Creative Writing Commons^™

Penance: A Novel, Rachel Anne Weiser

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Penance is a fictional novel written both as an Honors Capstone project and as a work that will be further revised and eventually submitted for professional publication.

The novel is set in modern day, in the fictional southern city of Avington. Avington, like the rest of the world, is home to a group of terrifying creatures called the nephilim, a name derived from Hebrew, meaning “the fallen.” The nephilim are humans who once died and were reborn as undead creatures; because of their insatiable thirst for human life energy, they are considered demons with the faces of men. Despite the …

The Gatekeepers Of The Black Press, Sadé Khadijah Muhammad

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract Not Available

The Sacred Role Of Animal Beings In Iroquois Lore, Melissa J. Martinelli

English Theses

The act of storytelling provides a connection between the spiritual and physical spheres, and the Haudenosaunee people (more commonly recognized as Iroquois) utilize the oral narrative to convey the most sacred truths of their culture. In focusing primarily upon animals and animal beings, one can recognize the deep reverence traditional tribal members feel toward animals as certain legends seek to unite individuals with the spirits, personalities, and bodies of such creatures in narrative form. Too often animals are overlooked as “lesser” beings, yet in legends of the Iroquois they possess potent orenda (great power) that can help one achieve success …

Time: The Wrecking Ball Of A Creative Process, Kyle Macy '12

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Thawing, Isabella Capasso '14

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

The Sibyl Dreaming Of Death And Murder While Hanging In Her Clay Jar, Bethany Buis '12

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Interview With Ian (Sandy) Frazier, Kayle Kellerman '13

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

• Author of numerous essay collections and 5 non-fiction books, including; Great Plains (1989), On the Rez (2000), Travels in Siberia (2010).
• Writer for The New Yorker.
• Visited DePauw in February 2012 as the 2012 Mary Rogers Field Distinguished University Professor of Creative Writing.

No One Really Knows You, Andrew Charles Rhodes

Master's Theses

This is a collection of five short stories that I have written during my time in the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. The stories were written, revised, and workshopped in graduate classes over the last two years.

And It's Also The Smell Of Laundry, Rachel Miranda

HIM 1990-2015

This collection of poems brings to life the idea that in a poet's world, every day life and every single occurrence is a possible subject. Included are works brought on from the worst of circumstances, the youngest of memories, the happiest moments, and even the simplest of thoughts. The collection is autobiographical and reflective, a re-creation of the events taken place with the addition of present knowledge. The work here gives proof to the idea of cohesion between content and art form--it proves the notion that how something is being said is just as, if not more, important than what …

A Crimson Trail, Caitlin Mcgill

HIM 1990-2015

Willing to overstep literary conventions in order to ensure that meaning and purpose reign over structure, cross-genre writing works to push boundaries of genre and tear down the walls of limitation. This cross-genre thesis aims to test literary restrictions of structure and style and, as literary endeavors often do, to rattle our existence. In this thesis, nonfiction and fiction work together to drive meaning to the surface of the page, meaning that is universal in the individual stories as well as in the human experience. Although some characters are fictional and some real, they often intersect, their journeys and discoveries …

Samphire A Novella, Hillary Casavant

HIM 1990-2015

Engulfed by the tumultuous 1960s, seventeen-year-old Katherine Dayes conceals her pregnancy from the conservative seaside community of Samphire, her hometown. The novella traces a year in Katherine's life, from her summer of love through a winter stained by blood and moonlight. Throughout the story, Katherine endures the push and pull of a culture torn between tradition, represented by community leader Margaret Blythe, and modernism, embodied by the free spirit Evelyn Partridge. Inspired by the life of an actual eighteenth-century woman, Samphire explores the complexities of the 1960s feminist movement. Using vivid imagery of natural elements, it examines opposing views of …

Journey: Students' Perspectives On Studying Abroad, Rachel Tjornehoj

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

How can I share my entire study abroad experience in a short article? With all of the photos, stories, challenges, new experiences, comparisons and travels from a year abroad, it can’t be done. In a series of short articles, however, it is possible to catch a glimpse of all of the opportunities available when one decides to study abroad. For “Journey” magazine, I compiled stories from a variety of students’ study abroad experiences to show the diverse opportunities and possibilities available through study abroad. As more and more students study abroad and travel to new countries, the range of possibilities …

James Still: The Dean Of Appalachian Literature, Ted Olson

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: James Still (1906-2001) wrote “Heritage,” his signature poem, in 1935, and he continued to read it before audiences large and small into the 21st Century.

2012 Literary Review (No. 25), Sigma Tau Delta

The Greenleaf Review

No abstract provided.

