Creative Writing Commons^™

The Me [Unnamed]: Essays, Rebecca Ann Harris

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This creative thesis includes six flash nonfiction pieces and four essays exploring my relationships with my father, mother, and older sister; this exploration is filtered through the lenses of trauma and mental illness. Notably, five of the six flash nonfiction pieces are written in the literary mode of magical realism, which are analyzed in this thesis’ critical introduction. By evaluating magical realism’s origins in German surrealism and its development within Latin-America—as well as its theoretical correlation to Charles Baxter’s defamiliarization and Milan Kundera’s appeal of dream—I acknowledge magical realism’s literary techniques and cultural motivations within published fiction. I analyze magical …

Pivoting Rural Community-Based Fine Arts Programs For Youth Due To A Global Pandemic, Heather Olson Beal, Cc Conn, Lauren Burrow, Amber Wagnon, Chrissy Cross Ph.D.

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This personal experience essay features five women professors who, as engaged scholars, seek to continuously respond to the needs of their local community by volunteering their time and expertise to offer educational programs that focus on creative arts and academic assistance for K–12 students. This piece explores the opportunities and obstacles we experienced in using virtual platforms, during the 2020 global pandemic, in order to re-envision our civic responsibilities to engage communities beyond our previous place-based programs.

Coda -- Or -- Now What?, Abriana Jette, Brandi Reissenweber

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

The special issue editors reflect on the issue's contents and offer further suggestions for moving forward.

Cultivating The Cyborg Voice: Technology In The Creative Writing Classroom, Rebecca Valley

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This article takes a critical look at pieces generated from a capstone project in a recent mixed-genre Intro to Creative Writing workshop. It was inspired by an open-ended creative project asking students to use technology to generate unconventional works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and theatre. Writer and educator Rebecca Valley's hope when assigning this project was to encourage students to innovate and step outside their standard forms. But beyond mere innovation of form, students surprised her in their capacity to use technology to hybridize their authorial voices – rather than merely changing the form of their own words, they became …

(Re)Considering Craft And Centralizing Cultures: A Revision Of The Introductory Creative Writing Workshop, Zoë Bossiere, Micah Mccrary

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This article explores options for introductory creative writing curricula that allow for and encourage a greater consideration of personal identity and audience on the part of the student-author. It reaches toward possibilities for revising the introductory creative writing course as a space for student-authors to not only consider the cultural positions of the professional authors they study, but also the ways in which their own subject-positions influence their writing practices, craft choices, and understandings of genre. The article overall proposes a holistic revision to the standard, introductory creative writing curriculum, moving student-authors beyond considerations of “good” creative writing, and toward …

Why Intersectionality In Fiction Matters, Grace L. Dillon

Indigenous Nations Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is an excerpt:

Indigenous peoples often say that from maewizhah, or time immemorial, we have gazed upon ae-iko-dawo-dunnauk-mishi-geezhik and created stories that are maumikaud-kummik. In other words, throughout our histories, Native peoples have looked to the heavens, pondered the universe, and composed fantastical tales that, translated literally, are “out of this world.”

This is the very definition of speculative fiction.

To us, storytellers are artists and medicine people who provide mishkiki: medicine, healing, and sometimes even solidarity — or, as we say in Anishinaabemowin, inauwinidiwin, which means collectively becoming a …

Creative Non-Fiction Prose Workshop, Laura Yan

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Creative Writing, Shamecca A. Harris

Open Educational Resources

This introductory creative writing course asks students to explore their literary interests and proclivities through regular reading and writing activities designed to promote an in-depth understanding and appreciation for the craft of writing. Students will intellectually engage with both contemporary and classic authors within the main genres of creative writing and use the craft elements discussed in class to compose their own original poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction work. While studying various forms of creative writing, emphasis will be placed on the creative process of writing while encouraging students to find their writing voice. Student responsibilities include workshop participation, several …

Explosive Family Dinners: Bipolar Disorder, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy & Me Critical Afterword Convulsive Family Dynamics: When Mental And Neurological Disabilities Entangle And Isolate., Elizabeth Lane Glass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a memoir that is about my nuclear family. The themes within the memoir itself include my father’s bipolar disorder, my temporal lobe epilepsy, and how volatile the combination was as I grew up, but also how loving my family was, despite all the issues. It also looks at the ramifications of having temporal lobe epilepsy, growing up queer (bi+) in a time when being queer at all was not accepted and being bi+ was not understood, and the issues I’ve had with my sisters, which were caused in part by my father The memoir is accompanied by …

Heritage Dreams, Southern Nightmares, Chanèl P. Etienne

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The stories compiled here are the fruits of many deep discussions, late nights, and countless cups of coffee. The themes come from what I have dreamt of, fretted over, and/or hope will never come true. They took up so much room in my head that I had to spill them into paper. Tread lightly in the dreamscape.

