Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief Book

Preface: A few words to instructors vii

A few things you should know about creative writing 1

1 Writing Poetry 9

A few things you should know about poetry 9

The elements of poetry 15

The short poem: three models 16

My Personal Recollections of Not Being Asked to the Prom Gail White 17

Winter Ruth Stone 18

9/11 Fanny Howe 19

Lines and stanzas 20

Meter and rhythm 27

The music of poetry 34

Images, symbols, and figurative language 38

Diction, syntax, and the language of poetry 46

Poetic forms 50

Sonnet 50

Villanelle 51

Rondeau 54

Sestina 55

Cinquain 58

Pantoum 59

Ghazal 60

Prose poem 61

Getting started writing poetry 63

Kick-Starts: Beginning your poems 64

An Anthology of Short Poems 67

Postcards to Columbus Sherman Alexie 67

Zen Americana Paula Gunn Allen 68

Bells Jimmy Santiago Baca 68

Frequently Unasked Questions Charles Bernstein 69

The Ballad of Rudolph Reed Gwendolyn Brooks 70

Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person, Could Believe in the War between Races Lorna Dee Cervantes 72

Brute Strength Wanda Coleman 74

Nostalgia Billy Collins 74

A Quiet Poem Elaine Equi 76

Praise the Tortilla, Praise the Menudo, Praise the Chorizo Ray Gonzalez 77

Noisetone Barbara Guest 78

Santa Fe Joy Harjo 78

On Being Told I Don't Speak like a Black Person Allison Joseph 79

That Silent Evening Galway Kinnell 81

Boy Sleeping Ann Lauterbach 82

Lunch in Nablus City Park Naomi Shihab Nye 83

I Went into the Maverick Bar Gary Snyder 85

What Is Your Major? Gary Soto 86

The English Canon Adrienne Su 87

The Ways of Guilt Virgil Suarez 87

Teaching the Ape to Write Poems JamesTate 89

My Mother Dreams Another Country Natasha Trethewey 89

The Assassination of John Lennon as Depicted by the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 1987 David Wojahn 90

2 Writing the Short-Short Story 92

A few things you should know about the short-short story 92

The elements of fiction 94

The short-short story: three models 95

Crossing the River Zbrucz Isaac Babel 97

The Baby Donald Barthelme 99

Marzipan Roberta Allen 101

Structure and design 102

Creating characters 110

Writing dialogue 118

Setting the scene 123

Deciding on point of view, developing tone and style 127

First-person point of view 128

Second-person point of view 129

Third-person limited point of view 130

Third-person omniscient point of view 131

Tense 132

Tone and style 132

Getting started writing the short-short story 135

Kick-Starts: Beginning your story 136

An Anthology of Short-Short Stories 139

The Hit Man T. Coraghessan Boyle 139

A Kind of Flying Ron Carlson 142

Popular Mechanics Raymond Carver 145

Reunion John Cheever 146

Bottle Caps Stuart Dybek 148

Near Michaelmas Merrill Gilfillan 149

Church Cancels Cow Amy Hempel 151

Girl Jamaica Kincaid 152

Wolf's Head Lake Joyce Carol Oates 153

The Old Badger Game Annie Proulx 155

Dominate and Recessid Jeans Lois-Ann Yamanaka 157

3 Writing Short Creative Nonfiction 160

A few things you should know about short creative nonfiction 160

The elements of creative nonfiction 164

Short creative nonfiction: three models 165

News of the Wild Scott Russell Sanders 166

Joyas Voladoras Brian Doyle 169

Liferower Rebecca McClanahan 172

Organizing creative nonfiction 175

Telling the truth 180

Creative nonfiction as narrative 185

Character 185

Dialogue 187

Scene-setting 187

The poetry of creative nonfiction 190

Imagery and figurative language 190

Diction 191

Sound and rhythm 192

Writing yourself into creative nonfiction 194

Ethics and edicts 197

Getting started writing short creative nonfiction 201

Kick-Starts: Beginning your creative nonfiction 202

An Anthology of Short Creative Nonfiction 206

The Mute Sense Diane Ackerman 206

Walkaways Marcia Aldrich 207

Westbury Court Edwidge Danticat 209

How to Tell One Bird from the Next Cecile Goding 212

El Toro Rojo Dinty W. Moore 214

Two Ways to Belong in America Bharati Mukherjee 215

The Witching Hour Aimee Nezhukumatathil 218

Late July, 4:40 a.m. Reg Saner 220

Elegy for an Optimist Mimi Schwartz 222

Morning Glory Harley Terese Svoboda 224

4 Writing the Ten-Minute Play 228

A few things you should know about the ten-minute play 228

The elements of playwriting 233

The ten-minute play: three models 234

Sure Thing David Ives 235

Trying to Find Chinatown David Henry Hwang 243

The Divine Fallacy Tina Howe 250

Structuring the ten-minute play 256

Creating believable characters 261

Writing convincing dialogue 266

Crafting a theme 274

Onstage: The elements of production 279

Stage 279

Sets 281

Props, constumes, and effects 282

Lights 284

Sounds 285

Actors 285

Directors 287

Producers 288

Audience 289

Getting started writing the ten-minute play 291

Kick-Starts: Beginning your play 291

Playscript Format: A Model 293

An Anthology of Ten-Minute Plays 300

Trash Anthem Dan Dietz 300

Now We're Really Getting Somewhere Kristina Halvorson 305

Tango Delta Jeffrey Hatcher 311

If Susan Smith Could Talk Elaine Romero 318

A few words of farewell 325

Glossary 327

Index 337