Plenty of creativity and great writers can come from a creative writing class. At least one creative writing class should be offered in Linganore High School. 

Every single FCPS high school has a creative writing class except for Linganore and Catoctin. While there are some opportunities to be a part of creative writing club, those experiences and opportunities could lead to many more exciting and new challenges if there was a class.

Creative writing can strengthen writing skills such as grammar, being able to write for extended amounts of time, and exploring different types of writing. It is appealing because students are interested in what they want to write, as opposed to purely academic writing.

“Grammar is especially used in creative writing because in creative writing, it forces you to use many descriptive words that can benefit your writing skills greatly,” said class of 2021 member Renata Farrell.

If a creative writing class were to be created, then not only would it help improve the writing quality and structure of many who would take the class, it would help the popularity of the literary magazine The Watermark. The Creative Writing club leader, Beau Cameron has barely been able to keep the site running. With a creative writing class, The Watermark would become more popular and encourage more people to join the creative writing class.

Even though the creative writing class hasn’t been created, there are many eligible teachers to lead. These teachers include Mr. Damon Norko, who has published novels and Mr. Dan Lake who is already a creative writer. Mrs. Natalie Rebetsky taught creative writing many years ago.

Mr. Stephen Ward is a creative writing teacher at Urbana High School. Ward believes in a creative writing class to help shape students’ writing.

“The ability to develop ideas better can help you with any kind of writing you take part in,” said Ward.

Ward has his students write all types of writing from monologues to screenplays. At Urbana, some 10th graders are able to take creative writing (with instructor permission).  The suggested progression for highly able students includes  Creative writing (10), Journalism (11) and Film Study (12). This provides students with an opportunity take all of those classes

Ward stated, “Creative writing helps lay down a foundation for those other classes.”

It’s a wild idea, but creative writing should be a senior credit, which could take the place of 12th grade English. County guidelines state that creative writing classes are only open to 11th and 12th graders. Some students think creative writing would be great as the senior credit.

“Having creative writing as a senior credit would be an excellent alternative for those who don’t want to take AP Language and Composition, English 101, or AP Literature. Creative writing is just as beneficial and necessary as a senior credit since English 12 Honors doesn’t exist,” said Class of 2019 member Emily Reed.