The Wallpaper Man And Other Stories, Allyson M. Langhoff

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this collection of short stories, female-driven storylines in both speculative and realistic fiction focus on the themes of feminism, becoming one’s own hero, and the pain of lost love.

Using Creative Writing And Literacy To Dismantle The School To Prison Pipeline, Tyler N. Gross

Honors Theses

The primary purpose of this research was to elevate the voices of minoritized girls of color (those with intersecting identities such as being Black, Brown and/or gender nonconforming, and/or having a disability) through creative writing and literacy, by engaging them in a process of inquiry that allowed them to creatively express themselves and to share their experiences within the school-to-prison pipeline. Using creative writing and a curriculum that the researcher created, the young women participating in various activities that helped them share their experiences and allowed them to think about countering the narrative about young girls of color and with …

To Be Haunted: A Collection Of Short Stories, Kallye Smith

Honors Theses

This thesis is a work of collected pieces of fiction that seek to explore what it means to be haunted. By exploring the concept of ghosts, the pieces in this collection attempt to take a fresh approach to the traditional paranormal story.

A Collection For A Better Misunderstanding, Mark Smeltzer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

What if being understood becomes even more dreadful than being isolated? This collection of poetry stands between two extremes, using form and language to reflect the struggle of living on a continuum between being understood and being alone. By echoing the direct style of poets like Charles Bukowski and Mark Strand, as well as more abstract figures like May Swenson and Sylvia Plath, this collection asserts that the contradictions we carry can coexist, and even complement one another. Part One features original poetry that relies on the senses to recover old memories. A direct style in Part One seeks to …

The Portal Of Orion, Lauren Elizabeth Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Portal of Orionis a science fiction novel that centers on Rigel Barnard, a novice inventor who has been in self-isolation for years after a failed college presentation caused his friend and work partner, Jericho Slate, to be transported into another universe. Rigel is currently trying to bring his friend back by recreating the device that went awry and sent Jericho into an unknown dimension. Along the way, Rigel teams up with Archer, a mysterious stranger he finds floating in space, and Lyra, a teenage girl with an interest in magical studies.They aim to help him as much as …

Poems And Translations, Rome Hernández Morgan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This document is separated into two parts, a collection of original poems and a collection of translations of the crônicas of Rubem Braga. The collection of poems, titled, “Because I Never See You,” attempt to parse the complexities of familial and intimate relationships, addiction, and BIPOC experience. The collection of translations attempts to offer a small sample of the crônicas of Rubem Braga (1913-1990), a Brazilian journalist who is known throughout Brazil for “elevating” the form of the crônica from ephemera to the literary.

The Sound A Body Makes : And Other Ruminations On Navigating Roadkill, Olivia Kingery

All NMU Master's Theses

Using poetry, creative non-fiction, and watercolor paintings, this thesis interrogates my personal relationship with roadkill, as well as society’s relationship with roadkill. The lens of the collection is hyper-focused on roads, the treatment / beliefs surrounding roadkill, and the treatment of more-than-human bodies. Combining image and text, the reader is immersed in a unique conversation about our environment. The Sound a Body Makes utilizes a variety of poetic forms, as well as essay forms. Altogether, the collection is a call to action for radical change regarding how society views and treats more-than-human bodies.

Life, Love, And Loss: Redefining The Trauma, Samantha Crystal Rae Barnette

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis begins with a critical introduction analyzing the use of defamiliarization and the Dostoevskian hero in literature as a catalyst for a change in perception for victims of trauma. I create a relationship between the theories of Viktor Shklovsky and Mikhail Bakhtin as applied to both my own and published works. Short stories from Carmen Maria Machado and Marly Swick and Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale help to situate my own writing within this theoretical approach. The basis of my hypothesis lies in the blurred effect that trauma can have on the individual, causing an automatic response to …

An Anthology On Human Suffering In America: Notes On Black Lives Matter, Katelyn Dubois

Senior Honors Projects

For far too long systemic racism has protected inequality and suffering in the United States, preaching that one’s worth and opportunities are determined by the color of their skin. Despite the foundational values of freedom and equality in the United States, the Black community continues to be killed and discriminated against in disturbingly disproportionate amounts to their peers, and is precisely 3.23 times more likely than Caucasians to be killed by police. “An Anthology on Human Suffering in America: Notes on Black Lives Matter'' was created with the intent to bring greater awareness to the racism and social injustices experienced …

Artificial Magic, Tawny Ventura

Senior Theses

This novella by Tawny Ventury emerged from a short story written for a creative writing course on speculative fiction.

The First Flowers Of Spring, Gretel Valdes

Senior Theses

This creative writing thesis contains a series of poems by Gretel Valdes.

I.

• Pillowtalk
• Autumnal Hues
• Mis Cejas
• Intimacy
• Without You, in San Francisco
• Sundown of Person

II.

