Creative Writing
Writing Craft Essay
MELC: Write a craft essay demonstrating awareness of and sensitivity to the different literary and/or
socio-political contexts of creative writing. (HUMSS_CW/MPIIc-f-23)
When you read a written piece, you are given the liberty to make an evaluation of what you are
reading. With your prior knowledge about creative writing and academic writing, for sure you have a lot to
say. When you put all your observations and assessment in writing, it becomes a craft essay. We may then
say that a craft essay is like a critique essay about a particular written work. It is a writer to writer thing.
You, as the writer, write something about the work of another writer. How would you like that? An effective
craft essay helps or guides other readers on what they will expect to read or find out on the story or article
that you have evaluated. It increases their understanding and appreciation of it. A craft essay is subjective in
nature because it presents the writer’s own interpretation or commentary. However, it is not just a plain
interpretation or a plain summary of the article as it entails critical reading and critical writing.
In order for you to come up with an effective craft essay, you need to look into some details.
The format of a craft essay is not different with the other kinds of academic or creative writing.
Basically, it must have a clear structure with the parts, introduction, body and conclusion, all in place.
The introduction of your essay may contain the name of the author and a brief presentation of the
work. It should provide an explanation of the purpose of the work and its context
(social, political etc.) The introduction like any other essay must capture the attention of the readers thus, you
must write it as interesting as possible.
The body presents the description of the work and the detailed analysis and interpretation of the
content of the work. This is where you will write your evaluation of the written craft. When writing your
evaluation, you do not just summarize the content but you have to analyze. You can use other references to
prove your point and to support your judgment.
The conclusion considers the value, worth, meaning, or significance of the work whether positive,
negative or both. The conclusion may also include recommendations for improvement.
To make it easier, you have to perform some practical tips before writing a craft essay. Look at the
following suggestions and see if you can incorporate them in your own writing process.
1. The first thing you need to do of course is to READ.
2. While reading, TAKE DOWN NOTES of the main points.
3. SUMMARIZE important details. 4. Determine the AUTHOR’s PURPOSE and STYLE.
5. CONSIDER READING other critiques about the written work.
6. Search for REFERENCES that would support your claims
In writing a craft essay, you may opt to concentrate on a particular aspect or you may choose to evaluate
the totality of the craft. Either ways, you need to study the following aspects especially the literary techniques.
Your knowledge on this matter will greatly help you in coming up with a powerful judgement.
The setting of the written work affects the landscape of the story. It helps in setting the mood and it also
helps in making the events come to life. Does the setting help in keeping the work interesting?
The characters give life to the written output. As a reader, visualize the characters. Are they realistic? Can
the audience connect to them?
The plot development is something you need to look into also. Is it logical? Does it make sense?
Check also if the work is appropriate to its intended audience. Is it informative? Is it useful? Is the author’s
purpose achieved? How about the author’s point of view, is it powerful enough to have made an impact in
the presentation of his ideas?
In addition, check if the writer used poetic devices such as figures of speech, imagery and other literary
devices. Are these effective in enhancing the author’s work? Are these necessary in clarifying the author’s
points?
How about the writer’s choice of words and presentation? Are the words used appropriate? Are the
sentences and paragraphs varied and not dull?
Those are just some of the things that you need to understand and clarify so that your evaluation will be as
comprehensive and clear as it is.
To summarize, when you write a craft essay, you do the following:
*Describe * Analyze *Interpret *Evaluate *Synthesize
With those tasks involving writing a craft essay, you need to know the context around the author’s
work so that you can be able to do what were mentioned above. The context in writing is very important
because it connects the writer to the readers and creates a better understanding among the readers. A written
text lies on different contexts and as you will study these contexts further, you might want to consider them
in writing your own output or if not, consider them in understanding written texts from other authors such as:
1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT. This considers time elements. The historical context of a literary text reflects
the social context of the characters involved—why and how they behave.
So, in the given example, the writer’s experiences were greatly influenced by the current situation in our
country at this time of pandemic. Just imagine if the same things would happen at another time; probably,
the same characters would react differently.
2. CULTURAL CONTEXT. This refers to a specific lifestyle which is dictated upon by religion, race and
nationality. It could also be about the art, music or literature of that group of people. So, in writing a
reflective essay, the realization of the writer might be affected by his or her perspective based on prior
biases or beliefs as a result of the cultural context he is exposed to.
3. IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT. This refers to the systems of beliefs and ideas that support a certain behavior.
Most often, a person acts based on his or her own ideology or philosophy. Reflections or reactions are
affected by ideologies as well.
4. SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT. This refers to the overlapping of both political and
social issues. It covers ideologies, policies, laws, practices, traditions, etc. If you notice, sociopolitical context
impacts the behaviors of humans that would sometimes create conflict between or among them. As a result,
a person’s realization or reflection could be influenced by his or her socio-political inclination or orientation.
