An Experiment in Creative Writing

As I think I've said before on this blog, I program games and I want to do it full-time, but as of now, my day job is teaching English as a foreign language in South Korea. I live in a small town called Anseong, which is about 1 hour south of Seoul, the capital city. Education here is very test-centric with a lot of emphasis placed on just memorizing things. I've been trying to get my students out of this by having them make random sentences about random things and not just diaries about their lives. Sometimes I also like to give my classes a sentence which is the beginning of a story. Then I have the students add a sentence to the story one at a time. I did this in one of my classes and I was so impressed by their ideas, that I gave the same premise to four other classes. Their final stories were very different. I'll post my favorite four here. The fifth one was a little to silly. It's interesting how some students want to continue the story and some others try to add things that will make it go in a completely different direction. I teach at a hakwon. Hakwons are small schools that students come to after their regular school to learn about a certain subject so my classes are small.

#4 (8th graders)
It is the year 2113, and Anseong, Korea is a big city, but it has a problem. It rains in Anseong everyday, so there is a big flood in Anseong. The people in Anseong always bring umbrellas. Many people have died because of the flood. Also, many flowers don't grow. The stores are underwater, so the people aren't able to buy food. One day, the rain stops. Many people go outside their houses. The people shout. They feel thirsty. After that, there's an earthquake.

#3 (8th graders)
It is the year 2113 and Anseong is a big city, but it has a problem. Subin, a 115 year old woman, is still alive. She is a witch. She is very strong so she has conquered Anseong. At the same time, a zombie virus has been spreading. Zombies are fighting people in Anseong. Some people have changed into zombies. Subin rides on a dragon and flies. At that time, the smart people learn that the zombies don't like light. The zombies go into a building. The people turn on the lights in the building. Subin falls off the dragon and dies. However, she revives, kills the zombies, and restores the building.

#2 (9th graders)
It is the year 2113, and Anseong, Korea is a big city, but it has a problem. Anseong is dirty so the people are sick. Most of the people have died. A doctor wants to cure the disease, but it's not easy. People listen to the doctor's words. Everyone drinks water and exercises everyday for a year. Some people get healthy. The doctor thinks all of the people are healthy, but the disease spreads to the rest of the world. The doctor feels that the problem is serious. The doctor searches for a new solution. The doctor says to never give up; however, all of the people die.

#1 (7th graders)
It is the year 2113, and the people in Anseong, Korea have a problem. Anseong is a very big city, but it is empty. The people weren't able to eat, so many people died. However, one man lives in Anseong. There's a subway station in Anseong. The man is very old. He goes to the subway station everyday to see if anyone else has come, but the station hasn't opened yet. The man is lonely. The man starts to cry. A train arrives at the station and a young man gets off. The young man eats an egg in the station. The young man and the old man never meet because the old man cried so much, he died. The young man creates new people. Anseong becomes very crowded again.