Serious Daring Creative Writing in Four Genres

Top Three Reasons to Adopt This Book

* Flexible Structure. This innovative text features a flexible organization that allows for different course structures and various teaching approaches.
* Practical Lessons. In addition to a comprehensive introduction to Creative Writing craft, the book provides practical tips and poses questions to prepare students for continuing their writing lives long term.
* Fresh Readings. The anthology offers up a fresh mix of classic and newer reading selections that promote step-by-step instruction in the craft and encourage further discussion.

Lisa Roney is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Central Florida.

Preface
To Instructors
To Students
Acknowledgments

Part I. Craft Matters

1. Serious Daring-First: Steps on the Writer's Path
Motivations
Sources of Material
Getting Started
Pathways
Guidepost: Directions You Might Go

Destination: Poetry
--Main Features of Poetry
--Questions about Your Poetry

2. Imagery and Figurative Language
Concrete and abstract language
-- John Haines, "On the Mountain"
Accuracy and freshness
--Rae Armantrout, "Home Federal"
Denotation and connotation
Figurative language
--Table 2.1: Tropes
Pathways
Guidepost: Risk-taking

3. Sound and Rhythm
Breath and rhythm
Choosing sounds
Repetition and Sound Patterns
--Yusef Komunyakaa, "Salt"
--Table 3.1: Sentence-Level Schemes
Musicality
Pathways
Guidepost: Timing

4. Form
Breaking lines, Making Stanzas
--Table 4.1: Enjambed and End-Stopped Lines in Lynn Emanuel's "The Out-of-Body Experience"
Free Verse
Meter
--Table 4.2: Poetic feet
--James Tate, "Miss Cho Composes in the Cafeteria"
Poetic forms
--Richard Frost, "For a Brother"
Prose forms
Pathways
Guidepost: Adaptability
Destination: Creative Nonfiction
--Main Features of Creative Nonfiction
--Questions about Your Creative Nonfiction

5. Memory
Changing Views of Memoir
The Rise of Memoir
Personal Memory as Literary Tool
Memory and Imagination
Pathways
Guidepost: Self-Awareness

6. Research
Moving Out from Autobiographical Material
Methods and Means
Personal Essays
Literary journalism and Immersion
Ethics
Research in Poetry, Fiction, and Drama
Pathways
Guidepost: Curiosity
Destination: Fiction
--Main Features of Fiction
--Questions about Your Fiction

7. Description and Setting
Worlds on Pages
Setting as Character
Scene, Summary, and Exposition
--Table 7.1: Examples of Scene, Summary, and Exposition
Special Concerns in Scripts
Pathways
Guidepost: Attentiveness

8. Character
Methods of characterization
Depth of character
Secondary characters
Pathways
Guidepost: Empathy

9. Plot
Conflicts
Narrative Arcs
--Figure 9.1: Freytag's pyramid variations
Moving around in time
Plot and Worldview
Pathways
Guidepost: Foresight

10. Point of View and Voice
First, Second, and Third person
Narrative distance
Table 10.1: Points of View
Unreliable Narrators
Voice vs. Character
Pathways
Guidepost: Individuality
Destination: Plays
--Main Features of Plays
--Questions About Your Plays

11. Action and Dialogue
Action
How Dialogue Works
Table 11.1: Modes of Dialogue
Dialogue and Action in Concert
The Objective Correlative
Pathways
Guidepost: Listening Skills

12. Performance
Theatricality
Table 12.1: Stage Directions
One Script, Many Performances
Distinctions between Stage and Screen
Performing Poetry and Prose
Pathways
Guidepost: Collaborative spirit

Destination: Hybrid Forms and Emerging Media
--Main Features of These Forms
--Questions About Writing in Hybrid Forms and Emerging Media

Part II. Writing Life Matters

13. Reading as a Writer
Reading: The Crucial Factor
How to Read as a Writer
Two case studies: Hemingway and Wojahn
--Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
--David Wojahn, "Cold Glow: Icehouses"
Pathways

14. After Brainstorming
Why we workshop
How we workshop
--Table 14.1: Types of Commentary
Revision
Pathways

15. The Literary vs. Genre Debate
Genre fiction and Academic Values
The Many Roles of Writers in Society
Literary Qualities
Melodrama, Sentimentality, and Stereotype
Pathways

16. The Writing Life
Profession or Avocation?
How Writers Make a Living
Charting Your Own Future
Pathways

Part III. Anthology

Agee, James. "Knoxville: Summer, 1915" (fiction)
Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me" (on writing)
Ali, Agha Shahid. "Stars" (poetry)
Alvarez, Lynne. "On Sundays" (drama)
Armantrout, Rae. "Home Federal" (poem included in Chapter 2)
Becker, Robin. "The Children's Concert" (poetry)
Block, Mary. "Moving Song" (poetry)
Blumenthal, Michael. "On Not Bringing Your Mother to Creative Writing Class" (on writing)
Borden, William. "The Blues Street Jazz Club Rehearses" (drama)
Byrne, James. "Sestina for R" (poetry)
Calvino, Italo. "All at One Point" (fiction)
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. "The Changeling" (poetry)
Cortázar, Julio. "Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" (fiction)
Díaz, Junot. "Edison, New Jersey" (fiction)
Dillard, Annie. "Total Eclipse" (creative nonfiction)
Dischell, Stuart. "She Put Her Lipstick on in the Dark." (poetry)
Doctorow, E. L. Excerpt from World's Fair (fiction)
Dubus, Andre, III. "Tracks and Ties" (creative nonfiction)
Emanuel, Lynn. "Out of Body Experience" (poetry)
Erdrich, Louise. "Saint Marie" (fiction)
Fill, Simon. "Night Visits" (drama)
Fowler, Connie May. "Connie May Is Going to Win the Lottery This Week" (on writing)
Frost, Richard. "For a Brother" (poetry included in Chapter 4)
Gallagher, Tess. "Ode to My Father" (on writing, poetry)
Gilmour, Sherine. "Little Boys" (poetry)
Gutkind, Lee. "Teeth" (creative nonfiction)
Hadas, Rachel. "Mnemonic." (poetry)
Haines, John. "On the Mountain" (poetry included in Chapter 2)
Hayes, Terrance. "The Golden Shovel" (poetry)
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." (fiction included in Chapter 13)
Hoagland, Tony. "America" (poetry)
Hodgman, Ann. "No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch" (creative nonfiction)
Joudah, Fady. "Sleeping Trees" (poetry)
Komunyakaa, Yusef. "Salt" (poetry included in Chapter 3)
Kuusisto, Stephen. "Letter from Venice" (creative nonfiction)
Levis, Larry. "At the Grave of My Guardian Angel: St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans" (poetry)
Li, Yiyun. "Son" (fiction)
Markarian, Michele. "Phoning It In" (drama)
McPherson, Sandra. "To a Penny Postcard, © 1911" (poetry)
Minot, Susan. "Hiding" (fiction)
Moore, Dinty W. "Son of Mr. Green Jeans: A Meditation on Missing Fathers." (creative nonfiction)
Morrison, Toni. "Peril" (on writing)
Moses, Itamar. "Men's Intuition" (drama)
Mueller, Lisel. "Spell for a Traveler" (poetry)
Mullen, Harryette. "Tree" (poetry)
Neruda, Pablo. "Your Feet" (poetry)
O'Brien, Tim. "How to Tell a True War Story" (fiction)
Offut, Chris. "Out of the Woods" (fiction)
Ortega, Julio. "Las Papas" (fiction)
Ostriker, Alicia Suskin. "The Orange Cat" (poetry)
Palmer, Michael. "The Cord" (poetry)
Panning, Anne. "Remembering, I Was Not There" (creative nonfiction)
Poissant, David James. "The History of Flight" (fiction)
Purpura, Lia. "On Looking Away: A Panoramic" (creative nonfiction)
Russell, Karen. "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" (fiction)
Sedaris, David. "The Drama Bug" (creative nonfiction)
Shannon, Christopher. "Apollo (at) Eleven" (poetry)
Smock, Frederick. "A Poet's Education" (on writing)
Soto, Gary. "What the Wall Street Bailout Means to Me" (poetry)
Stokesbury, Leon. "An Unsent Message to My Brother in His Pain" (poetry)
Su, Adrienne. "Four Sonnets about Food" (poetry)
Swain, Bara. "Critical Care" (drama)
Tate, James. "Miss Cho Composes in the Cafeteria" (poetry included in Chapter 4)
Thompson, Craig. Excerpt from Carnet de Voyage (graphic narrative)
West, Amber. "Pirate's Admonition" (poetry, Petrarchan sonnet)
Williams, William Carlos. "Young Sycamore" (poetry)
Wojahn, David. "Cold Glow: Icehouses" (poetry included in Chapter 13)
Young, Al. "A Little More Traveling Music" (poetry)
Zolynas, Al. "Love in the Classroom" (poetry)

