The CreativeWriting Handbook

The Creative WritingHandbookTechniques for NewWritersSecond Edition

Edited by

JOHN SINGLETON andMARY LUCKHURST

Editorial matter, selection and Chapter 1 © John Singleton and MaryLuckhurst 1996, 2000; Chapter 2 © Liz Almond; Chapter 3© John Singleton and Geoff Sutton; Chapter 4 © Ailsa Cox; Chapter 5© John Singleton; Chapter 6 © Elizabeth Baines; Chapter 7 © JohnLennard 1996,2000; Chapter 8 © Meriel Lland & Robin Nelson; Chapter 9© Mary Luckhurst 2000; Chapter 10 © Mary Luckhurst and Betty Princep;Chapter 11 © Liz Cashdan, Mary Luckhurst and John Singleton 1996,2000

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of thispublication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied ortransmitted save with written permission or in accordance with theprovisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under theterms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the CopyrightLicensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP OLP.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publicationmay be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published 1996Second edition 2000MACMILLAN PRESS LTDHoundmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XSand LondonCompanies and representatives throughout the world

ISBN 978-0-333-79226-1 ISBN 978-1-349-90813-4 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-90813-4

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Contents

How to Use this Book vii

1 Making a Mark 1MARY LUCKHURST AND JOHN SINGLETON

2 The Workshop Way 18LIZ ALMOND

3 Words Words Words 41JOHN SINGLETON AND GEOFF SUTTON

4 Writing the Self 77AILSA Cox

5 The Short Story 100JOHN SINGLETON

6 Innovative Fiction and the Novel 129ELIZABETH BAINES

7 Writing Verse 164JOHN LENNARD

8 Narrative Fictions for Film and Television 201MERIEL LLAND AND ROBIN NELSON

9 Drama: Writing for Stage and Radio 245MARY LUCKHURST

10 Journalism 276MARY LUCKHURST AND BETTY PRINCEP

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vi CONTENTS

11 Editing and RewritingLIZ CASHDAN, MARY LUCKHURST AND JOHN

SINGLETON

Recommended Reading

Biographical Notes

Acknowledgements

302

322

324

326

How to Use ThisBook

If you are following a creative writing course, or belong to acreative writing group or are writing on your own you willfind this book essential reading. It's about learning the craft ofwriting. It is not a textbook. Neither is it a 'How To' book. Itdoesn't tell you what to do. We don't believe in prefabricatedwriting assembled from step-by-step instructions.

What we do believe is that the imagination drives writingand that it is most effective when harnessed to craft. We feelwriters come to good writing in different ways but the bestway to improve is by constant practice; by trying out andexperimenting with new forms and strategies; by rewriting.So what this book offers is not writing-by-numbers but awhole variety of suggestions and ideas for every kind of writ­ing you can imagine. It's a rich resource book packed withpossibilities.

Most taught creative writing goes on in practical groupsessions. This book shows you how to get the best out ofsuch workshops and how to build on that experience bydeveloping your writing in your own time.

We believe good readers make good writers so we haverecommended hundreds of books and authors for you toselect, browse through and learn from. Accomplished writersread as well as write because they've learnt their craft byimitating the good practice of others. Writing is somethingyou can catch through reading.

The Handbook is sequenced and the chapters take youthrough each stage of the writing process from first acquiringbasic skills with words, finding ideas and developing them

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viii How TO USE THIS BOOK

through different forms and genres to the final crafting stagesof revision and editing. But don't feel you have to work yourway through it systematically. Pick and mix. Select from itwhat appeals. Adapt the material to suit your needs.

We feel strongly that writers should not work in intellectualisolation. So, Chapter 1 considers some general issues of prac­tice and theory and puts writing in a broad cultural, historicaland ideological context. Each of the subsequent chapters startswith a short discussion on aspects of language and genre andis followed by a workshop section where up to ten workshopsare described in detail. You can use them to structure yourown course with a small group of friends or follow them aspart of a taught school, university or community writing pro­gramme. The third and final section of each chapter offers youa whole range of writing suggestions to tryout in your owntime. Some of them could be workshopped as well. The pointis you use the book the way you want.