Cover: Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief, 4th Edition by David Starkey
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Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief

Fourth Edition ©2022 David Starkey

How can students with widely varied levels of literary experience learn to write poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama — over the course of only one semester? In Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief, David Starkey offers solutions to the challenges of teaching the introductory

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ISBN:9781319406530

ISBN:9781319215965

Cover: Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief, 4th Edition by David Starkey

A lively, practical approach to writing in four creative genres.

How can students with widely varied levels of literary experience learn to write poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama — over the course of only one semester? In Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief, David Starkey offers solutions to the challenges of teaching the introductory creative writing course: (1) concise, accessible instruction in the basics of writing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama; (2) short models of literature to analyze, admire and emulate; (3) inventive and imaginative assignments that inspire and motivate.

For the fourth edition, in response to reviewer requests, the literature and writing prompts have been significantly refreshed and David Starkey has added "Write Before You Read," prompts at the beginning of each chapter, brief author biographies and dates of publication following works in the anthologies, new guidelines on conducting genre-specific workshops both in-person and online, and a new section on writing for social change.

Features

Concise but thorough instruction on writing in four genres. In a notably lively style, and in only one chapter per genre, students are instructed in the elements of literature, and are shown how the elements work together in model poems, short-short stories, short essays, and ten-minute plays. Throughout, checklists remind students of important points to keep in mind as they write. A glossary of literary terms at the back of the book serves as a handy reference for review.

Diverse contemporary literature provides short, imitable models of creative writing. Each chapter features an anthology of contemporary writing in its genre, and each anthology presents a stimulating mix of selections that range from the more traditional — with work by writers such as Langston Hughes, John Cheever, Margaret Renkl, Kristina Halvorsen, and Jane Kenyon — to the experimental — including pieces by Joan Naviyuk Kane, Margaret Atwood, Solmaz Sharif, Dan Dietz, and Franny Choi. The models are all short, providing not only imitable examples but also time for students to revise and improve the short works they write.

Inventive creative writing assignments. Each chapter concludes with numerous highly praised "Kick-Starts," multiple writing prompts that inspire students to try their hands at writing in the genre.

New to This Edition

Lots of new creative writing including a new model poem for Chapter 1, Donika Kelly’s "Fourth Grade Autobiography"; a new model story for Chapter 2, Jeanine Capó Crucet’s "Animal Control"; and a new model of creative nonfiction for Chapter 3, Ylonda Gault Caviness’s "We Go Way Back." About one-third of the anthologized literary works are new to the fourth edition, including poetry by Franny Choi, Nicole Cooley, Natalie Diaz, David Hernandez, Danusha Laméris, Nathan McClain, Sjohnna McCray, and Solmaz Sharif; short fiction by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya, Langston Hughes, and Nicole VanderLinden; creative nonfiction by Rigoberto González, Clara Oropeza, Margaret Renkl, and Peter Schjeldahl; and drama by Karen JP Howes.

"Write before you read" prompts at the beginning of each chapter invite students to think, in writing, about what they know — and what they may still need to learn — about each of the four genres before they begin studying them.

Brief author biographies and dates of publication following works in the anthologies allows students to place the anthology selections in context and emphasizes how much of the work is by authors who are actively writing and publishing.

New Kick-Starts provide students with the creative spark to get writing.

New guidelines on conducting genre-specific workshops both in-person and online at the end of each chapter will help students share and discuss their work in each genre in a productive fashion, whether it is in face-to-face or virtual settings.

New section on writing for social change builds on the many examples of socially conscious writing already in the book, providing students with a starting point and a guide for the challenging task of responding to the times in which we live.

“Starkeys Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief  is one of the most comprehensive introductory texts currently being published. The writing on craft fundamentals provide a strong foundation for beginning writers and the diverse examples in the anthology feature some of the best contemporary authors. Ive been using this text since the first edition and feedback from students is always excellent.”
—Thomas Maltman, Normandale CC

“My favorite part of the text is Starkeys clear, succinct chapters explaining the conventions of each genre. He provides students with enough information to begin writing in an unfamiliar genre without completely overwhelming them.”
—Yelizaveta Renfro, Saint Mary’s College

“A top-notch textbook on creative writing that dissects poetry, prose and drama for beginners.”
—Robert Moreira, The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley

“Creative Writing is a fantastic book that deftly engages early writers in the craft. Starkeys focus on shorter forms cleverly balances the 21st-century drive for concision with the eternal elements of good writing: inspiration, practice, and revision.”
—Christopher Cartright, Georgia Southern University

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Table of Contents

Preface: A Few Words to Instructors

A Few Things You Should Know about Creative Writing

A Few Words about Revision

 

