Reading Peter Elbow's book, "Writing with Power" I could relate to how personable his approach to writing was. I never felt like I was reading a strict guideline with endless rules. His approach helped me understand that not only is writing suppose to be fun and easy, but also with a good method like his, the rules can be also simple and enjoyable.
What really stood out to me was the part that talked about creative writing versus expository writing. The best quote from this part was "a good essay or biography requires just as much creativity as a good poem; and that a good poem requires just as much truth as a good essay." You can't have one without the other. If an essay states all the correct truths and tons of information without having a bit of creativity, it falls flat. Yes, it will be accurate, but who wants to read a boring mess? But this also goes for a piece of writing stuffed with tons of creativity. It can be imaginative, but if it's lacking basic structure or any form of facts, it can be brushed aside as nonsense. I guess what I gained from reading that part was that I must find a balance between the two. I can be as creative as I want to, but I should also remember that I have to make sense and also follow a basic outline to have a creatively accurate paper. And that is the best of both literary worlds. The creative and the formal one.
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