Creative Writing

With elegant prose, deep readings of other writers, and scaffolded writing exercises, The Art of Brevity takes the reader on a lyrical exploration of compact storytelling, guiding readers to heighten their awareness of not only what appears on the page but also what doesn't.

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or short story but didn't know where to start? If so, this is the book for you. It's the book for anyone, in fact, who wants to write to their full potential. Practical and jargon-free, rejecting prescriptive templates and formulae, it's a storehouse of ideas and advice on a range of relevant subjects, from boosting self-motivation and confidence to approaching agents and publishers. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience as successful writers and inspiring teachers, it will guide you through such essentials as the interplay of memory and imagination; plotting your story; the creation of convincing characters; the uses of description; the pleasures and pitfalls of research; and the editing process. The book's primary aim is simple: to help its readers to become better writers.

Refuse To Be Done will guide you through every step of the novel writing process, from getting started on those first pages to the last tips for making your final draft even tighter and stronger. From lauded writer and teacher Matt Bell, Refuse to Be Done is encouraging and intensely practical, focusing always on specific rewriting tasks, techniques, and activities for every stage of the process.

The Science of Writing Characters is a comprehensive handbook to help writers create compelling and psychologically-credible characters that come to life on the page. Drawing on the latest psychological theory and research, ranging from personality theory to evolutionary science, the book equips screenwriters and novelists with all the techniques they need to build complex, dimensional characters from the bottom up.

Drawing back the curtain on the mysterious process of writing novels, The Secret Miracle brings together the foremost practitioners of the craft to discuss how they write. Paul Auster, Roddy Doyle, Allegra Goodman, Aleksandar Hemon, Mario Vargas Llosa, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, Daniel Alarcón, and others take us step by step through the alchemy of writing fiction, answering everything from nuts-and-bolts queries--"Do you outline?"--to perennial questions posed by writers and readers alike: "What makes a character compelling?"

The Writer's Field Guide to the Craft of Fiction offers a refreshing approach to the craft of fiction writing. It takes a single page from forty contemporary novels and short stories, identifies techniques used by the writers, and presents approachable exercises and prompts that allow anyone to put those techniques to immediate use in their own work. Encompassing everything from micro (how to "write pretty") to macro (how to "move through time space"), and even how to put all together on page one, this a field guide for anyone who wants to start writing now (or get some shiny new gear for their fiction toolbox.)

Since 1969, the prestigious Squaw Valley Community of Writers has helped develop the art and craft of many who are now household names. Instructors such as Michael Chabon, Mark Childress, Diane Johnson, Anne Lamott, Robert Stone, and Amy Tan have distilled their advice and wisdom from seminars and lectures, and the result is a book that captures the workshop experience of completesubmersion in the writing process.

Writing: A User Manual offers practical insight into the processes that go into writing a novel, from planning to story development, research to revision and, finally, delivery in a form which will catch the eye of an agent or publisher. David Hewson, a highly productive and successful writer of popular fiction with more than sixteen novels in print in twenty or so languages, shows how to manage the day to day process of writing.

In this inspiring collection of essays, a range of award-winning, established and newly published writers offer highly personal accounts of their creative processes. Authors reveal the anxieties, considerations and discoveries that shaped their own first novels, arming new writers with practical advice, focus and inspiration. The book's final section presents the perspectives of an agent, a publisher and an author on the business of publishing a first novel.

Writing Short Stories: A Writers' and Artists' Companion is an essential guide to writing short fiction successfully. PART 1 explores the nature and history of the form, personal reflections by the editors, and help getting started with ideas, planning and research. PART 2 includes tips by leading short story writers, including: Alison Moore, Jane Rogers, Edith Pearlman, David Vann, Anthony Doerr, Vanessa Gebbie, Alexander MacLeod, Adam Thorpe and Elspeth Sandys. PART 3 contains practical advice - from shaping plots and exploring your characters to beating writers' block, rewriting and publishing your stories.

While the novella has existed as a distinct literary form for over four hundred years, Writing the Novella is the first craft book dedicated to creating this intermediate-length fiction. Innovative, integrated journal prompts inspire and sustain the creative process, and classic novellas serve as examples throughout. Part 1 defines the novella form and steers early decision-making on situation, character, plot, and point of view. Part 2 provides detailed directions for writing the scenic plot points that support a strong but flexible narrative arc. Appendix materials include a list of recommended novellas, publishing opportunities, and blank templates for the story map, graphs, and charts used throughout the book.

This book is written to help poets address the central concerns of their craft and art. Lively, inspiring, opinionated, and sometimes curmudgeonly, The Art of Poetry Writing covers a broad range of topics, both technical and personal, that all poets need to consider. Remarks by and excerpts from the work of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Dickinson, Yeats, Auden, Stevens, Moore, Thomas, Ginsberg, Sexton, Plath, Dickey, Bukowski, Ashbery, and dozens of other poets make this an essential companion for students, teachers and anyone who writes or reads poetry.

