Doing Creative Writing

Are you beginning a creative writing course? Or thinking about taking one? Doing Creative Writing is the ideal guide to what you should expect, what will be expected of you and how you can get the most from your course. It clearly and concisely outlines: the contexts for creative writing courses, explaining where the subject has come from and why that matters the content, structure and delivery of the courses, helping you to understand how your course will be shaped, what you will be asked to do and why the skills you will develop, from self-discipline and time management through to the organisation of ideas, 'reading as a writer' and editing possibilities beyond the course , showing how you continue to benefit from what you've learned. Drawing on years of teaching and writing experience, as well as interviews with a widerange of students, Steve May provides all the background, advice and encouragement you need to embark on a creative writing course with complete confidence and to get maximum benefit from every writing session.

Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
General introduction	p. 1
Who is this book for?	p. 1
How will you benefit from it?	p. 2
What's in this book	p. 3
The context
Creative writing: can it be taught?	p. 7
Practice makes perfect - or does it?	p. 8
Pressing the brake to go faster	p. 10
Craft and mystery	p. 15
Summary	p. 17
Creative writing: why take a university course?	p. 19
A course is a course, isn't it? What makes a degree course different	p. 20
Process and product: authors, dead or alive	p. 22
Writer, reader and reality	p. 25
Summary	p. 30
Creative writing now	p. 31
Creative writing - where to find it	p. 31
The history of creative writing - what's it to you?	p. 33
Creative writing within other subjects	p. 35
The growth of creative writing - how it affects your course	p. 36
Who's teaching creative writing, and why?	p. 38
Who's doing creative writing, and why?	p. 44
Summary	p. 46
Studying creative writing
How courses are organised and how you will learn	p. 49
Choices, units and contact time	p. 49
How are creative writing courses taught?	p. 50
Lectures, tutorials and virtual learning environments	p. 51
Seminars and workshops	p. 53
Get-to-know-you and guidelines	p. 54
Training and the real event	p. 54
Games and exercises within the workshop	p. 55
Something you prepared earlier	p. 57
Dealing with feedback	p. 59
Giving good feedback	p. 61
How much do I have to tell them?	p. 64
Progression	p. 66
Summary	p. 66
Assessment	p. 69
It's subjective, isn't it?	p. 69
Assessment in the writing industries	p. 70
Assessment criteria	p. 71
Non-creative assessment items	p. 76
Other assessment methods	p. 80
Assessment, feedback and monitoring	p. 81
Attendance	p. 82
Final word	p. 84
Summary	p. 84
Writers' habits, writers' skills
Developing your own working habits	p. 87
Tough to do at home...	p. 87
Where to write	p. 88
When to write	p. 89
Word counts: the false gods	p. 91
Writing isn't just writing	p. 92
Reading as a writer	p. 94
Exemplary books on a similar topic	p. 95
Factual books	p. 95
Books with a style or a voice	p. 96
Books as market research	p. 96
A note on plagiarism	p. 98
Organising yourself	p. 99
Summary	p. 101
Writing and editing	p. 103
How do you write?	p. 103
The necessity of editing	p. 104
Levels of editing: how to edit, and when	p. 105
Too Much for Normous	p. 107
The naming of files	p. 109
Task avoidance	p. 110
Word counts again	p. 112
Presentation and layout: make your work a pleasure to read	p. 113
Summary	p. 115
Conclusion: beyond the course	p. 117
Had enough?	p. 117
The academic route: further study	p. 118
Writing	p. 120
Journalism	p. 120
Books	p. 122
Scriptwriting	p. 123
Poetry	p. 123
Writing-related careers	p. 124
And finally...	p. 124
Case studies: James Joyce and other writers	p. 125
Further reading	p. 137
Index	p. 151
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Doing Creative Writing

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials