The Difference Between Creative Writing and Review Writing

Introducing Creative Writing

One of the major notions attached to the Supernatural Being, who is associated with making the world, is the ability to produce something out of nothingness. Literarily, creative writing is regarded as a unique world of its own, which is created by an author out of nothing else but imagination. And this is where creative writers are likened to God, the Creator. This 'world' created by an author may only exist in three forms: drama, poetry, story (both the long and the short genres). On that note, the other name for creative writing becomes fiction. Strictly speaking, creative writing is purely that writing which is produced only from imagination. And it is created without a template, so to say. The creative creation has no referential object outside of itself. It is an autonomous entity, existing and acting all by itself. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, for example, is a world of its own where the people of umuofia attend to their daily activities as they think best. Nobody can charge Chinua Achebe with the offence of lying for creating Umuofia that does not exist in reality. On the other hand, review writing is quite unique in its own way and this article shall be explaining that shortly.

What is Review Writing?

The word 'review' says it all. Literally, review means to view again. Going further into the meaning and essence of review shows that reviewers try to explain something; something they have already viewed. They give their own reading of a product, an object, or a material. Giving their own reading entails presenting their own opinion of the object of interest. Most important to this article is the fact that a review cannot be done without a reference to the object or product being reviewed. More appropriately, review belongs to the critical writing family, as against the creative writing genre. Review is not a creative work. It is a critical exercise where an object undergoes a critique. Review is a kind of non-fiction because it presents factual and verifiable information about the product being described. Whether the product is a fictional material such as a short story, or a manufactured product, the information contained in the review should and must be traced back to the object of review. If not, the review becomes baseless and faulty. For example, a review of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart should try to explain the people of Umuofia, the actions of Okonkwo and his attitude towards life, and any other action contained in the world of the book. And the explanations given should be authenticated by the book itself. If not, that wouldn't be a review of Things Fall Apart.

Conclusion

Writing a review creatively does not change the status of review writing from critical to creative writing, because writing creatively only has to do with the show of expertise displayed in the writing. A review is a critical work which exists solely because it contains verifiable information about and refers adequately to the product being reviewed. But creative writing involves creating an autonomous world which exists on its own without reference to anything outside of itself. On a final note, creative writing is produced out of imagination while review writing is a critical exercise, a critique of a reviewable object.

4 Creative Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding Flowers

Flowers usually beautify a wedding; however, the unfortunate thing is that they tend to be expensive thus unaffordable for many people. The good side is that there are some measures that you can take and save on the flowers. Some of the measures that you can take include:

Picking a gorgeous venue

While there are some benefits that come with hosting a wedding at a hotel, most of the reception and ceremony spaces in these hotels tend to be raw; therefore, you have to bring in a lot of décor and flowers in order to liven up the places.

To avoid buying a lot of flowers, you should choose a venue that has a lot of built-in charm. For example, you can go for a historic church, botanical garden or a quaint country inn. Choosing any of these places means that your guests will have a lot of things to ogle at and they won't even remember that the venue has no flowers.

Buying what is locally available

If you are set to buy a bouquet, you should go for flowers that are in season and can be easily sourced. This way you won't need to pay premium amounts of money. Although, you save money doing this, it's usually hard to get the flowers that you are looking for.

Going for silk flowers

Silk flowers are usually less expensive and look and feel like the real thing. You can either rent or buy the flora. If you choose to buy the silk flora, you don't have to throw them away once the ceremony is over. This is because you can give them as a token of thanks to your guests.

Using non-floral elements

Since the floral elements tend to be expensive, you can try to lower the cost by using non-floral elements. Some of the great elements that you can use are: candles, books and lanterns. These are much cheaper than flowers and as a result you save a lot of money.

If there are fruits in your area, you can use them instead. Some of the great fruits that you can use are: apples, pumpkins, artichokes, grapes, and gourds.

Comic Book Collecting: Collected Editions or Single Issues?

Comic book collecting is an entertaining hobby. You get to read amazing stories and at the same time get to appreciate great art. Reading comics allows you to enter a world of fascinating worlds ruled by mighty characters depicted in epic events. Most comic readers are comic book collectors as well. Stacking issues monthly, even weekly or daily, creating a mini-library of their own. I myself is a comic reader and a comic collector as well. And now I have shifted into my ways of comic book collecting.

Comic books are usually presented in single magazine forms. The latest single magazine comic books come monthly, sometimes bi-monthly. These single issues holds the latest news and stories. You'll be left out in the discussion if you miss the latest issues or would be probably end up to be the one with the most questions about how things had transpired in the on-going story. That's how I did at the start of the DC's "New 52". DC decided to start all of their current and new titles from Issue #1 offering a fresh start for everything. I had been a Green Lantern fan and a comic book reader for the character. With the start of the "New 52", I had decided to follow the monthly issues of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Green Lantern the New Guardians. It was going well at the start, but then I had to stop at some point.

The great thing about getting the latest single issues is that you get yourself updated with the latest happenings in the story. With that, you can participate in on-line forums with those that share your interest in comic books. Most forums discuss the latest issues days before comic books are released. Even without participating in those, just the enjoyment to be able to read the latest stories would be enough, well for me that is. I was really excited that I get to read the stories every month, and with a subscription for three tiles, I almost read new stories every week.

The hard part of it though is that it is too pricey. Getting the latest issues is like getting the latest products. And just like other products, the latest is the most expensive. It was okay for me at the start, but then I felt the weight of the expense. For some I guess it would not be much of a problem, but the fact remains that getting the latest issues for single magazine formats of comic books can be costly for some, including me. Because of this, I had dropped following the issues of Green Lantern Corps and New Guardians. It is the Green Lantern title that I only follow up to now. For the other titles, I guess I will just get them in the collected editions.

Collected editions, or graphic novels, are originally comic books in single magazine formats that follow a specific story line. These format allows readers to have the story available to them in a single book, good for one long reading. Usually these collected editions are composed of five or six issues, depending on the run of the story. This kind of format is good in the sense that the reader can make a complete reading of an entire story line in his or her own comfort.

I started collecting Graphic Novels so that I can catch up with what is going on in the story of the Green Lantern comic books. There were some important events that had transpired before in the story. Most likely, the single issues for those stories were no longer available since it had been months or probably years since that happened. Graphic Novels were the best way to have first hand information for those past stories.

Graphic novels can come in hard cover or soft cover formats. I guess depending on how publishers would want to market these books, these books can come out in both formats or just one. For me, I usually get the softcover formats because it is much cheaper.