Using side-by-side pairings of first drafts and final versions, including full-page reproductions from the poets' personal notebooks, as well as an insightful essay on each poem's journey from start to finish, The Art of Revising Poetry tracks the creative process of twenty-one of the United States' most influential poets as they struggle over a single word, line break, or thought. This behind-the-scenes look into the creative minds of working poets, including African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native poets from across the US, is an essential resource for students practicing poetry, and for instructors looking to enliven the classroom with real world examples.

Featuring contributions from widely published and practicing poets who are also experienced teachers and presenters of poetry, The Eye of the Poet: Six Views of the Art and Craft of Poetry provides students and other readers with invaluable practical advice. Ideal for courses in poetry writingand creative writing, it includes six sections written by Billy Collins, Carol Muske, David Baker and Ann Townsend, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin, and David Citino. These poets speak their minds about their relationship with their art and craft, offering guidance to writers at all levels of experience from the beginner to the veteran.

An innovative introduction to writing poetry designed for students of creative writing and budding poets alike. Challenges the reader's sense of what is possible in a poem. Traces the history and highlights the potential of poetry. Focuses on the fundamental principles of poetic construction, such as: Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? Why does their speaking take this form? Considers both experimental and mainstream approaches to contemporary poetry.

In 1902, a nineteen-year-old aspiring poet named Franz Kappus wrote to Rainer Maria Rilke, then twenty-six, seeking advice on his poetry. Kappus, a student at a military academy in Vienna similar to the one Rilke had attended, was about to embark on a career as an officer, for which he had little inclination. Touched by the innocence and forthrightness of the student, Rilke responded to Kappus' letter and began an intermittent correspondence that would last until 1908. Letters to a Young Poet collects the ten letters that Rilke wrote to Kappus.

Stephen Fry believes that if one can speak and read English, one can write poetry. Many of us have never been taught to read or write poetry and think of it as a mysterious and intimidating form. Or, if we have been taught, we remember uncomfortable silence when an English teacher invited the class to "respond" to a poem. In The Ode Less Travelled, Fry sets out to correct this problem by giving aspiring poets the tools and confidence they need to write poetry for pleasure.

The Poet's Companion presents brief essays on the elements of poetry, technique, and suggested subjects for writing, each followed by distinctive writing exercises. The ups and downs of writing life--including self-doubt and writer's block--are here, along with tips about getting published and writing in the electronic age. On your own, this book can be your "teacher," while groups, in or out of the classroom, can profit from sharing weekly assignments.

For beginning or advanced students of poetry focused on the art of structuring a poem, A Poet's Ear serves as a handbook to writing in numerous fixed forms. Here, Annie Finch's remarkably in-depth introduction to poetic form in English opens a new and exciting world to contemporary poets. From the basic meters and traditional European forms of the ballad and the sonnet to poetic forms brought to English from worldwide cultures and postmodern forms and techniques, A Poet's Ear serves as both a survey and a guide to the exploration of poetic form.

An updated and expanded edition of the provocative and practical guide to poetry-an art form that is both loved and feared -- written for students of creative writing and literary studies, with a new emphasis on poetry's role in a time of great change and transformation.

The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries -- drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics -- provides a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the history and practice of poetry in more than 100 major regional, national, and diasporic literatures and language traditions around the globe. With more than 165 entries, the book combines broad overviews and focused accounts to give extensive coverage of poetic traditions throughout the world.

The Art of Writing Drama is an indispensable textbook for wherever writing for the stage is taught, but also serves as a foundational book for any student taking courses in performance media - radio, television and film. Coupling theory with practice, the book opens with a survey of the current methodologies of teaching playwriting and of textual analysis. The theories of Bakhtin, Foucault and Derrida are examined as are the agendas of play reviewers from the national press. In the second section of the book, a wealth of guidance with practical exercises on the skills of writing for the stage is provided.

This book seeks to reshape the way that writers think about constructing their story, looking at the subject from the inside out. Often practitioners and theorists examine work through the separate lenses of character and/or structure and then bring them together. Within this book, authors Hughes and Wilkes argue that character is structure and one without the other makes for a dissatisfying narrative. Through detailed case studies on films that span all genres, from mainstream franchises like The Hunger Games (2012-2015) and Shrek (2001-2010) to art house films such as Toto Le Heros (1991) and Eraserhead (1977), the authors reveal the dramatic imperative behind the central choices or dilemmas faced by every protagonist in every classic feature length narrative.

In The Dramatist's Toolkit, playwright and Backstage columnist Jeff Sweet offers an intensive and practical guide to being a working playwright.

Louis Catron imbued experienced and fledgling playwrights with inspiration, guidance, and a passport to maximizing their writing skills as well as their overall ability to transform written words into a stage production. He understood that being a playwright is more than putting pen to paper. It involves expressing a personal point of view, bringing a vision to life, developing dimensional characters, structuring a play's action, and finding producers, directors, and actors to bring the work to life. In the second edition Norman Bert infuses the enduring merits of Catron's original work with examples, technological developments, and trends geared to today's readers.

