Uncreative Writing

Most would see uncreative writing as just plagiarism, but uncreative writing could be a way to actually recreative and make something totally new. Like the example of Transcribing an episode from TV. You can create a collaborative poem just by everyone contributing to a group chat. This can be a way to take create something very beautiful just by using phrases that did not have a purpose to become a creative work of literature. Here is an example of a collaborative poem made from random youtube clips.

Uncreative Writing Assignment

Uncreative Writing in the Classroom is an article written by Kenneth Goldsmith. Goldsmith is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and teaches a course called “Uncreative Writing”. In this course, Goldsmith aims to teach students the possibilities of creating something of your own and expressing yourself in other ways than just through literary contexts. He gives his students assignments which are not of the “norm” to give college students. Some of the assignments include reusing, copying, or repurposing information that has already been published.  For example in reusing, he has his students “re-type five pages” and that was all of the instruction they got on how to complete the assignment. In this exercise most students would re-type things such as menus or short stories, and then further critiquing by asking what kind of paper was used. Asking this question triggered a meaning or interpretation of who you actually were. Goldsmith was trying to get his students to think outside the box, and interpret this assignment in any way they wanted to. Some other examples of assignments he has given involves things such as transcribing an audio tape, or creating “retro graffiti” within the school grounds, or anywhere they wanted to. His course is designed to get students thinking and creating things past the average student. Uncreative writing is a good way to prepare students for life after college, because thinking creatively and thinking “outside-the-box” is what lands jobs and sets you aside from everyone else.

Justin Zerbee
Kendall Mahony
Chris Carder
Tyler Nigro