Students often prefer creative writing over analytical writing.  When students imagine a story, they still demonstrate their understanding of the characters and events.  Instead of focusing on the events in a story, they can write freely about their own version of events. 

Simply handing back an essay with commentary and feedback is just one thing a teacher can do to help a student improve their writing. 

Essential questions require opening up the discussion to include current events, history, or ideas. 

One-pagers and sketchnotes give students the opportunity to creatively express their interpretation of a novel. 

Students can get overwhelmed with the terminology of literary analysis.  There are a lot of techniques (free resource) and it can be hard to keep track of them all.