Creative Writing Commons^™

Elements Of Creative Writing, Second Edition, Grant Tracey, Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger

Faculty Book Gallery

This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing. The authors—Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey—are editors of the North American Review (NAR), the oldest and one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in the United States.

We’ve selected nearly all of our readings and examples from writing that has appeared in our pages over the years. This 2nd edition includes several new topics and some new pieces from the NAR. Because we had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, our perspective as editors permeates this book. As …

Prolific, Issue 3

Prolific

Contents:

--- Words from the Creators
--- Black History Month: Why We Celebrate
--- Metro Records: Vinyl Vibes
--- Los Carros: Driven Legacy
--- Women's History Month: Power in Red
--- AAPI: Neon Futures
--- Prolific Pride: Untamed Beauty
--- Special Thanks: Our Contributors

Prolific, Issue 2

Prolific

Contents:

--- Hispanic Heritage Month
--- Para la virgen en nuestro corazon
--- Interviewing the NISG President
--- Nosotros Somos Chicanos
--- Featuring Student Org. Unidos
--- El Caballo
--- We Are Prolific, We Are Academic
--- Embracing Black Culture in Academic Spaces
--- Who We Are
--- Internationally Interviewed
--- Student Spotlight: Captivating Talent and Passion

Prolific, Issue 1

Prolific

Contents:

--- The Crew
--- Prolific Playlist
--- Note of Inspiration: From Our President
--- Finding Love In a New Place
--- Support Local Biz: CharmzCharmz
--- Words on Luv From a Student
--- Female Energy
--- No Más
--- Black Student Union Organization Highlight
--- Embracing Black Culture
--- Support Local Biz: Brie Photos
--- Support Local Biz: Ty Williamson Photography
--- The Acade,mic Experience of POC Students
--- Support Local Biz: M Jay Artistry
--- Madison Duong: Student Spotlight
--- Asian Student Union Organization
--- UNI Alumni Highlight: Indo Fulcher
--- Support Locial Biz: Singer & Songwriter Danial …

Elements Of Creative Writing, Grant Tracey, Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger

Faculty Book Gallery

This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing. The authors—Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey—are editors of the North American Review, the oldest and one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in the United States. We’ve selected nearly all of our readings and examples from writing that has appeared in our pages over the years. Because we had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, our perspective as editors permeates this book. As such, we hope that even seasoned writers might gain insight into the aesthetics of our …

Rod Library Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, Angela L. Pratesi, Ayanna Wallican Green, Carter Zehr, Lydia Richards, Katherine Jackson, Molly Walleser

Community Engagement Celebration Day

Rod Library’s Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon is a concerted effort to improve the representation of women and minoritized individuals in the arts on the free encyclopedia and in the Wikipedia community. Wikipedia is the fifth most used website in the world, but there is systemic bias embedded in its content due to a lack of diversity. This project is an effort to change that. Students in LIB 3159: Creating Wikipedia for the Arts hosted the Edit-a-thon on March 24. The event was free and open to the public. In addition to community participants, students in ARTHIST 4608: Arts of Africa (who …

Editing Creative Manuscripts—Becoming A Multimodal Entity: From Manuscript To Multimodality, Victoria Bertelsen

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

Technological strides are being made constantly. Creative writing has changed with technology. Creative writers can publish their work online; creative pieces proliferate as online communities share their interests. “Editing Creative Manuscripts—Becoming a Multimodal Entity: From Manuscript to Multimodality” offers a perspective on the editing cycle to move from static editing of the creative manuscript into a multimodal entity. This poster is inspired by John Willinsky’s research on open access. With an open mind and a mindful ear, the audience can take this poster presentation’s research to edit a creative manuscript for a multimodal purpose. The process begins with initial questions; …

Apothecary And Other Stories: A Short Fiction Collection, Alissa Brianne Cornick

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Apothecary and Other Stories: A Short Fiction Collection is a collection of six short fiction pieces.

Crafting Characters: How To Write Characters From A Beginning Writer's Perspective, Brittany Michelle Betzer

Honors Program Theses

I will use examples from two of my short stories, “Maple Street” and “Sunday Mail,” to explain certain elements that go into writing characters. I will also be using the craft books Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French, The Art of Fiction by John Gardner, and Burning Down the House by Charles Baxter. Some of these are books were used as textbooks in my classrooms or are books recommended by my professors to serve as tools for writing my stories. This is the collection of …

Before Words, There Were Leaves: A Collection Of Poems, Jason Bradford

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The poems in this thesis explore ideas of habitation, animality, humanity, community, and the inevitable disconnection experienced by the lack of communication between the interior and exterior. These poems attempt to construct the in between. The "I" character of these poems lives with several animals and insects throughout the sequence of these poems. The "I" character identifies something valuable in these beings, something unknowable outside the realm of physical coexistence. The same can be said of the animals, who seem to find comfort, sustenance, and kinship with the "I" character. The "house" becomes a blending of the interior and exterior, …

A Wave Frozen In Bone And Flesh, Tiffany L. Bullen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

"A Wave Frozen in Bone and Flesh" is a collection of 43 poems.

