Creative Writing Commons^™

Brain Stew, Cullen Landolt, Mya Horn, Kenneth Miller, Aimee Pieper

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Brain Stew is an UMSL publication distributed bi-weekly in both digital and print formats. Its mission is to provide for the Pierre Laclede Honors College a forum for uncensored free thought, commentary, and creativity, as well as news and event listings from PLHCSA and other related campus organizations. The current Brain Stew staff consists of editors Cullen Landolt, Mya Horn, Kenny Miller and Aimee Pieper, with Dan Gerth serving as the faculty supervisor. During the semester, these people write their own content as well as garner submissions from Honors College students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The result is The Most …

The Death Of Superman, Shane F. Mcfarlane

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN is an autobiographical novel that covers the years from 7 to 17 in the life of Shane McFarlane, who struggles to overcome the effects of his inner-city environment and an addict father in and out of incarceration. The title is a metaphor for the decaying presence of the narrator’s father in his and his older brother’s life and the resulting consequences of that absence.

With the narrator’s father in prison, new threats emerge, including his mother’s ruthless boyfriend and his brother’s attraction to the allure of fast money. The narrator must ultimately make decisions governed by …

Skeletons In My Closet: A Collection Of Personal Essays And Short Fiction, Macey Howell

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

My thesis will be a collection of personal essays and short fiction centered on examining the ties between fashion and identity and told through a Gothic literary tradition. I seek to explore my identity by examining my personal style using the mode of the Gothic. Through this project, I will encapsulate my sense of style, and therefore my sense of self, in words and explore the nuances of my identity through creative nonfiction and fiction.

I have a distinct sense of style that is inseparable from my identity as a woman, as an artist, as a human drawn to beauty …

No Longer Home, Douglas L. Thomas

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A father and his wife struggle to adapt to their son just home from the long War on Terrorism.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Articles, stories, and other …

Pity The Poor Reader, Charles H. Haddad

School of Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications

As a longtime writing professor, I know a painful truth: High school and college students find most writing textbooks as appealing as a mouthful of sawdust. And no wonder. These books tend to be turgid, dull and uninspiring. But what if there were a lean, lively and inspiring book - an un-textbook, if you will - that taught the fundamentals of writing well in a playful, irreverent voice that spoke to young people? Think of it as a pirate's manifesto on writing well.

Otherwise Sinking, Lena Ziegler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This is a book-length work of prose including fiction, creative non-fiction, with small amounts of prose poetry all focusing on the exploration of female sexuality, gender roles, relationships among men and women, and mothers and daughters. The aim of the individual pieces in this collection is to enter the cultural conversation of these issues by presenting a hybrid of genres that beg for an understanding of truth vs. fiction, and the fine line between those things when dealing with matters of the body and mind.

Casual Myths, David Grandouiller

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio is a multi-genre collection of the best or most representative writing during my three years in the Creative Writing minor at Cedarville University. It includes seven pieces of nonfiction, one short story, and five poems. The most consistent link between these pieces across the genres is an imagist aesthetic, an attempt to live up to W. C. Williams’ adage, “No ideas but in things.” Primary themes the collection explores are my relationship with family, with place, and with God.

Dreams And Reality: A Storyteller's Look At Life, Sara K. Bennett

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

These pages tour the wanderings of a storyteller's mind and snippets of life in the forms of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, though not always in that particular order. The topically arranged pieces first delve into the meaning of being a storyteller. This involves having half of one's mind in another place and putting on the mantles of different characters. After finishing with the theme, the collection turns to fiction with a selection of stories and poems. Turning from fiction, the collection touches upon real life pain, struggles, grief, and growing. Each provides snippets of life adding a backdrop to the …

The Execution Of Private Mcguffin, Clay Mountcastle

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A fictional take on the discipline meted out by a cavalry unit fighting on the Great Plains.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

An Alternate Route, Rachael D. Tague

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

An Alternate Route is a collection of short fiction and creative nonfiction from my undergraduate creative writing minor at Cedarville University. It explores stories I have heard, experienced, and imagined—stories worth remembering. “My Boyfriend’s Estranged Grandfather” was published in Cleaver Magazine, and “Rick’s Café: Negril, Jamaica” appeared in The MacGuffin.

Quirt Alerts!, Randy Harritan

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

In Vietnam, a soldier's live is saved on point by his heroic dog.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The New Writing Series, Spring 2016, The University Of Maine Honors College

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

In its thirty-fourth consecutive semester of programming, the New Writing Series will host six readings featuring four poets (John Keene, Prageeta Sharma, Divya Victor, and John Yau) and two fiction writers (Emily Fridlund and Joanna Walsh).

These writers are all highly active across the full spectrum of literary activity. They are editors, publishers, and anthologists; translators and tale-tellers; art-makers and trail-blazing scholars.

The New Writing Series brings innovative and adventurous contemporary writing to the University of Maine's flagship campus in Orono on selected Thursdays at 4:30pm.

There Is An Unformed World In The Sky Of My Heart, Nathanael T. Spanos

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

“There is an Unformed World in the Sky of My Heart” contains works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. All the pieces were written after my conversion to Christ in December 2012 and before my graduation from Cedarville University in May 2015. Though my spiritually-themed poems are the pulse of this portfolio, the title refers to the fantasy world of Sembercron, which I am discovering and creating through my writing. The title also refers to heaven growing in my heart, or Christ’s image supplanting my own, or God sanctifying me for his purposes. This portfolio observes, explores, and delights in this …

Crayons And Yarn, Danielle G. Holloway

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio contains poems, creative nonfiction, and short stories, all original pieces of writing produced while completing the Creative Writing Minor at Cedarville University. The poems come from my own life, and while they are not intended to be a cohesive narrative, arranged in this order they tell a story of growing up, leaving home, and finding love. The nonfiction pieces come from a collection centered around my experiences in high school marching band, though a love story is present there as well. The short stories also draw heavily from my own experiences and passions, exploring themes that are important …

This Level Of Living, Rose Havard

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio contains poetry, nonfiction, and one short fiction story. Two nonfiction pieces appearing here, “Welcome to the Armory” and “Survey: Headphones” have also been published in the online journal Prick of the Spindle. All pieces were written between August of 2012 and May 2013. I consider this collection the best of my college writing.

I pay extra attention to sounds in my pieces. I also try to achieve a certain level of ostranenie—a poetry term that means “making the familiar strange”—because I am fascinated with the attempt. This Level of Living refers to a state of high awareness, of …

If I Remember Correctly, Kristin L. Troyer

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio includes original fiction, plays, and creative nonfiction, the best of my work as a creative writing minor at Cedarville University. The two fiction pieces experiment with structure, one through a non-linear form and one through non-conventional dialogue. My one-act play attempts to lyrically combine dialogue and poetry. Six pieces of creative nonfiction, the majority of the portfolio, relate stories directly from life, but the entire collection relies on my own memories – which may or may not be accurate.