• drinking honey with the bees
• The Lady of Crescent Lake
• A Collection of 2 am Thoughts
• Cold Feet
• Another Year of Thankfulness
• My Grandfather’s First Time in the ICU
• For Oregon Where I Have Yet to Fall in Love

III.

• The First Flower of Spring
• A Dandelion Before the Wind
• Weightless
• Aubade to the Other Woman
• To Denica
• Someday Soon

IV.

• Recovery
• Anxiety
• On the first girl I ever kissed
• Drinks I …

Who Is Neil Wells?, Colin Anderson

Senior Theses

This creative writing thesis takes the form of a mystery novel by Colin Anderson.

Properly Unhinged: A Collection Of Poems, Madison Everett

Honors Projects

This is a collection of poems that explores the identities I possess and am a part of. These identities include being half black and half white, clinically diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalize Anxiety Disorder, pansexual or bisexual or something altogether different (depending on the day), and cis gendered womanhood. I also explore what a poem is and what a poem is not, and how there is very little difference between the two. In a lot of ways, this is an exploration into myself and what it means to be within the world. What does it mean to …

The Butte, Natasha Bailey

Senior Theses

The Butte is a collection of short stories about a small town in the Pacific Northwest. In these short stories I explore idealistic small-town culture and blend it with the Pacific Northwest’s own (modern) paranormal mythology. This medley of different genre aspects in my stories makes The Butte difficult to label, but ultimately, my goal while writing was to explore various styles and points of view.

The nine stories set in The Butte shift styles on a variety of levels from character switching, point of view (1^st person, 3^rd person, and omniscient), and formatting (structure and linguistics). These …

Overcome: Farmington Honors Journal, Volume 3, Spring 2021, University Of Maine At Farmington

Honors Journal

This marks our third Journal for the University of Maine at Farmington’s Honors Department. Looking back at the works submitted to us this year we no-ticed a common thread between them. The delicate thread we discovered was that our artists were working through things, whether that be the shape of the loss of a loved one or struggles with self identity. It became apparent as we read, that humans have the strength to overcome, to show growth and discover through writing and art different ways to cope and to identify. Their work has shown that our struggle during this pandemic …

The Messenger

The Messenger

forward

onward so as to make progress; toward a successful conclusion.

“There is a way forward

and yes

it is with a broken

heart

but it is our own way

collectively convened,

pondered,

Shared.”

Alice Walker

Overgrown: A Collection Of Supernatural Narratives, Emily Dawn Cote

Honors Thesis

Overgrown is a collection of short stories stemming from nontangible anxieties, such as death, violence against women, and the queer search for acceptance. Each of the three pieces, including Thoughts of a Downed Oak Tree, Wrong, and For the Living, touches upon how individuals experience these anxieties and how they face them. I also selected Overgrown because all included pieces had to deal with a piece of reflection, overcoming or discovery. The Title Overgrown reflects both the sense of nature these pieces bring, but also the aspect of personal reflection they conjure. These characters engage with a degree of …

Bad Grades, Making Bank, And Hating Piano: The Divergent Trajectories Of Two Creative Writers’ Semiotic Becomings, Jon Udelson

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This article challenges lore-based conceptions of creative writers’ becomings by showing how creative writers establish their literate and disciplinary identities not only through modes of learning characterized by curricular-based advancement in their field, but also through complex social and material negotiations with communities, institutions, and engagements outside of the disciplinary domain of creative writing. Drawing primarily from case study interview data, this article argues for a theoretical and empirical approach to studying creative writers’ “semiotic becomings” in order to further inform creative writing studies research, creative writing pedagogy, and the disciplinary benefits of validating creative writers’ extra-literate and extra-disciplinary experiences.

Public Promises, Hazy Vision: What Program Learning Outcomes Tell Us About Creative Writing As An Academic Subject, Tanya Perkins, Lisa Marling

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

: Although creative writing entered undergraduate curricula in the 20^th century primarily as a way to teach literature, the range of current programming suggests that original intent has evolved, as has opinion among faculty and writers about the nature of creative writing as a subject and its role within English programs. This study applies content analysis to 271 creative writing program learning outcomes (PLOs) from 51 undergraduate programs across the US in order to identify prevailing patterns and themes related to creative writing as a teaching subject. As measurable (and public) statements of content, PLOs are informative and accessible …

The Extracurriculum Of Creative Writing, Nancy Reddy

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

So far, the scholarship in the emerging field of Creative Writing Studies has focused primarily on creative writing workshops in colleges and universities. This article argues that Creative Writing Studies should broaden its focus to also include what scholars call the extracurriculum –the writing that people do when it’s not required by school or work, which takes place across a range of community, nonprofit, private, and digital spaces. Qualitative and archival research in the extracurriculum can help us develop a longer and more complex history and a more inclusive pedagogy.