The Night And The Morning, John Gardner '55

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Published in The DePauw Magazine, May 1956

Grapes And The Hills Of Spain, John Jakes '53

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

From The Boulder, December 1951

Lighters, Mark Joskowiak '14

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

The Sky Is Crying: A Dil Cunningham Adventure, Patrick Corley '13

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Brain Injury, Amanda Feller '13

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

for M.A.S.

Southern Gothic, Ann Marie Elliot '12

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Guide To Light Head's Guide To Addiction, Stephen Shapiro '13

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

for Terrence Hayes

Biography, Barbara Kingsolver '77

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Published in Opus, 4, Spring 1976.

Desiderata, Max Ehrmann '94

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Largely unknown in Ehrmann’s lifetime, the poem was compiled by Frederick Kates, rector of Saint Paul’s Church in Baltimore, MD in 1959 as part of a devotional poetry collection. The Church’s name and founding year were inscribed on the collection: “Old Saint Paul’s Church, Baltimore A.D. 1692.” This date was mistakenly attributed to the poem itself, leading scholars to believe that rector Kates had found this 17th century poem that Ehrmann had taken credit for. This conspiracy theory died out, but the mark remains popular as a devotional poem. Les Crane’s spoken-word recording of the poem reached #8 on the …

The Last Orchard, Caleb David Camacho

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Last Orchard is a screenplay about two rival groups of ten-year-olds in 1989 Pharr, Texas. Their elementary school conflicts create a neighborhood war within their mobile home park, coinciding with the entire park's wide eviction and land ownership crisis. The story is written with a mythic fiction approach – a method I learned through Carl Jung's and Joseph Campbell's works on archetypes, mythology, and the hero's journey; it is a practical tool for storytelling. The Last Orchard is based on Homer's Iliad: the Trojan War, its heroes, and gods. Some plays and numerous films have their mythic counterparts, along …

Mariguano, Juan Ochoa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Mariguano is a fictional account of a young man growing up in a family in whose patriarch is a Mexican drug lord. The narrator, el Johnny, and his father, Don Julio, crisscross through Mexico with total disregard for distance or time bribing comandantes and stopping turf wars all in preparation for their next score. The novel culminates in Don Julio’s attempt to fix the 1988 Presidential election in Mexico. Don Julio’s son, El Johnny, lives to tell the tale of the rise and fall of his father’s drug smuggling empire and of the destruction of his family. The events in …

Another Sort Of Life: A Novel, Andrew S. Hollinger

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the critical introduction of this thesis, I examine the academic and creative impulses that helped me to complete this novel. In particular, I detail my seemingly nonlinear course of study as I planned, wrote, and reflected on this novel draft. This work required significant research and study outside the field of creative writing: health care systems, cancer, shame, vulnerability, guilt. I discuss at length the processes by which I became knowledgeable of these subjects, and how even after the first draft of the creative work was completed, I continued to create a more nuanced and sophisticated concept of my …

Heathens And How They're Made, Garret Crowe

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis contains 23 poems with an introduction in which I explain how I craft my poetry. In the introduction, I use examples from both critical and creative sources to identify tools I utilize during the craft process of a poem. The subject matter of the poems within this thesis ranges from speakers pondering childhood moments to mature voices examining domestic relationships. Some of the poems may be considered confessional poetry as the works are immensely personal and the speaker is I, the writer. Other poems apply literary styles that are commonly associated with Dirty Realism and Southern Gothic.

Love Is Just A Word For The Last Body I'D Like To Keep Vigil Over, Robert Jagger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Love is Just a Word for the Last Body I'd Like to Keep Vigil Over is a collection of poetry that was composed during my time spent at UNLV. Comprised mostly of prose poems, it was heavily influenced by the works of Richard Hugo, Robert Coover, Joshua Marie Wilkinson and several French poets who are often categorized as being members of either the Symbolist or Decadent movement. At its best, the collection attempts to invoke a sense of Joseph Cornell's boxes--odd juxtapositions of everyday items and language that create new and uncertain circumstances. Unlike Cornell's boxes, however, the poems aren't …

Tiny Animals Made To Do Unnatural Things, Ashley Mary Siebels

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The stories in this collection revolve around a central theme which is expressed by my titleTiny Animals Made To Do Unnatural Things. All my characters feel guilt about decisions and experiences that haunt their past. In the present, they have come to a crossroads and are trying to decipher between what they were made to do as in vocation and evolution and what they are being made to do by the authorial pressures that loom over them (e.g. bosses, parents, loan officers, prison guards.)

In this way, my thesis pivots on the word made. Made (or to make) has many …

Calling Through The Hollow, Mollie J. Ficek

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

These stories are bound by place. Each was born of a connection to the upper-Midwest prairie, to North Dakota and Minnesota, to the places I’ve called home. This collection explores the complicated natures of that home: of human connection navigated across a long horizon line, of cold-weather people, of loneliness in open spaces, of hope, and hotdish, and sometimes healing, too.