Teaching Poetry Writing In The Primary Grades, Staci Cramer-Wilkinson

Graduate Research Papers

This project examines the use of poetry to teach writing and the impact this instruction has on the primary classroom. The purpose of this project is to explore poetry instruction, examine how it has traditionally been taught, and provide professional development to classroom teachers that focuses on the effective use of poetry instruction in the classroom. The professional development sessions include Power Point presentations, small and large group discussions, and practical classroom application. Benefits and challenges of poetry instruction are also provided.

Using Novels In The Science Classroom, Hannah Llewellyn Haarhues

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Reading is a key factor in the success of students through their school years as well as their lives. With Americans reading less and falling behind in subjects as they progress through the school system, reading is the subject area that benefits all aspects of their schooling. Studies done from the 1990s on have shown successful reading programs improve standardized test scores of school age students. Trade books in place of textbooks had been explored, but only in middle school or younger. This study uses a survey to explore high school biology students' opinions on reading and science before and …

"Stand And Unfold Yourself": The Subjectivity Of Interpretation In Hamlet, Josh Mahoney

Student Writing Awards

Critical interpretations of Hamlet are largely dependent upon the cultural zeitgeist that provides the cognitive paradigm through which critics formulate their ideas. The zeitgeist also influences which text of Hamlet to consider, since no single authoritative manuscript of the play exists. Critics must also consider Hamlet beyond a simple textual reading, since the competing documents of Q1, Q2 and F1—among later additions—only serve as the basis for theatrical representations. The inherent fluidity of performance is apparent to anyone who has ever been to the theater, even a modern one. Actors embodying characters on stage in front of an audience make …

Mass Transit, Elizabeth A. Cook

Student Writing Awards

The most embarrassing secrets are usually the most boring. I might, for instance, tell you that I am 39 and like to hum show tunes in the shower and wear briefs and not boxers, but I would never tell you that every Thursday, at precisely seven a.m., I step on to the Number 7 bus at the 100th Street stop and do not get off for hours.

The Moral Of That Old Story, Holly Malm

Student Writing Awards

If there is a moral to the story for Sister Carrie by Theodor Dreiser, it is not easily discovered. The story follows no set pattern. There is no music to bring the tale to a neat end. There is no repentance with clear cut reasons why each character failed. The reader must instead ferret out “the moral of the story” themselves. Strangely enough, it seems the only way to do this is to use the old formulaic moral stories themselves. And what formula can we use to evaluate Sister Carrie? At first, it seems apparent that this novel is a …

The Next Finish Line, Emily Burney

Student Writing Awards

There are two great loves in my life: running and literature. Both allow me to embrace life to the fullest, and I believe both hold a power that helps me be a better person and connect with the generations of humanity who have walked this earth before us.

Open-Toed Steps, Sarah Wagner

Student Writing Awards

"Today my friend Ralph told me that cheese is just as tasty three weeks past the expiration date. He says that cheese is meant to be moldy." It’s my Daughter Morgan’s voice echoing in the kitchen of our high-rise penthouse suite. She has quite the imagination. So much that she seems to have dreamed up a new friend she refers to as, Ralph.

Imagi-Nation, John Wagner

Student Writing Awards

For as long as I can remember I was constantly in my own little world. This was the case for most of my childhood and, well, is still the case to this day. While it may be more of a mental state these days, it was literal as I was growing up. This literal, physical world was my own backyard. I had a backyard worth boasting about; a backyard so inspiring that William Wordsworth himself would pump out a poem in five minutes or less. All right, so that might be a bit of an embellishment, especially considering he would …

Recovering From A Wardrobe Malfunction, Sarah Wagner

Student Writing Awards

I am finishing up the final day of my field experience in an English class filled with junior and senior high school students. I have a lesson prepared, so I leave my house plenty early in order to setup. I close the door behind me, breathing in the crisp October air, ready to take on whatever lies ahead. I am dressed from head to toe in a darling “teacher outfit” that I have reserved for this very day. A red turtleneck sweater, a brand-new black skirt (zipper included), a new pair of thigh-high panty hose, and a pair of black …

Things Fall Apart, Katie White

Student Writing Awards

Upon reading Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, another great piece of literature comes to mind. To me there seems to be a large connection between American Pastoral and several lines in the first stanza of William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming”.

