Creative Writing Commons^™

Bad Actors, Wendell Ward

English Theses & Dissertations

This manuscript contains a collection of short stories. It also includes the first several chapters of a novella. Within are characters who act and suffer consequences without the imposition of supernatural elements to affect outcomes, which is hopefully what makes them seem “real.” But then there are ambiguities and archetypes and symbolic imagery dancing around the edges of their predicaments, too. Think flambéed Flaubert with the saltiness of Hemingway and the peppery tang of Woolf complimented with a sugary pinch of Charlotte Bronte to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes, poured over with a rich, Jungian gravy. If this …

The Rain Over Hanoi: A Personal Project About Screenplay Structure, Story, Representation And Intergenerational Struggle, Joan Moua

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A good screenplay is first and foremost a good story. Elements of a good story include compelling characters, a theoretical structure, and a well-executed premise. The Rain Over Hanoi is an extremely intimate and personal project about an Asian American expat living in Vietnam. Our protagonist’s journey and coming of age is explored via the interactions she has with her old and new family. Communication through food, symbolism, and cultural exchange are also present throughout the screenplay, utilizing a realistic point of view for the benefit of a full story submersion experience to the reader/viewer. Themes of self-exploration, growing up, …

That Hidden Country: The Travels Of Jacob Singleton, A Novel, James Earp

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Thomas Jefferson believed, or wanted to believe, that mammoths foraged the grasslands of the continental American interior. This was not an uncommon belief among the learned in Jefferson’s time and place, so it is not altogether remarkable that Jefferson did charge Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, when they led the Corps of Discovery to the Oregon coast, with keeping an eye out for signs of the living mammoth. This novel attempts an aesthetically viable narrative synthesis of American myths in several layers, the top layer being, in the words of cultural critic Cintra Wilson, a ‘‘ripping yarn’’ in the traditions …

Horse Loose: Essays On Fear And Attachment, Alyse Burnside

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

I began writing my thesis about my grandmother, who lived out the last few years of her life as a new age healer speaking in tongues and believing she was the channel for an ancient Lemurian shaman. We were not close until the very end of her life, and even then I felt far away from her. Not in the least because of her estrangement with the rest of my family. I tried and tried to write about her but always ran up against her mystery. She was not a woman many knew, and if you did know her, you …

100 Million, Cade Scott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alec, an 18-year-old filmmaker, decides to bunk with a group of TikTok stars in a mansion in the suburbs of LA in hopes of becoming as famous as them one day. But, he soon finds out that they plan to keep him behind the scenes. Forced to continue helping them film and post their videos, he starts witnessing shady events involving his step-brother, Kevin. The events reach a crescendo when some of the TikTok stars accidentally disappear. Alec investigates and discovers a sinister plot, and then he finds himself in a fight for his life. Which ends with him narrowly …

Chimaera: A Collection, Robert Ren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Chimaera is a collection of short stories as well as excerpts from a novel in progress, Cassandra & Charon. While this collection bears some resemblance to a short story cycle, these selections are not intended to be published together outside of this dissertation. Nevertheless, this dissertation features these selections side by side as these stories and chapters overlap thematically and consequently create resonances that would not exist otherwise. The short stories predominately feature Chinese American characters often as outsiders or third parties to other relationships. Other stories also feature retellings of classic stories including Goldilocks, Snow White, and Dracula, at …

The Underappreciated Intersection Of Science Fiction And Satire, Christopher Nicholson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis considers, from a creative writer’s perspective, the largely untapped potential for combining the strengths of satire and science fiction to create stories that provide both escapism and real-world commentary without sacrificing one for the other. It discusses background information and examples of both genres, and then illustrates the principles discussed with three original short stories.

Lakas Ng Feministang Makabayan Laban Sa Patriyarkang Diktadurya Ng Imperyo: Pagsubok Sa Interpretasyon Ng Dekada ’70 Ni Lualhati Bautista (The Power Of Nationalist Feminism Against The Empire’S Patriarchal Dictatorship: Toward An Interpretation Of Lualhati Bautista’S Dekada ’70 ), E. San Juan Jr.

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Ang Dekada ’70 ay dokumentong historikal at mala-alegorikong testimonya ng karanasan ng medya-klaseng taga-lungsod noong panahon ng diktaduryang Marcos. Nakakintal sa salaysay ng isang ina-asawa, Amanda Bartolome, ang pakikipagsapalaran ng kolektibong memorya at pag-asa. Sa realistikong pagsasadula ng ideolohiya ng maternidad, nilikha ni Bautista ang isang maramdaming salaysay ng pagpupunyagi ng ina/asawang isagawa ang ritwal ng malayang pag-asal na sumusuri sa patriyarkong awtoridad at imperyalistikong gahum. Gamit dito ang konsepto ng kontradiksiyon ng publiko-pribadong paghahati sa lipunan upang linawin ang diyalektika ng politikang seksuwal sa pagitan ng kalayaang personal at pagsisilbing pampamilya. Hinahamon ng proyekto ni Bautista na gawing makabayan …

Fictionalizing Error In Edberto Villegas’S Barikada, Laurence Marvin S. Castillo

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Barikada (2013), written by the late political scientist, writer, and consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Edberto Villegas (1940–2020), is a novel that presents a counterfactual portrayal of an urban insurrection, waged by city-based national democratic (NatDem) revolutionaries who deviated from the Maoist rural-oriented protracted guerrilla warfare sanctioned by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This essay reads this NatDem fiction in relation to the debates about revolutionary strategy that surfaced during the movement’s crises-ridden years, and were taken up during the Second Great Rectification Movement. I undertake a detailed examination of the novel’s reworking …