1 Writing Poetry

Write before you read

The elements of poetry

The short poem: Three models

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

*Donika Kelly, Fourth Grade Autobiography

Rae Armantrout, Duration

Lines and stanzas

Meter and rhythm

The music of poetry

Images, symbols, and figurative language

Diction, syntax, and the language of poetry

Poetic forms

Getting started writing poetry

Kick-Starts: Beginning your poems

A few tips for participating in a poetry workshop

An Anthology of Short Poems

2 Writing the Short-Short Story

Write before you read

The elements of fiction

The short-short story: Three models

Isaac Babel, Crossing the River Zbrucz

Donald Barthelme, The Baby

*Jennine Capó Crucet, Animal Control

Structure and design

Creating characters

Writing dialogue

Setting the scene

Deciding on point of view, developing tone and style

Getting started writing the short-short story

Kick-Starts: Beginning your story

A few tips for participating in a short fiction workshop

An Anthology of Short-Short Stories

3 Writing Short Creative Nonfiction

Write before you read

The elements of creative nonfiction

Short creative nonfiction: Three models

Rebecca McClanahan, Liferower

*Ylonda Gault Caviness, We Go Way Back

David Sedaris, Jesus Shaves

Organizing creative nonfiction

Telling the truth

Creative nonfiction as narrative

The poetry of creative nonfiction

Writing yourself into creative nonfiction

Ethics and edicts

Getting started writing short creative nonfiction

Kick-Starts: Beginning your creative nonfiction

A few tips for participating in a creative nonfiction workshop

An Anthology of Short Creative Nonfiction

4 Writing the Ten-Minute Play

Write before you read

The elements of playwriting

The ten-minute play: Three models

David Ives, Sure Thing

Tina Howe, The Divine Fallacy

A. Rey Pamatmat, Some Other Kid

Structuring the ten-minute play

Creating believable characters

Writing convincing dialogue

Crafting a theme

Onstage: The elements of production

Getting started writing the ten-minute play

Kick-Starts: Beginning your play

A few tips for participating in a ten-minute play workshop

Playscript Format: A Model

An Anthology of Ten-Minute Plays

A Few Words about Getting Your Work Published and Produced

A Few Words about Hybrid Creative Writing

Sabrina Orah Mark, It’s Dark in There: Confessions of a Prose Poem

A Few Words about Writing for Social Change

*Claude McKay, If We Must Die

A Few Words of Farewell

Glossary

Acknowledgments

Index

*Indicates new selection

Headshot of David Starkey

David Starkey

David Starkey is Professor of English, Director of the Creative Writing Program, and former Director of the Composition Program at Santa Barbara City College. A frequent collaborator with the late Wendy Bishop, Starkey helped develop a pedagogy focused on the cross-pollination of composition and creative writing. In addition to his work with Bishop, which includes the co-authored Keywords in Creative Writing (2006), he is the editor of two collections of essays on pedagogy, Teaching Writing Creatively (1998) and Genre by Example: Writing What We Teach (2001), and a special issue of Teaching English in the Two-Year College (Dec. 2014). Starkey is a poet (Dance, You Monster, to My Soft Song, 2021; What Just Happened, 2021), a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction (published in American Literary Review, in Cimarron Review, in Living Blue in the Red States,and elsewhere), and a playwright whose plays have been produced across the U.S. Starkey is also a committed practitioner, and his writing on corequisite composition is informed by his participation in SBCC’s Express to Success program, an early-adopter of the ALP/corequisite model. His conference presentations in recent years have emphasized his pedagogy and passion for working with a broad range of student writers. He is currently editing a collection of essays on teaching corequisite composition.

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Instructor's Resource Manual for Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (Online Only)

David Starkey | Fourth Edition | ©2022 | ISBN:9781319406585

David Starkey, Accelerating Comp with Hello Writer

David Starkey (Santa Barbara City College) is the author of Hello, Writer.: An Academic Writing Guide, a new composition text publishing fall 2021 from Bedford/St. Martin’s and Macmillan Learning.

David Starkey, Being Present in Bite Sized Chunks

David Starkey (Santa Barbara City College) is the author of Hello, Writer.: An Academic Writing Guide, a new composition text publishing fall 2021 from Bedford/St. Martin’s and Macmillan Learning.

David Starkey, Go Overboard on Feedback

David Starkey (Santa Barbara City College) is the author of Hello, Writer.: An Academic Writing Guide, a new composition text publishing fall 2021 from Bedford/St. Martin’s and Macmillan Learning.

David Starkey, Teaching Hello Writer Online

David Starkey (Santa Barbara City College) is the author of Hello, Writer.: An Academic Writing Guide, a new composition text publishing fall 2021 from Bedford/St. Martin’s and Macmillan Learning.