| Summary: | Abstract The empirical material for studying children’s creative writing was collected in Taivalkoski, Lapland (a basic education course at Päätalo Institute, ten girls), and Oulu, Northern Finland (a creative writing project in a hospital school, two girls and two boys), in spring 2000. I was the instructor at the courses as well as the researcher. The children were 8–13 years in age. The subject of my study consists of the stories written by the children: what sort of stories they write and how creative writing suits hospital and school environments. I also look into bibliotherapy conducted among children and young people. In my study I describe, analyse and interpret by means of qualitative research the courses in creative writing offered by Päätalo Institute and the hospital school. As case studies, these two are stand-alone studies independent of each other. By qualitative approach in this work I mean that I describe how I build my interpretation as a researcher. The stories written by children provide material externalised from the subconscious as stories and writings which it is possible to interpret from a depth-psychological point of view. Sigmund Freud’s understanding of dreams as manifestations of subconscious fears and hopes acquires a new form in the horror stories children write. The child works his or her activated energy charge through manipulating the dream-like and violent elements in stories in a controlled manner: by writing. In bibliotherapy, one studies one’s own feelings, thoughts and memories and compares them to the experiences of others. This sort of work on feelings, thoughts and memories seemed to take place especially in the writer projects of the hospital school children: they worked on emotional processes while writing. On the basis of my study, creative writing and bibliotherapy offer a child or a young person a means for working out, at both conscious and subconscious levels, matters relating to the present stage of his or her development and current life condition. While ...
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