Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Prompts page includes writing prompts, workshop lessons, and writing exercises.

The 17 Most Popular Genres In Fiction from Writers Write

A Guide to 14 Literary Genres from MasterClass

Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction from Writers.com

Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction by Sean Glatch on Writers.com

Literary vs. Genre Fiction by Diane Callahan on Medium.com

A Better Way to Think About the Genre Debate by Joshua Rothman in The New Yorker - the collapse of genre

Novel Writing

• "The How and Why of Choosing a Genre" by Jenny Hansen

• "What Genre Is My Book? (4 Simple & Easy Ways To Choose!)" by Cathy Yardley

• "How to Choose a Genre For Writing Your First Book" by Ravi

• "Elements of Story: How Genre Impacts the Importance of Five Story Elements" by Joslyn Chase

31 Leads for Creative Writing: Ideas for Beginning Your Story, Poem or Essay

For more resources and ideas for leads, see the documents and links below.

This lesson is based on an excerpt about using mentor texts to teach writing skills from the book Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Middle and High School ELA: Five to Thrive by Matthew Johnson, Matthew R. Kay, and Dave Stuart Jr.

Objectives

• Examine and discuss writing style and author’s choices in a line or sentence that stands out as particularly effective.

• Choose a line or sentence that you will use as a model or inspiration for your own poem or prose piece.

• Write at least one paragraph or stanza that includes imagery and figurative language.

Lesson

1. Choose a mentor text and select different types of sentences that stand out to you as particularly effective.

2. Explain what makes each sentence effective (eg. "short punchy sentence," "strong verb," etc.)

3. Ask students to pick out a "juicy" sentence from text that they read. Explain: What makes this sentence very effective?

4. Students then replicate their own version of the sentence in their creative writing.

This lesson by Naomi Milthorpe comes from pg 265-267 of Literature: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom, edited by Diana Fuss & William A. Gleason

“Thinking critically about literature is not simply a matter of understanding story and character but also of paying attention to how language makes meaning.” --Naomi Milthorpe in Literature: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom edited by Diana Fuss & William A. Gleason, pg 265

Objectives

• Examine, discuss, and annotate the ways that language choices influence the impact, meaning, expectations and storytelling in the opening sentence of a literary work.

Lesson

1.  Choose a selection of striking first sentences from novels (3-5) and list them on a single sheet of paper. The handout is for students to use and take away at the end of class, so allow plenty of writing space around each sentence.

2. Begin the class by outlining the idea that thinking critically about literature is not simply a matter of understanding story and character but also of paying attention to how language makes meaning.

3. Ask students to take a few minutes to examine each sentence and make note of things that standout, that make them curious or make them wonder, that seem strange, that confuse them--anything at all.

4. As a class, discuss each sentence.  Ask about aspects of prose style and narrative form first, before introducing questions about content and generic markers. Possible questions:

   • What sort of words does the sentence use?

   • What do you notice about punctuation and syntax?

   • What is the sentence's tone?

   • Can we tell anything about the novel's setting (its time or place), characters, theme, or other narrative elements?

   • Does the sentence seem to be written in a particular genre?

5. As the students offer answers and ideas, annotate the sentences on the board, and encourage students to do the same on their sheets). 

Authors Publish lecture by Michael Kleber-Diggs

Kleber-Diggs provides practical tips for bringing sound forward in all literary genres as he explores some of the ways sonic devices can add interest and energy to all creative writing. This talk will gives you tools and strategies for amplifying the impact of your writing, no matter the genre.

Watch video on YouTube or Authors Publish (1 hour)

Objectives:

• Identify strategies for writing effectively using details.

• Practice using a thesaurus to improve word choice in our writing.

Instructions:

Watch the 10 minute video on how to include details in your writing.

• Use a thesaurus - specific word choice

• Explain yourself

• Add context details

• Add sensory details

• Show, don't tell

When you are finished, take the quiz.

Creative Writing

Write your essay, poem or story. Your writing must be very detailed and must have a main message or theme. Use the strategies above to help you include more details in your writing.

Revision #1: Add at least 5 more sensory details to your story, poem or essay. Review the 5 minute video to see a demonstration of how to add more sensory details in your writing, or view these annotations to see examples of sensory details and context details.

Revision #2: Add at least 3 literary devices to your story, poem or essay. Review the slides, and use the literary devices list (or a list with more literary device options) to help you include at least 3 literary devices in your writing.

Creative Writing Guidelines from Purdue Online Writing Lab

Learning to Hide the Exposition (3 mins) - Margaret Atwood on differences between writing poetry, short fiction and novels

Margaret Atwood's Top 5 Writing Tips ( 18 mins)

Authors Publish lecture by Michael Kleber-Diggs about writing with poetic efficiency.

Quotes from Michael Kleber-Diggs:

• "Efficient writing is powerful writing"

• "Every word should matter"

• “Syntax, precision, clauses and phrases, what’s subordinate and what’s main, and how all of those things combine together, are an essential part of efficient writing.”

• Our writing should gain meaning by being concise, clear, specific, detailed, connect with readers, and emotional

• "Language can be concise and detailed"

• What you notice, what you sense, what you remember, how you felt, what you've learned by research, what you've learned by experience.

Michael Kleber-Diggs quotes about his own work:

• Chaotic transitions

• Distracted, fractured, not always linear — sometimes I want the reader to inhabit my perspective and the way I think about and write about things

• “Sometimes I’ll smooth a transition by adding words, and sometimes I’ll leave it chaotic, depending on what I’m trying to accomplish.”

• “Closeness [—psychic distance—] intimacy between me and the reader”

Authors Publish lecture by Dante Stewart 

Quotes from Dante Stewart:

• "A lot of times when you write op-eds and essays, the first question is, What's the argument and the angle of the piece? when in actuality the most important question is, What's the point of view and what's the experience?"

by Sabyasachi Roy

PDF from Authors Publish