Do you want more ideas for improving your writing?

Poetry Links

Interested in the author of “What Do Women Want?” Kim Addonizio's web page contains links to information about her. I think you’ll also enjoy this poem by Susan Aizenberg based on the assignment for poem 2, page 19 in Kowit’s text: Memory from Childhood after Machado. Want some help with literary terms? These definitions come from the publisher Bedford / St. Martin’s. Here’s a page on anaphora from The Academy of American Poets, which also provides information on prose poems, which are poems written in paragraphs instead of in short lines. The same site provides articles on prose poems by Karen Volkman and Sarah Manguso. David Graham, a poet and critic, provides many wonderful links to more information on poetry. (Please let me know if you find links that should be included here.)

Work by Past Students

Kate Peterson’s "Connor + Jenny" is available on the UK website East of the Web. Another story written for this class is “The Strikeout King” by Jean L. Mulroney. It appeared in the April 2005 edition of Rosebud, which you can buy online. Also, past issues of the college magazine, Bridges, contain many examples of writing completed for the creative writing class. This magazine is free to students of the college.

Writers on Writing

Refer to Writers on Writing for articles by professional writers on the art and craft of writing. This link will take you to The New York Times. You'll have to register, but the articles are free. Rachel Simon's The Writer's Writing Guide is an entire book containing many useful ideas about writing fiction. Her Writer's Survival Guide is a practical guide to the writing life, and her articles on writing are also useful. Advice from the fiction writer Walter Mosley will encourage you to keep writing regularly.

Writing Poems

Having trouble deciding when to start one line and end another? Here are strategies to help you make decisions about line breaks. You can transform your poems by making thoughtful revisions. Here are fifty tips for revising your poems. And here are twenty more tips for revising your poems. You may also want to find out how to close your poems more effectively.

Writing Short Stories

Looking closely at published stories will help you decide what you can adapt to your own work. To make your characters interesting and convincing, you may find it useful to examine the secret lives of characters by answering questions about them. Another skill that will help your fiction is writing skillful dialogue. It's not necessary to write about sex, but if you feel you must, these suggestions from Elizabeth Benedict might be useful to you. Revising is an important way to improve your stories, and you'll want to copy edit carefully. We'll be workshopping your stories during class as another way of improving them.

Your Folders

Follow these guidelines to put together a successful folder. At the end of the class you’ll turn in a fiction folder. Click here to look at the guidelines for it.

Your Tests

You'll be taking two tests, one over poetry and the other over fiction. A sample test shows what your test will be like. Yours will be similar, with the same point count and same directions; however, the items themselves will probably be different. Here are a student’s answers which might be useful to you: page one, page two, page three, page four, page five, and page six. These are large files in .jpg format, so they make take awhile to load.

You may want to look at a sample fiction test, which is similar to the test you will take at the end of the semester.

Your Grades

I have particular standards in mind when I grade your poems. You'll be filling out forms twice a semester that indicate the grade you think you should get for oral participation. I'll indicate whether I agree or not and return the forms to you.

More about Creative Writing

The English Department's offical syllabus is the document describing what takes place in Creative Writing.

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Poetry Links	Interested in the author of “What Do Women Want?” Kim Addonizio's web page contains links to information about her. I think you’ll also enjoy this poem by Susan Aizenberg based on the assignment for poem 2, page 19 in Kowit’s text: Memory from Childhood after Machado. Want some help with literary terms? These definitions come from the publisher Bedford / St. Martin’s. Here’s a page on anaphora from The Academy of American Poets, which also provides information on prose poems, which are poems written in paragraphs instead of in short lines. The same site provides articles on prose poems by Karen Volkman and Sarah Manguso. David Graham, a poet and critic, provides many wonderful links to more information on poetry. (Please let me know if you find links that should be included here.)
Work by Past Students	Kate Peterson’s "Connor + Jenny" is available on the UK website East of the Web. Another story written for this class is “The Strikeout King” by Jean L. Mulroney. It appeared in the April 2005 edition of Rosebud, which you can buy online. Also, past issues of the college magazine, Bridges, contain many examples of writing completed for the creative writing class. This magazine is free to students of the college.
Writers on Writing	Refer to Writers on Writing for articles by professional writers on the art and craft of writing. This link will take you to The New York Times. You'll have to register, but the articles are free. Rachel Simon's The Writer's Writing Guide is an entire book containing many useful ideas about writing fiction. Her Writer's Survival Guide is a practical guide to the writing life, and her articles on writing are also useful. Advice from the fiction writer Walter Mosley will encourage you to keep writing regularly.
Writing Poems	Having trouble deciding when to start one line and end another? Here are strategies to help you make decisions about line breaks. You can transform your poems by making thoughtful revisions. Here are fifty tips for revising your poems. And here are twenty more tips for revising your poems. You may also want to find out how to close your poems more effectively.
Writing Short Stories	Looking closely at published stories will help you decide what you can adapt to your own work. To make your characters interesting and convincing, you may find it useful to examine the secret lives of characters by answering questions about them. Another skill that will help your fiction is writing skillful dialogue. It's not necessary to write about sex, but if you feel you must, these suggestions from Elizabeth Benedict might be useful to you. Revising is an important way to improve your stories, and you'll want to copy edit carefully. We'll be workshopping your stories during class as another way of improving them.
Your Folders	Follow these guidelines to put together a successful folder. At the end of the class you’ll turn in a fiction folder. Click here to look at the guidelines for it.
Your Tests	You'll be taking two tests, one over poetry and the other over fiction. A sample test shows what your test will be like. Yours will be similar, with the same point count and same directions; however, the items themselves will probably be different. Here are a student’s answers which might be useful to you: page one, page two, page three, page four, page five, and page six. These are large files in .jpg format, so they make take awhile to load. You may want to look at a sample fiction test, which is similar to the test you will take at the end of the semester.
Your Grades	I have particular standards in mind when I grade your poems. You'll be filling out forms twice a semester that indicate the grade you think you should get for oral participation. I'll indicate whether I agree or not and return the forms to you.
More about Creative Writing	The English Department's offical syllabus is the document describing what takes place in Creative Writing.