The Dream Vacation, Emily Burney

Student Writing Awards

Nora woke up before her alarm went off. She half-wished she could go back to sleep, but her internal clock was too stubborn to allow it. The room was still dark, and she lay for several minutes, listening to the silence and watching the glowing red numbers on the digital clock across the room. She treated the device warily, like a wild animal that sat encaged on her bookshelf. She hated the harsh sound of it enough to get up every morning and trot across the room to turn it off before it awoke.

Softly Falls The Light Of Day, Tate Fontenot

Student Writing Awards

Wisps of heaven pushed the waves against the side of our canoe; traveling across lakes and forests, I guided the youngest of scouts through the emerald and sapphire pieces of Minnesota, the oldest Boy Scout in our group by two years. By the adults who accompanied us, I had been given lecture upon lecture about my status as a leader to the boys. We would canoe ten miles a day portaging our canoes over one mile landfalls; our strokes felt heavy but touched lightly upon the surface of the water and our spirits lifted into the clouds. Something happens to …

“By The Stroke Of A Pen”: A Brief Look At Writer’S Representations Of Race, Injustice, And Violence, Audra Kremer

Student Writing Awards

When studying American history, it is easy to dismiss racism as a thing of the past, something that we admit is still present but that we think must be better than it once was. Charles Chesnutt wrote The Marrow of Tradition over one hundred years ago, using the title itself to concentrate on how the very core of Southern Tradition is based on racism. Chesnutt would have been disappointed to see how far into the future this ideology extended, and that it would not be until the civil rights movement of the 1970’s that blacks and whites were granted equal …

The Famished Class, Lindsay Ruter

Student Writing Awards

The korl woman portrayed within Rebecca Davis’ work, Life in the Iron-Mills is an essential element to understanding the story and its social implications. Additionally, one’s understanding of the possible representations the sculpture has is vital to one’s understanding of the class struggles existing during this time. According to editor of Life in the Iron-Mills, Cecelia Tichi, “korl”, as referred to throughout the story is colloquial speech for “scorl” or “scoria” a product of smelted iron ore (18). The sculpture Hugh creates from this substance represents several different ideas and issues prominent during this time, as well as bringing to …

Duality In Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray, And "Dionea", Lauren Mcdonald

Student Writing Awards

Duality appears as a common theme in late-Victorian literature. Duality serves as a way for the modern reader to analyze late-Victorian literature and common late-Victorian culture as well. Through studies of pieces of literature such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and "Dionea" readers can see this common theme. Despite the prevalence of duality and the both/and perspective in late-Victorian literature the idea of duality itself was not traditionally accepted in late-Victorian culture. Victorians preferred to look at things in an either/or perspective. I will write about Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, …

Little ≠ Weak, Katie White

Student Writing Awards

"It’s about Little Grandma; she’s gone." As I hung up the phone, Dad’s words were still trailing in my ears. I sat down on the couch, the house completely empty, and let the tears cascade, and with them the memories…

A Moment Of Truth, Pam Klein

Student Writing Awards

In my daydream, I had a mug of hot cocoa in one hand, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden in my other hand, and a space heater at my feet. I had no reason to shiver, no reason to want to be elsewhere, no reason to wonder why Cody and I had spent the night with Cody’s parents, which made it nearly impossible to get out of deer hunting. In my daydream, I had no reason to wish Larry and Lori didn’t suspect I would accidently burn their house down if I’d stayed behind to cook them supper. In my daydream, I …

The Quilt Enchiladas, Mallorie De Hoyos

Student Writing Awards

They say smell is a powerful sense that can trigger memories long forgotten. When I smell onions, bell pepper, and smoked jalapeños I see my grandmother—a vivid image of a woman, who has worked all her life and has never had it easy. As a child I would play in my grandmother’s backyard with my other cousins making mud pies and stuffing up all the ant holes that poke out of the ground. My grandmothers’ kitchen window overlooked the backyard and the aromas from her cooking would tickle our noses and made our mouths water until we ran inside to …

Grandpa's Move, Emily Burney

Student Writing Awards

"Grandpa had a stroke." My dad’s voice echoed across a vast distance and my hand tightened around the phone. I heard my voice respond sympathetically, a reflex. It was like hearing something sad on the news, but what do you do? My parents are divorced, my dad lives thousands of miles away, and I barely know my grandpa.