Global Scriptwriting offers a look at an exciting new phase in screen storytelling, as writers and directors from all over the world infuse traditional forms with their own cultural values to create stories that have an international appeal and suggest a universality among readers, viewers, and listeners. A unique blend of screenwriting technique and film studies, Global Scriptwriting discusses screen stories as they have evolved through the years, focusing first on the basics of scriptwriting, then going on to afford a more sophisticated look at script via different models of scriptwriting: the Hollywood model, the independent model, the national model, and various alternative models. It examines the internationalization of storytelling, and illustrates how particular innovations have helped national screen stories to international success.

Playwriting Intensive takes a fresh approach to playwriting -- putting dialogue first. Castagno shows novice playwrights how to use language to generate character and structure. His decades of experience teaching and writing have resulted in a fresh, informed pedagogy designed to get students off to the right start and progressing quickly. Castagno emphasizes learning by process through the text, encouraging readers to experiment and familiarize themselves with the best practices provided. His lessons focus on the skills contemporary playwrights will use in their careers, including promoting diversity both through featured examples and dedicated exercises.

The secret of writing a successful screenplay is sought after by ever-growing numbers of scribes and enthusiasts. Screenwriters’ Masterclass offers state-of-the-art advice in that line, through interviews with nineteen of the leading scriptwriters of our day whose insights are invaluable to any aspirant.

Whether you want to write a feature film or a TV script or adapt your favorite book, this friendly guide gives you expert advice in everything from creating your story and developing memorable characters to formatting your script and selling it to the studios. You get savvy industry tips and strategies for getting your screenplay noticed!

This unique, comprehensive introduction to screenwriting offers practical advice for the beginning writer, whether college student or freelancer. Based on their experience as professional writers and as teachers in a large, successful screenwriting program at California State University, Northridge, the authors provide a progression of assignments at manageable screenwriting lengths for beginners. They lead students through development of a premise, treatment, stepsheet, and, finally, miniscreenplay--essential elements in writing a longer script.

The short film is a unique narrative art form that, while lending itself to experimentation, requires tremendous discipline in following traditional filmic considerations. This book takes the student and novice screenwriter through the storytelling process- from conception, to visualization, to dramatization, to characterization and dialogue- and teaches them how to create a dramatic narrative that is at once short (approximately half an hour in length) and complete.

A Braided Heart provides a friendly, personal, and smart guide to the writing life. It also offers clear and original instruction on craft elements at the forefront of today's emerging forms in creative nonfiction: from the short-short, to the braided form, to the hermit crab essay. An acknowledged expert in these forms, Brenda Miller gives writers practical advice on how to sustain and invigorate their writing practice, while also encouraging readers to explore their own writing lives.

The Nonfictionist's Guide offers a lively exploration of the elements of contemporary nonfiction and suggests imaginative approaches to writing it. Each chapter on a vital aspect of contemporary nonfiction concludes with a separate section of relevant 'notes for nonfictionists.' Beginning with a new definition of nonfiction and explanation of the nonfiction motive, Robert Root discusses the use of experimental forms, the effects of present and past tense and experiential and reflective voices, and the issue of truth. He provides groundbreaking explorations of the segmented essay and the role of spaces as an essential literary device, guiding both readers and writers through the innovative and stimulating ways we write nonfiction now.

Since 2003, Tell It Slant has set the standard for creative nonfiction instruction, showing writers how to move beyond mere facts and, instead, make the most of their own “slant” on the world. Whether planning a course or learning on your own, Tell It Slant provides everything you need to know to develop a distinctive voice and to craft compelling creative nonfiction.

Distinguished author Phillip Lopate, editor of the celebrated anthology The Art of the Personal Essay, is universally acclaimed as "one of our best personal essayists" (Dallas Morning News). Here, combining more than forty years of lessons from his storied career as a writer and professor, he brings us this highly anticipated nuts-and-bolts guide to writing literary nonfiction. A phenomenal master class shaped by Lopate's informative, accessible tone and immense gift for storytelling, To Show and To Tell reads like a long walk with a favorite professor--refreshing, insightful, and encouraging in often unexpected ways.

Since Writing the Memoir came out in early 1997 it has sold roughly 80,000 copies and is consistently praised as "the best book on memoir out there." It is thought-provoking, explanatory, and practical: each chapter ends with writing exercises. It covers everything from questions of truth and ethics to questions of craft and the crucial retrospective voice. An appendix provides information on legal issues.

For those that have mastered the basics of memoir and wish to probe this brand of creative nonfiction further, Writing the Radical Memoir uses salient theories about memory and the self to challenge assumptions about how we remember and tell the truth of our lives when we write about it. Innovative in approach and making new critical ideas accessible, each chapter maps out the key principles of such writers as Barthes, Lacan, Derrida, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Philippe Le Jeune and Joseph Campbell, invokes literary examples to show how other writers have mastered the idea before reflecting on how you can practically apply the theory to your writing.

This innovative book teaches students how to write informative and engaging nonfiction that emphasizes voice and creativity and incorporates observation, research, memory, and point of view. Writing True serves as a valuable core textbook or a supplement for any creative writing or composition course with an emphasis on creative nonfiction. A solid pedagogical approach shows students how to be true to capturing the real world with integrity and creativity.