Researching Creative Writing
by
Jen Webb
In this learned but practical book, Jen Webb shows how 'research practices can invigorate writing; creative practices can invigorate research; and - if properly organised and managed - creative writing can operate as a mode of knowledge generation, a way of exploring problems and answering questions that matter in our current context'. Researching creative writing enables writer-researchers to craft a toolkit that will help them produce better creative work and more rigorous research work. Contents: Abstract; 1 Chapter 1: An introduction - What is research?; PART 1: Designing the research; Chapter 2 - Finding a project; Chapter 3 - The epistemological preliminaries; Chapter 4 - The craft of research; PART 2: Doing research; Chapter 5 - Writing as research; Chapter 6 - Research and other people; Chapter 7 - Research and the environment; PART 3: From materials to the published work; Chapter 8 - Managing the material; Chapter 9 - Writing and telling; Acknowledgements; References; Glossary of key terms; Index
A Companion to Creative Writing
by
Graeme Harper (Editor)
"A Companion to Creative Writing" is a comprehensive collection covering myriad aspects of the practice and profession of creative writing in the contemporary world. The book features contributions from an international cast of creative writers, publishers and editors, critics, translators, literary prize judges, and many other top professionals. Chapters not only consider the practice of creative writing in terms of how it is "done," but also in terms of what occurs in and around creative writing practice. Chapters address a wide range of topics including the writing of poetry and fiction; playwriting and screenwriting; writing for digital media; editing; creative writing and its engagement with language, spirituality, politics, education, and heritage. Other chapters explore the role of literary critics and ideas around authorship, as well as translation and creative writing, the teaching of creative writing, and the histories and character of the marketplace, prizes, awards, and literary events.
Publication Date: 2013
To the Budding Creative Writer
by
Roselyne M. Jua; Bate Besong
To the Budding Creative Writer: A Handbook is designed to help young writers come to grips with questions and problems relative to their creative efforts. The authors discuss a range of topics, providing guidelines on such issues as style, technique, point of view, characterization, poetic diction, figurative language, denotation and connotation, etc. They equally offer useful critical comments on some of the works of accomplished African writers whom they cite as models for beginning writers, fusing literary creativity with literary criticism. All along the co-authors stress the centrality, in imaginative writing, of both the 'what' and the 'how' or matter and manner, and how to combine both to good effect.
Publication Date: 2009
Creative Writing Across the Curriculum
by
Justin Nicholes
Situated among fields (applied linguistics, creative writing studies, writing studies), this book empirically explores the language of writers in contexts of learning externalized in literary genres. At its core, this book features linguistic and thematic analysis of the writing and reflections of adults who experienced what they usually described as meaningful CW in university coursework, sometimes in science and research-focused courses where they might not have expected to compose a literary genre. In addition to synthesizing empirical studies that in total included more than 3,500 participants, chapters present new research involving about 400 more. This book is meant to be substantial in its goal of systematically organizing what is known about CW's relationship to writers: in terms of feelings of engagement, gains in content knowledge, and revelations about oneself and others.
Publication Date: 2022
Books on Craft
Find inspiration in reading about other writers' journeys and get helpful advice on honing your craft.
Negotiating with the Dead
by
Margaret Atwood
From the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments: "A clear-eyed glance into the shadows where writers work and live." --The Washington Post Book World In this wise and irresistibly quotable book, one of the most intelligent writers now working in English addresses the riddle of her art: why people pursue it, how they view their calling, and what bargains they make with their audiences, both real and imagined. To these fascinating issues Margaret Atwood brings a candid appraisal of her own experience as well as a breadth of reading that encompasses everything from Dante to Elmore Leonard. An ambitious artistic inquiry conducted with unpretentious charm, Negotiating with the Dead is an invaluable insider's view of the writer's universe.
Telling Stories
by
Lee Martin
A prolific and award-winning writer, Lee Martin has put pen to paper to offer his wisdom, honed during thirty years of teaching the oh-so-elusive art of writing. Telling Stories is intended for anyone interested in thinking more about the elements of storytelling in short stories, novels, and memoirs. Martin clearly delineates helpful and practical techniques for demystifying the writing process and provides tools for perfecting the art of the scene, characterization, detail, point of view, language, and revision--in short, the art of writing. His discussion of the craft in his own life draws from experiences, memories, and stories to provide a more personal perspective on the elements of writing. Martin provides encouragement by sharing what he's learned from his journey through frustrations, challenges, and successes. Most important, Telling Stories emphasizes that you are not alone on this journey and that writers must remain focused on what they love: the process of moving words on the page. By focusing on that purpose, Martin contends, the journey will always take you where you're meant to go.
Publication Date: 2017
Scheherazade's legacy : Arab and Arab-American women on writing
by
Susan M. Darraj
In a time when it seems that the gap of understanding between the West and the Middle East continues to widen, Scheherazade's Legacy builds a bridge between the two cultures. Collected here are the voices of those who define the genre of Arab Anglophone writing--that literature that describes the cultural experiences of those with Arab identities living, and often writing, in the West. Contributions from such writers as Naomi Shihab Nye, Diana Abu-Jaber, Suheir Hammad, Etal Adnan, Elmaz Abinader, and others, explore the complexities of writing in and for a culture not entirely their own. The essays here, complemented by selections, mostly original, of each author's work, promises to be a cornerstone in the study of writing by women writers of Arab descent who find themselves between two cultures, two worlds that are often at odds. With a foreword by Barbara Nimri Aziz, journalist, and founder of RAWI (Radius of Arab-American Writers), this collection is one of the first books to assemble the voices of women writers of Arab descent on the subject of writing itself. Contributors consider the difficulties, obstacles, joys, failures and successes of writing from an Arab perspective but largely for American audiences. They consider aspects of identity, family, politics, memory, and other crucial cultural issues that impact them personally and professionally as writers. In creative and thoughtful prose, these important women writers shed new light on what it means to be a writer in a world not fully your own.