Appendices
Appendix A: Manuscript Formats
--A1: Poetry
-- A2: Prose
-- A3: Plays
Appendix B: Verse Forms
Credit
Index
Preface
To Instructors
To Students
Acknowledgments
Part I. Craft Matters
1. Serious Daring-First: Steps on the Writer's Path
Motivations
Sources of Material
Getting Started
Pathways
Guidepost: Directions You Might Go
Destination: Poetry
--Main Features of Poetry
--Questions about Your Poetry
2. Imagery and Figurative Language
Concrete and abstract language
-- John Haines, "On the Mountain"
Accuracy and freshness
--Rae Armantrout, "Home Federal"
Denotation and connotation
Figurative language
--Table 2.1: Tropes
Pathways
Guidepost: Risk-taking
3. Sound and Rhythm
Breath and rhythm
Choosing sounds
Repetition and Sound Patterns
--Yusef Komunyakaa, "Salt"
--Table 3.1: Sentence-Level Schemes
Musicality
Pathways
Guidepost: Timing
4. Form
Breaking lines, Making Stanzas
--Table 4.1: Enjambed and End-Stopped Lines in Lynn Emanuel's "The Out-of-Body Experience"
Free Verse
Meter
--Table 4.2: Poetic feet
--James Tate, "Miss Cho Composes in the Cafeteria"
Poetic forms
--Richard Frost, "For a Brother"
Prose forms
Pathways
Guidepost: Adaptability
Destination: Creative Nonfiction
--Main Features of Creative Nonfiction
--Questions about Your Creative Nonfiction
5. Memory
Changing Views of Memoir
The Rise of Memoir
Personal Memory as Literary Tool
Memory and Imagination
Pathways
Guidepost: Self-Awareness
6. Research
Moving Out from Autobiographical Material
Methods and Means
Personal Essays
Literary journalism and Immersion
Ethics
Research in Poetry, Fiction, and Drama
Pathways
Guidepost: Curiosity
Destination: Fiction
--Main Features of Fiction
--Questions about Your Fiction
7. Description and Setting
Worlds on Pages
Setting as Character
Scene, Summary, and Exposition
--Table 7.1: Examples of Scene, Summary, and Exposition
Special Concerns in Scripts
Pathways
Guidepost: Attentiveness
8. Character
Methods of characterization
Depth of character
Secondary characters
Pathways
Guidepost: Empathy
9. Plot
Conflicts
Narrative Arcs
--Figure 9.1: Freytag's pyramid variations
Moving around in time
Plot and Worldview
Pathways
Guidepost: Foresight
10. Point of View and Voice
First, Second, and Third person
Narrative distance
Table 10.1: Points of View
Unreliable Narrators
Voice vs. Character
Pathways
Guidepost: Individuality
Destination: Plays
--Main Features of Plays
--Questions About Your Plays
11. Action and Dialogue
Action
How Dialogue Works
Table 11.1: Modes of Dialogue
Dialogue and Action in Concert
The Objective Correlative
Pathways
Guidepost: Listening Skills
12. Performance
Theatricality
Table 12.1: Stage Directions
One Script, Many Performances
Distinctions between Stage and Screen
Performing Poetry and Prose
Pathways
Guidepost: Collaborative spirit
Destination: Hybrid Forms and Emerging Media
--Main Features of These Forms
--Questions About Writing in Hybrid Forms and Emerging Media
Part II. Writing Life Matters
13. Reading as a Writer
Reading: The Crucial Factor
How to Read as a Writer
Two case studies: Hemingway and Wojahn
--Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
--David Wojahn, "Cold Glow: Icehouses"
Pathways
14. After Brainstorming
Why we workshop
How we workshop
--Table 14.1: Types of Commentary
Revision
Pathways
15. The Literary vs. Genre Debate
Genre fiction and Academic Values
The Many Roles of Writers in Society
Literary Qualities
Melodrama, Sentimentality, and Stereotype
Pathways
16. The Writing Life
Profession or Avocation?
How Writers Make a Living
Charting Your Own Future
Pathways
Part III. Anthology
Agee, James. "Knoxville: Summer, 1915" (fiction)
Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me" (on writing)
Ali, Agha Shahid. "Stars" (poetry)
Alvarez, Lynne. "On Sundays" (drama)