Myth, Dream, And Resistance In Ninotchka Rosca And Emmanuel Lacaba’S Fictions, Kathrine Domingo Ojano

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Despite Ninotchka Rosca’s international acclaim as a Feminist novelist and Emmanuel Lacaba’s national renown as a martyred resistance poet, the dearth of scholarship on their collections of short stories—written from around the time of the 1970 First Quarter Storm to the early years of Martial Law—has also left unanswered how their fictions evinced a new paradigm of resistance literature as the critique and revision of modernity in the Third World. In this paper, I address this gap by looking into Rosca’s transformation of fiction into mythopoeic speculations in The Monsoon Collection (1983) and Lacaba’s experimentation with oneiric or dream-like narratives …

A Letter About Philadelphia, Gracie Morrison

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Gracie is an undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Soil and Water Science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences. She writes in her free time and is taking a creative writing course for fun. She wants to improve her writing so she can write plays and perform them in a puppet theatre using sock puppets. She also wants to write Christmas movies but has only written one so far. For now, she is planning to graduate after she completes her Honors thesis project regarding economic analysis of organic and conventional tomato weed management strategies.

Aspects Of Amelie, Allison Flory

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Allison Flory (she/her) is a senior creative writing undergrad at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she resides with her partner and their two dogs. Her work “Ecology of Succession” has been featured in Issue #3 of The Diamond Line, where she has also worked as an editor. She also once wrote a 200 page novel about Clifford the Big Red Dog on loose leaf notebook paper, but she was 9 and is pretty sure this was copyright infringement.

Two People Sitting On The Edge Of The Universe Sharing A Sandwich, Bia Edwards

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Bia is a senior creative writing major. She enjoys complicated and expensive iced lattes and taking her dog to the dog park. She loves reading and writing fiction as well as poetry and hopes to find a job involving both upon graduation.

The Girl With The Colorful Aura, Heather Jenkins

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Heather Jenkins is studying psychology at the University of Arkansas. She plans on being an art therapist, combining her passion for art with the joy of helping others.

The Voyeur, Marie Gray

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Marie Gray is a writer and poet studying English with a concentration in creative writing at the University of Arkansas, where she is about to complete a short fiction honors thesis. When she’s not reading or writing, she spends her time watching foreign films and playing ultimate frisbee.

An Unbothered Cat, David Moneymaker

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

David Moneymaker is a sophomore and bassist in a local rock n roll band. Minimalism is a primary inspiration for his creative endeavors.

Table Of Contents, Diamond Line Editors

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editors, Diamond Line Editors

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Diamond Line - Spring 2022, Diamond Line Editors

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Reflection On Time, Samuel Christopher Boggs

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Dissection Of Twins, Amber Zipfel

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Dissection of Twins

Amber Zipfel

Professor Colin Rafferty

ENGL 470C_01: Creative Writing Seminar: Non-Fiction

This body of work is composed of ten short pieces that dissect several aspects of twins in approximately 7,000 words. The structure of the work, which involves every piece mirroring another one with the same or similar title, is meant to resemble the relationship of twins: two labeled with the same title but possess different content within their bodies. Overall, there are personal stories and informative breakdowns of twin stereotypes utilized to convey this popular subject. Each piece helps strengthen the primary goals of this …

Inferno Of The Mind, Amber M. Harvey

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This chapbook is a series of poems that explore what it is like living with mental illness. It is a collection of ten poems, inspired by the nine circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. The reader is led on a journey through the mind of the author, each poem providing a modern interpretation of each circle: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. This journey into a “hell of the mind’s making” explores the themes of identity, reality, societal expectations and pressures, and self-doubt through the use of form, structure, and image. The collection ends with a …

Fifteen Poems, Caleb Petersen

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

FIFTEEN POEMS is a thesis consisting of a critical introduction on the development of my understanding of craft, the poetic influences which have shaped my poetry, as well as a collection of poems. The essay addresses both the form and content of the collection, as well as my history with poetry. It provides details about the process of creating this collection, and it portrays some of the vision that motivates it. The poetry which follows is a reflection on myself, my body, and my landscape, as I ask the question, who am I in this place? Situated in Lincoln, Nebraska, …

Coming To The End Of His Triumph, Amy Lawless

Bryant Literary Review

I’ve watched the YouTube video Primož Roglič Bad Accident many times. This event led to his switch from ski jumping to cycling. Ski jumping, to a wimp like me, is the essence of dare devilry.

Poof!, Kathie Giorgio

Bryant Literary Review

When I was nine years old, a boy socked me on the arm at recess. He hit hard, enough to cause me to cry out, to bring tears to my eyes, though I wouldn’t let them escape.

Bad Accident, Amy Lawless

Bryant Literary Review

I lose touch with reality. I reach my arm out to my future, to the myself who knows there’s no trace of cancer, the benefits of preventative care, the past is in the past, the complete competence of his medical team, but I don’t reach back.

Come, Gentle Night., Michael Washburn

Bryant Literary Review

Arthur took one look at the forlorn stranger standing by the stone wall at the base of the hill in the cool evening and thought: Gordon Comstock.

Dear Breast Cancer,, Clara Burghelea

Bryant Literary Review

You smell of clean skin, cent-free armpits, choked-up, hard to swallow nausea, bubble gum flavor in the hair from the 11-year-old in the car. You see we drove 200 miles, woke up at wee hours to ditch traffic, had breakfast in the car, cold waffles, gulped on bad coffee, rode the highway on TikTok noise, before I knew it, I had arms around my shoulders, chewing gum love next to my right ear.

Thank You Terror, 2, Mathias Svalina

Bryant Literary Review

If one is lucky

one will find

Thank You Terror, 3, Mathias Svalina

Bryant Literary Review

No abstract provided.