Finding DaVinci

Katherine Korting
P. 3-4 British Literature
Ms. Miller
UA High School






Shakespeare. Hemmingway. Wells. King. Bronte. Cervantes. Steinbeck. Goethe. All of these names should stir an image in the minds of many people. All of these authors have written wonderful fictional tales that the world has doted upon to this very day. Many have been heralded as geniuses and some have been publicly scrutinized and examined to see if what they wrote was their own hand in an effort to make them seem human again. However, none of these authors were brought up in environments that nurtured their writing abilities. Think of the material they could have written had they been further educated! In today’s society, we owe it to our youth to let them be as artistic, productive, and creative as they can possibly be. This is why I believe we should offer creative fiction writing courses at the high school level.

Some day fantasy and fiction writings could become non-fiction, meaning that writings of a high school class could possibly become reality. The drawings of a machine used for flight by master painter Leonardo Da Vinci were some of the first steps in making a flying craft. Jules Verne wrote such masterpieces as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Ideas that man could swim about the ocean in the belly of an iron whale, unseen by anyone except a passing school of fish would have been labeled as the ideas of a madman in the middle ages. Who would believe that man could travel around the earth in eighty days? It was impossible. Today, these thoughts, ideas, and contraptions are commonplace and used frequently. If there was a course in fiction offered in high school, the imaginative ideas would be spotted by teachers and peers, then all humanity would have to do is find the technology for such dreams to become realities.

Fictional writing allows for creativity, a trait that defines us as humans and separates us from other animals. The thought process involved in making an imaginary scene involves more brainpower than recalling one’s experiences of last week. This is simply because in forming a fictional tale, one must weave a logical presentation of a purely illogical thought or idea. This makes the author assume certain things that normal logic would fight. As in, a student could recall the events of last week very easily and spot details in his/her experience because it can and already happened. But, in fictional writing the ideas that the author may be thinking might not be able to happen in the real world, forcing the author to create an explanation and convey that to the reader. A fictional writing course would guide students through that process, and make them think even more to present their ideas.

English departments should offer more advanced and specialized courses like math and science departments. English courses often focus on the morals, the themes, and the realities of life. There is nothing wrong with this. But, while all students must take English classes, in math some students choose to take honors courses and advance to the abstract world of imaginary numbers and equations. Science students are taught revolutionary theories that could be either fact or fiction. While math and science are advanced, there are definite answers to “what if” situations with imaginary numbers and scientific hypotheses. The beauty of fictional writing is that there is no answer, and students would be encouraged to delve into their beliefs and thoughts to find those abstract answers. Usually students are only allowed to find the realities of life through their own experiences. Why not let them find the realities through creating experiences? It would encourage the student to find that reality for themselves instead of having morals spoon-fed to them. Why can’t it also be used with the English language? Let them expand and find their own way through a specialized writing course in fiction and broaden their horizons.

Too many times the fictional writings of students are left on a sheet of crumpled notebook paper and then tossed into a trash can. Let the creative juices of the teenage mind flow in a high school fictional writing class and see to what futures they lead you. One may find another Da Vinci, Verne, or Shakespeare scrawling a short story on a sheet of notebook paper.


Yes, this was my persuasive paper saying that I'd rather be writing something else. It's just very subtle. Hehe.
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