Armantrout, Rae. "Home Federal" (poem included in Chapter 2)
Becker, Robin. "The Children's Concert" (poetry)
Block, Mary. "Moving Song" (poetry)
Blumenthal, Michael. "On Not Bringing Your Mother to Creative Writing Class" (on writing)
Borden, William. "The Blues Street Jazz Club Rehearses" (drama)
Byrne, James. "Sestina for R" (poetry)
Calvino, Italo. "All at One Point" (fiction)
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. "The Changeling" (poetry)
Cortázar, Julio. "Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" (fiction)
Díaz, Junot. "Edison, New Jersey" (fiction)
Dillard, Annie. "Total Eclipse" (creative nonfiction)
Dischell, Stuart. "She Put Her Lipstick on in the Dark." (poetry)
Doctorow, E. L. Excerpt from World's Fair (fiction)
Dubus, Andre, III. "Tracks and Ties" (creative nonfiction)
Emanuel, Lynn. "Out of Body Experience" (poetry)
Erdrich, Louise. "Saint Marie" (fiction)
Fill, Simon. "Night Visits" (drama)
Fowler, Connie May. "Connie May Is Going to Win the Lottery This Week" (on writing)
Frost, Richard. "For a Brother" (poetry included in Chapter 4)
Gallagher, Tess. "Ode to My Father" (on writing, poetry)
Gilmour, Sherine. "Little Boys" (poetry)
Gutkind, Lee. "Teeth" (creative nonfiction)
Hadas, Rachel. "Mnemonic." (poetry)
Haines, John. "On the Mountain" (poetry included in Chapter 2)
Hayes, Terrance. "The Golden Shovel" (poetry)
Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." (fiction included in Chapter 13)
Hoagland, Tony. "America" (poetry)
Hodgman, Ann. "No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch" (creative nonfiction)
Joudah, Fady. "Sleeping Trees" (poetry)
Komunyakaa, Yusef. "Salt" (poetry included in Chapter 3)
Kuusisto, Stephen. "Letter from Venice" (creative nonfiction)
Levis, Larry. "At the Grave of My Guardian Angel: St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans" (poetry)
Li, Yiyun. "Son" (fiction)
Markarian, Michele. "Phoning It In" (drama)
McPherson, Sandra. "To a Penny Postcard, © 1911" (poetry)
Minot, Susan. "Hiding" (fiction)
Moore, Dinty W. "Son of Mr. Green Jeans: A Meditation on Missing Fathers." (creative nonfiction)
Morrison, Toni. "Peril" (on writing)
Moses, Itamar. "Men's Intuition" (drama)
Mueller, Lisel. "Spell for a Traveler" (poetry)
Mullen, Harryette. "Tree" (poetry)
Neruda, Pablo. "Your Feet" (poetry)
O'Brien, Tim. "How to Tell a True War Story" (fiction)
Offut, Chris. "Out of the Woods" (fiction)
Ortega, Julio. "Las Papas" (fiction)
Ostriker, Alicia Suskin. "The Orange Cat" (poetry)
Palmer, Michael. "The Cord" (poetry)
Panning, Anne. "Remembering, I Was Not There" (creative nonfiction)
Poissant, David James. "The History of Flight" (fiction)
Purpura, Lia. "On Looking Away: A Panoramic" (creative nonfiction)
Russell, Karen. "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" (fiction)
Sedaris, David. "The Drama Bug" (creative nonfiction)
Shannon, Christopher. "Apollo (at) Eleven" (poetry)
Smock, Frederick. "A Poet's Education" (on writing)
Soto, Gary. "What the Wall Street Bailout Means to Me" (poetry)
Stokesbury, Leon. "An Unsent Message to My Brother in His Pain" (poetry)
Su, Adrienne. "Four Sonnets about Food" (poetry)
Swain, Bara. "Critical Care" (drama)
Tate, James. "Miss Cho Composes in the Cafeteria" (poetry included in Chapter 4)
Thompson, Craig. Excerpt from Carnet de Voyage (graphic narrative)
West, Amber. "Pirate's Admonition" (poetry, Petrarchan sonnet)
Williams, William Carlos. "Young Sycamore" (poetry)
Wojahn, David. "Cold Glow: Icehouses" (poetry included in Chapter 13)
Young, Al. "A Little More Traveling Music" (poetry)
Zolynas, Al. "Love in the Classroom" (poetry)
Appendices
Appendix A: Manuscript Formats
--A1: Poetry
-- A2: Prose
-- A3: Plays
Appendix B: Verse Forms
Credit
Index