week, showing them that finishing the work is the most important thing about writing (80). And I liked his comments about being a creative writing instructor: "There are some special moments teaching writing, some moments that are warmer than others. making an assignment is a warm moment and asking s tudents to pass copies of their stories around is a warm moment, a moment of risk. Writing suggestions on student stories is good for me, but I think iti s cooler than any of the links in the chain. The hottest moments come, of course, between the writer and the paper, when the writer lets go and launches into a story and bears down through the story, even the soft p arts, adn then types the last word. A lot happens right there that is beyond the teacher's admonition, beyond regulation and suggestion, beyond final, analtycial definition. The heat of creation -- it is not always a comfortable place, but it is that place which we are talking about when we talk about writing, and I know hat my role as teacher is to send students there, not simply to have the fun of talking about having written.

"Writing is a creative not a reactive activity; and the purpose of class discussion should be to repair old or to gather new equipment for the next story. We are talking about the next story at all times, and when the discussion becomes most mired in the story before us, it becomes many times least useful. Process, not product -- the next story. The next story" (80-81).

Here Carlson puts his finger on the creative writing professor's need to be able to inspire student creativity, not to just explain the process and craft of it. He again points to writing as an art, something that can be felt as hot or cold. He also speaks of his students' tendencies to want to personalize the work and attach it to the person who wrote it (81), but reminds the reader that "the stories speak for themselves" (82). Yet this reminds us that students can take their creative writing more personally than other types of composition, as it seems to be connected to something more from the heart rather than a brain activity.